What is the importance of ocean?

Oceans are of great importance to man directly or indirectly. Following are the importance of ocean:

1. Source of water — Ocean is the major source of water to mankind through water cycle.
2. Climate — Oceans affect the climate of the places near them by maintaining their temperature, humidity, rain etc.
3. Food Resources — The oceans provide fish and other marine food and thus are an important food resource.
4. Mineral and chemical resource — They have a variety of dissolved salts like sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride etc.
5. Ocean and oil — A large part of world's oil and gas production comes from off shore fields.
6. Ocean and energy — They help to generate tidal energy. Countries like France, UK, USA are generating energy from tides.
7. Trade and transport — Oceans provide the cheapest mode of transportation for international trade. They are very useful for transportation of bulky products like coal, iron, machinery etc.