Pollution in the Ocean

Plastic Pollution

There is an estimated 100,000,000 tons of plastic debris floating in the ocean.

A few examples include plastic bags, plastic cutlery, straws, six-pack rings, and much much more.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest accumulation of plastic in the world and can cover twice the size of Texas. Reference: Ocean plastics pollution. Ocean Plastics Pollution. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/ Shared Image 2

Oil Pollution Shared Image

The ocean is polluted every day by oil spills, routine shipping, run-offs, cars and land vehicles, boats, and oil dumping.

There are approximately 706 million gallons of waste oil that enters the ocean water everyday. Reference:Oil spills: Impact on the ocean. Water Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Oil-Spills-Impact-on-the-Ocean.html

Oil spills suffocate fish, get caught in birds feathers and other mammals most of the time slowly killing them.

When oil enters the water it blocks light from entering the water stopping light from reaching the plant and stops photosynthesis, depleting one of the primary sources of energy in the ocean.

Oil affects fish in many ways: reduced growth, enlarged livers, changes in heart and respiration rates, fin erosion, and reproduction impairment. Reference:US Department of Commerce, N. O. and A. A. (2019, March 14). How does oil impact marine life? NOAA's National Ocean Service. Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oilimpacts.html

Sewage Pollution

Sewage discharge pollutes waterways with excessive nutrients that wreaks havoc on ecosystems. Shared Image 3

Sewage pollution will smother coral reef systems that deplete the oxygen and kill the coral.

Sewage requires bacteria and lots of oxygen to be broken down so where sewage is being dumped there is a lack of bacteria and oxygen, harming marine life.

Sewage discharge fuels the blooming of harmful algal blooms which put humans health at risk.

Eutrophication

Leads to excessive growth in plants ultimately causing them to die and not properly decay.

Allow toxic growths of blue-green algae blooms which are harmful to the water quality and marine life.

Creates areas of dead zones depleting the amount of oxygen in that area.

Noise Pollution
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Triggers stress related illnesses for many marine species.

Noise includes: passing ships, seismic surveys, sonaar, oil drilling, oil exploration surveys, and much more.

Cause the dissolved oxygen concentration will decrease which will cause the death of aquatic plants.

Triggered by a high concentration of chemical nutrients in a body of water caused by human/environment interactions like runoff. Reference: Nag, O. S. (2018, September 21). The different types of marine pollution. WorldAtlas. Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-different-types-of-marine-pollution.html

Taints drinking water supplies. Shared Image 4

Disrupts many marine life that rely heavily on their sense of hearing to navigate and hunt.

Noise Pollution also interferes with sea creatures being able to communicate with mate or family pods. Reference:What is ocean noise? NOAA's National Ocean Service. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ocean-noise.html

Can ultimately cause animals to flee and abandon their valuable habitat due to their prey also fleeing. Reference: Consequences of underwater noise. OceanCare. (2016, October 24). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://www.oceancare.org/en/our-work/ocean-conservation/underwater-noise/underwater-noise-consequences/

Marine life easily gets confused and disoriented because of the acoustic interference. IMG_2812

The number one risk that plastic debris causes for marine life is ingestion leading to death. Debris can also cause entanglement, suffocation, injuries and pain.

The plastic produce that causes the most deaths is fishing nets killing anything from dolphins and sharks to turtles and seabirds. Most often these deaths are slow and painful and can kill entire colonies at a time.

Oil is lethal to fish’s sensitive eggs,and larvae.


About 95,000 cubic meters of sewage from toilets and 5,420,000 cubic meters of sewage from sinks, kitchens, and showers are released into the ocean each day. Reference: Sea pollution. Young People's Trust For the Environment. (2014, September 15). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://ypte.org.uk/factsheets/sea-pollution/sewage

Once sewage is dumped in an area that water can be harmful to drink for human and land-living animals.

Some plastics in the oceans will eventually turn into micro-plastic and be ingested by fish and enter their meat making it possible for humans to eat.