Greg Stone spoke to VOA from the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. Representatives from sixteen island nations met there earlier this year to talk about caring for the ocean. Mr. Stone says oceans are the Earth’s most important resource.

“You can’t manage anything that you can’t measure. So, like any good portfolio investments, if you want to make sure you are prospering and you’re taking care of your investments -- and believe me, the health of our planet is no greater investment that there could be -- you need a metric in order to measure it and see that we have a sustainable relationship with this resource on an ongoing basis.”

He says the Ocean Health Index will help end a lot of ignorance about the seas.

“You may have heard from one source or another that, ‘Oh, hey, the oceans are in trouble’ and you say ‘Why are they in trouble?’ And then somebody says ‘Well, the coral reefs are dying.’ And then the next day someone will tell you that ‘the tuna fish are all gone’ or ‘the haddock are all gone’ or ‘the halibut are all gone.’ And you say ‘Oh OK, I hear that.’ And then someone else will say ‘The oceans are turning acidic’ -- which they are. It’s been a very confusing landscape of information.”

And he says whether you live in the United States or in the middle of Africa, you should care about what happens to the oceans.