OCEANS !HABITATS! SHRINKING

SHIPPING, pollution and overfishing have reduced areas of ''wilderness'' to just 13 percent of the  world's oceans, a study showed Friday, warning untouched marine habitats could completely vanish within half a century.

International researchers analysing the impact of human activity, from fertiliser runoff to increased sea transport, an underwater ecosystems have mapped the dwindling zones considered pristine.

The bulk of remaining ocean wilderness, classed as ''mostly free of human disturbance", was found in the Arctic and Antarctic, and around remote Pacific islands.

'' Improvements in shipping technology mean that even the most remote wilderness areas may come under threat in the future, including once ice-covered places that are now accessible because of climate change,'' said lead researcher Kendall Jones, from the University of Queensland.

Just five percent of the wilderness areas are in protected zones, leaving the rest vulnerable, according to the study published in the journal Current Biology.

It called  for greater international coordination to regulate the world's  oceans,  clamp down on overfishing, limit destructive ocean-making and reduce sediment runoff.

"Marine  wilderness areas  are home to unparalleled  levels of life, holding massive abundances of species and high genetic diversity, giving them resilience to threats like climate change,''  said  James Warson of the  Wildlife  Conservation Society.

"These areas are declining  catastrophically and protecting them must become a focus of multilateral environmental agreements. If not, they will likely disappear within 50 years."

 Last year, the United Nations began negotiating  its first conservation treaty for the  high seas,  which would be a  legally binding  act governing  the sustainable use of  oceans outside national maritime boundaries. [Agencies].