Transcript Pollution at Sea

Pollution at Sea
The Impact of Human
Activity on Earth’s Oceans
What is pollution?
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Chemicals and waste products
Introduced by Humans
Damaging to environment
Sickens or kills living organisms
Types of Marine Pollution
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Sediment
Agriculture
Energy
Sewage
Solid Waste
• Industry (chemicals,
metals,
radioactivity)
• Oil
• Biologicals
Major Marine Pollutants
• 10 billion tons of
ballast water
– Chemicals
– Invasive Species
• 10 billion gallons of
sewage, annually
• 3.25 million metric
tons of oil annually
• Millions of tons of
solid waste
Metals
• Mercury, Lead and Copper have been
introduced by human activity
– Enter Food Chain
– Toxic to organisms with neurological centers
– Humans release 5X Hg, 17X Pb as is derived
from natural sources
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Electric utilities; steel & iron manufacturing
Fuel oils, additives, & combustion
Incineration of urban refuse; land runoff; and dust
Paint from ships, shipwrecks, and ship refuse
Solid Waste
• Non-biodegradable Plastic
– 400 year molecular decomposition
– 46,000 pieces of floating plastic/mile2 of ocean
surface off the northeastern U.S. coast
– Kill 100,000 marine mammals & 2 million sea
birds annually
• Sea Turtles
– Plastic bags look like jelly fish
– Cause internal blockages
• Sea Lions & Seals
– Entangled by nets & muzzled by 6-pack rings
– Starve to death
Oil
Biological
• International Maritime Organization’s Top 10:
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Cholera
Cladoceran Water Flea
Mitten Crab
Toxic Algae (R, G, B tides)
Round Goby
European Green Crab
Asian Kelp
Zebra Mussel
North Pacific Seastar
North American Comb Jelly
Where does it all come from?
• Land
– 80% of non-biological marine pollution
– Pipes discharge sewage, industrial, chemical, and food
processing wastes
– Runoff
• Air
– Acid precipitation
– Dust and other aerosols
• Maritime
– Ballast water (legal and illegal dumping)
– Designated dumping (munitions, sewage, ash, muds)
– Accidental spills of hazardous and non-hazardous
materials
Impacts of Marine Pollution
• Ecosystem and Public Health
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Eutrophication
Mutagenic
Carcinogenic
Toxicity
Saprogenic (bacterial decay)
• Recreational Water Quality
• Economic Viability
– Mechanical issues with engines, pumps and
propellers
Cost of Marine Pollution
• 3.25 million metric tons of wasted oil
(Jamaica uses 3.4 million metric tons of oil
annually)
• 100,000 mammal and 2 million bird deaths
annually
• Reduction of GDP by decreasing fishery
resources and lost tourism earnings
• Loss of biodiversity and potential life
saving medicines
Solutions to Pollution
• Correction – costly and time
intensive
– Cleaning up what is there
– May be virtually impossible
• Prevention – change in attitudes
– Not adding to the problem
– Stiffer laws and consequences
“We can no longer view our waste as someone else’s problem.
We must think of it as a resource to use in a new and different
way. In nature, nothing is wasted, everything is recycled.”
• Reduce Consumption & Waste
• Support a variety of Research &
Engineering solutions
• Encourage Policy-making
• Planning of Marinas and Harbors
• Bioremediation
• Closed-system treatment of all storm runoff
and sewage