1 MARINE POLLUTION

Marine pollution occurs when harmful effects, or was a concern during several United Nations
potentially harmful effects,can result from the Conferences on the Law of the Sea beginning in
entry into the ocean of chemicals, particles, the 1950s. Most scientists believed that the oceans
industrial, agricultural and residential waste, were so vast that they had unlimited ability to
noise, or the spread of invasive organisms. Most dilute, and thus render harmless, pollution.. In the
sources of marine pollution are land based. The late 1950s and early 1960s, there were several
pollution often comes from nonpoint sources such controversies about dumping radioactive waste off
as agricultural runoff and wind blown debris. the coasts of the United States by companies
licensed by the Atomic Energy Commission, into
Many potentially toxic chemicals adhere to tiny the Irish Sea from the British reprocessing facility
particles which are then taken up by plankton and at Windscale, and into the Mediterranean Sea by
benthos animals, most of which are either deposit the French Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique.
or filter feeders. In this way, the toxins are After the Mediterranean Sea controversy, for
concentrated upward within ocean food chains. example, Jacques Cousteau became a worldwide
Many particles combine chemically in a manner figure in the campaign to stop marine pollution.
highly depletive of oxygen, causing estuaries to Marine pollution made further international
become anoxic. headlines after the 1967 crash of the oil tanker
Torrey Canyon, and after the 1969 Santa Barbara
When pesticides are incorporated into the marine oil spill off the coast of California. Marine
ecosystem, they quickly become absorbed into pollution was a major area of discussion during
marine food webs. Once in the food webs, these the 1972 United Nations Conference on the
pesticides can cause mutations, as well as Human Environment, held in Stockholm. That
diseases, which can be harmful to humans as well year also saw the signing of the Convention on the
as the entire food web. Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of
Wastes and Other Matter, sometimes called the
Toxic metals can also be introduced into marine London Convention. The London Convention did
food webs. These can cause a change to tissue not ban marine pollution, but it established black
matter, biochemistry, behaviour, reproduction, and and gray lists for substances to be banned (black)
suppress growth in marine life. Also, many animal or regulated by national authorities (gray).
feeds have a high fish meal or fish hydrolysate Cyanide and high-level radioactive waste, for
content. In this way, marine toxins can be example, were put on the black list. The London
transferred to land animals, and appear later in Convention applied only to waste dumped from
meat and dairy products. ships, and thus did nothing to regulate waste
discharged as liquids from pipelines.[1]
History
Pathways of pollution

There are many different ways to categorize, and

examine the inputs of pollution into our marine
Although marine pollution has a long history, ecosystems. Patin (n.d.) notes that generally there
significant international laws to counter it were are three main types of inputs of pollution into the
enacted in the twentieth century. Marine pollution
2 MARINE POLLUTION

ocean: direct discharge of waste into the oceans, is simply soil, which ends up in rivers flowing to
runoff into the waters due to rain, and pollutants the sea. However, some minerals discharged in the
that are released from the atmosphere. course of the mining can cause problems, such as
copper, a common industrial pollutant, which can
One common path of entry by contaminants to the interfere with the life history and development of
sea are rivers. The evaporation of water from coral polyps.[2] Mining has a poor environmental
oceans exceeds precipitation. The balance is track record. For example, according to the United
restored by rain over the continents entering rivers States Environmental Protection Agency, mining
and then being returned to the sea. The Hudson in has contaminated portions of the headwaters of
New York State and the Raritan in New Jersey, over 40% of watersheds in the western continental
which empty at the northern and southern ends of US.[3] Much of this pollution finishes up in the
Staten Island, are a source of mercury sea.
contamination of zooplankton (copepods) in the
open ocean. The highest concentration in the Land runoff
filter-feeding copepods is not at the mouths of
these rivers but 70 miles south, nearer Atlantic Surface runoff from farming, as well as urban
City, because water flows close to the coast. It runoff and runoff from the construction of roads,
takes a few days before toxins are taken up by the buildings, ports, channels, and harbours, can carry
plankton[2]. soil laden with carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and
minerals. This nutrient-rich water can cause fleshy
Pollution is often classed as point source or algae and phytoplankton to thrive in coastal areas,
nonpoint source pollution. Point source pollution known as algal blooms, which have the potential
occurs when there is a single, identifiable, and to create hypoxic conditions by using all available
localized source of the pollution. An example is oxygen.
directly discharging sewage and industrial waste
into the ocean. Pollution such as this occurs Polluted runoff from roads and highways can be a
particularly in developing nations. Nonpoint significant source of water pollution in coastal
source pollution occurs when the pollution comes areas. About 75 percent of the toxic chemicals that
from ill-defined and diffuse sources. These can be flow into Puget Sound are carried by stormwater
difficult to regulate. Agricultural runoff and wind that runs off paved roads and driveways, rooftops,
blown debris are prime examples. yards and other developed land.[4]

Direct discharge Ship pollution

Acid mine drainage in the Rio Tinto River.

See also: Sewerage, Industrial waste, and
Environmental issues with mining

Pollutants enter rivers and the sea directly from

urban sewerage and industrial waste discharges, A cargo ship pumps ballast water over the side.
sometimes in the form of hazardous and toxic
wastes. Ships can pollute waterways and oceans in many
ways. Oil spills can have devastating effects.
Inland mining for copper, gold. etc., is another While being toxic to marine life, polycyclic
source of marine pollution. Most of the pollution aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the components in
3 MARINE POLLUTION

crude oil, are very difficult to clean up, and last

for years in the sediment and marine
environment.[5]

Discharge of cargo residues from bulk carriers can

pollute ports, waterways and oceans. In many
instances vessels intentionally discharge illegal
wastes despite foreign and domestic regulation
prohibiting such actions. It has been estimated that
container ships lose over 10,000 containers at sea
each year (usually during storms).[6] Ships also Graph linking atmospheric dust to various coral
create noise pollution that disturbs natural deaths across the Caribbean Sea and Florida[10]
wildlife, and water from ballast tanks can spread
harmful algae and other invasive species.[7] Another pathway of pollution occurs through the
atmosphere. Wind blown dust and debris,
Ballast water taken up at sea and released in port including plastic bags, are blown seaward from
is a major source of unwanted exotic marine life. landfills and other areas. Dust from the Sahara
The invasive freshwater zebra mussels, native to moving around the southern periphery of the
the Black, Caspian and Azov seas, were probably subtropical ridge moves into the Caribbean and
transported to the Great Lakes via ballast water Florida during the warm season as the ridge builds
from a transoceanic vessel.[8] Meinesz believes and moves northward through the subtropical
that one of the worst cases of a single invasive Atlantic. Dust can also be attributed to a global
species causing harm to an ecosystem can be transport from the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts
attributed to a seemingly harmless jellyfish. across Korea, Japan, and the Northern Pacific to
Mnemiopsis leidyi, a species of comb jellyfish that the Hawaiian Islands.[11] Since 1970, dust
spread so it now inhabits estuaries in many parts outbreaks have worsened due to periods of
of the world. It was first introduced in 1982, and drought in Africa. There is a large variability in
thought to have been transported to the Black Sea dust transport to the Caribbean and Florida from
in a ship’s ballast water. The population of the year to year;[12] however, the flux is greater during
jellyfish shot up exponentially and, by 1988, it positive phases of the North Atlantic
was wreaking havoc upon the local fishing Oscillation.[13] The USGS links dust events to a
industry. “The anchovy catch fell from 204,000 decline in the health of coral reefs across the
tons in 1984 to 200 tons in 1993; sprat from Caribbean and Florida, primarily since the
24,600 tons in 1984 to 12,000 tons in 1993; horse 1970s.[14]
mackerel from 4,000 tons in 1984 to zero in
1993.”[7] Now that the jellyfish have exhausted the Climate change is raising ocean temperatures[15]
zooplankton, including fish larvae, their numbers and raising levels of carbon dioxide in the
have fallen dramatically, yet they continue to atmosphere. These rising levels of carbon dioxide
maintain a stranglehold on the ecosystem. are acidifying the oceans.[16] This, in turn, is
altering aquatic ecosystems and modifying fish
Invasive species can take over once occupied distributions,[17] with impacts on the sustainability
areas, facilitate the spread of new diseases, of fisheries and the livelihoods of the communities
introduce new genetic material, alter underwater that depend on them. Healthy ocean ecosystems
seascapes and jeopardize the ability of native are also important for the mitigation of climate
species to obtain food. Invasive species are change.[18]
responsible for about $138 billion annually in lost
revenue and management costs in the US alone.[9] Acidification
Atmospheric pollution Main article: Acidification
4 MARINE POLLUTION

clathrates were to be spread uniformly across the

ocean floor, this would translate to a thickness
between three and fourteen metres.[28] This
estimate corresponds to 500-2500 gigatonnes
carbon (Gt C), and can be compared with the 5000
Gt C estimated for all other fossil fuel
reserves.[27][29]

Eutrophication
Island with fringing reef in the Maldives. Coral
Main article: Eutrophication
reefs are dying around the world.[19]

The oceans are normally a natural carbon sink,

absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Because the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide
are increasing, the oceans are becoming more
acidic.[20][21] The potential consequences of ocean
acidification are not fully understood, but there are
concerns that structures made of calcium
carbonate may become vulnerable to dissolution,
affecting corals and the ability of shellfish to form
shells.[22]. Polluted lagoon.

Oceans and coastal ecosystems play an important

role in the global carbon cycle and have removed
about 25% of the carbon dioxide emitted by
human activities between 2000 and 2007 and
about half the anthropogenic CO2 released since
the start of the industrial revolution. Rising ocean
temperatures and ocean acidification means that
the capacity of the ocean carbon sink will
gradually get weaker,[23] giving rise to global Effect of eutrophication on marine benthic life
concerns expressed in the Monaco[24] and
Manado[25] Declarations. Eutrophication is an increase in chemical
nutrients, typically compounds containing
A report from NOAA scientists published in the nitrogen or phosphorus, in an ecosystem. It can
journal Science in May 2008 found that large result in an increase in the ecosystem's primary
amounts of relatively acidified water are productivity (excessive plant growth and decay),
upwelling to within four miles of the Pacific and further effects including lack of oxygen and
continental shelf area of North America. This area severe reductions in water quality, fish, and other
is a critical zone where most local marine life animal populations.
lives or is born. While the paper dealt only with
areas from Vancouver to northern California, The biggest culprit are rivers that empty into the
other continental shelf areas may be experiencing ocean, and with it the many chemicals used as
similar effects.[26] fertilizers in agriculture as well as waste from
livestock and humans. An excess of oxygen
A related issue is the methane clathrate reservoirs depleting chemicals in the water can lead to
found under sediments on the ocean floors. These hypoxia and the creation of a dead zone.[30]
trap large amounts of the greenhouse gas methane,
which ocean warming has the potential to release. Estuaries tend to be naturally eutrophic because
In 2004 the global inventory of ocean methane land-derived nutrients are concentrated where
clathrates was estimated to occupy between one runoff enters the marine environment in a
and five million cubic kilometres.[27] If all these confined channel. The World Resources Institute
has identified 375 hypoxic coastal zones around
5 MARINE POLLUTION

the world, concentrated in coastal areas in starvation, laceration and infection, and, in those
Western Europe, the Eastern and Southern coasts that need to return to the surface to breathe,
of the US, and East Asia, particularly in Japan.[31] suffocation.[41]
In the ocean, there are frequent red tide algae
blooms[32] that kill fish and marine mammals and
cause respiratory problems in humans and some
domestic animals when the blooms reach close to
shore.

In addition to land runoff, atmospheric

anthropogenic fixed nitrogen can enter the open
ocean. A study in 2008 found that this could
account for around one third of the ocean’s
external (non-recycled) nitrogen supply and up to Remains of an albatross containing ingested
three per cent of the annual new marine biological flotsam
production.[33] It has been suggested that
accumulating reactive nitrogen in the environment Many animals that live on or in the sea consume
may have consequences as serious as putting flotsam by mistake, as it often looks similar to
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.[34] their natural prey.[42] Plastic debris, when bulky or
tangled, is difficult to pass, and may become
permanently lodged in the digestive tracts of these
Plastic debris animals, blocking the passage of food and causing
death through starvation or infection.[43][44]
Main article: Marine debris
Plastics accumulate because they don't biodegrade
in the way many other substances do. They will
photodegrade on exposure to the sun, but they do
so properly only under dry conditions, and water
inhibits this process.[45] In marine environments,
photodegraded plastic disintegrates into ever
smaller pieces while remaining polymers, even
down to the molecular level. When floating plastic
particles photodegrade down to zooplankton sizes,
jellyfish attempt to consume them, and in this way
A mute swan builds a nest using plastic garbage. the plastic enters the ocean food chain. [46] [47]
Many of these long-lasting pieces end up in the
Marine debris is mainly discarded human rubbish stomachs of marine birds and animals,[48]
which floats on, or is suspended in the ocean. including sea turtles, and black-footed
[49]
Eighty percent of marine debris is plastic - a albatross.
component that has been rapidly accumulating
since the end of World War II.[35] The mass of
plastic in the oceans may be as high as one
hundred million metric tons.[36]

Discarded plastic bags, six pack rings and other

forms of plastic waste which finish up in the
ocean present dangers to wildlife and fisheries.[37]
Aquatic life can be threatened through
entanglement, suffocation, and ingestion.[38][39][40] Marine debris on Kamilo Beach, Hawaii, washed
Fishing nets, usually made of plastic, can be left up from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
or lost in the ocean by fishermen. Known as ghost
nets, these entangle fish, dolphins, sea turtles, Plastic debris tends to accumulate at the centre of
sharks, dugongs, crocodiles, seabirds, crabs, and ocean gyres. In particular, the Great Pacific
other creatures, restricting movement, causing Garbage Patch has a very high level of plastic
6 MARINE POLLUTION

particulate suspended in the upper water column. Specific examples

In samples taken in 1999, the mass of plastic
exceeded that of zooplankton (the dominant  Chinese and Russian industrial pollution
animal life in the area) by a factor of six.[35][50] such as phenols and heavy metals in the
Midway Atoll, in common with all the Hawaiian Amur River have devastated fish stocks
Islands, receives substantial amounts of debris and damaged its estuary soil.[56]
from the garbage patch. Ninety percent plastic,
this debris accumulates on the beaches of Midway  Wabamun Lake in Alberta, Canada, once
where it becomes a hazard to the bird population the best whitefish lake in the area, now has
of the island. Midway Atoll is home to two-thirds unacceptable levels of heavy metals in its
(1.5 million) of the global population of Laysan sediment and fish.
Albatross.[51] Nearly all of these albatross have
plastic in their digestive system[52] and one-third  Acute and chronic pollution events have
of their chicks die.[53] been shown to impact southern California
kelp forests, though the intensity of the
Toxic additives used in the manufacture of plastic impact seems to depend on both the nature
materials can leach out into their surroundings of the contaminants and duration of
when exposed to water. Waterborne hydrophobic exposure.[57][58][59][60][61]
pollutants collect and magnify on the surface of
plastic debris,[36] thus making plastic far more  Due to their high position in the food chain
deadly in the ocean than it would be on land.[35] and the subsequent accumulation of heavy
Hydrophobic contaminants are also known to metals from their diet, mercury levels can
bioaccumulate in fatty tissues, biomagnifying up be high in larger species such as bluefin
the food chain and putting pressure on apex and albacore. As a result, in March 2004
predators. Some plastic additives are known to the United States FDA issued guidelines
disrupt the endocrine system when consumed, recommending that pregnant women,
others can suppress the immune system or nursing mothers and children limit their
decrease reproductive rates.[50] Floating debris can intake of tuna and other types of predatory
also absorb persistent organic pollutants from fish.[62]
seawater, including PCBs, DDT and PAHs.[54]
Aside from toxic effects,[55] when ingested some  Some shellfish and crabs can survive
of these are mistaken by the animal brain for polluted environments, accumulating
estradiol, causing hormone disruption in the heavy metals or toxins in their tissues. For
affected wildlife.[49] example, mitten crabs have a remarkable
ability to survive in highly modified
Toxins aquatic habitats, including polluted
waters.[63] The farming and harvesting of
such species needs careful management if
See also: Mercury in fish
they are to be used as a food.[64][65]
Apart from plastics, there are particular problems
 Surface runoff of pesticides can alter the
with other toxins that do not disintegrate rapidly
gender of fish species genetically,
in the marine environment. Examples of persistent
transforming male into female fish.[66]
toxins are PCBs, DDT, pesticides, furans, dioxins,
phenols and radioactive waste. Heavy metals are
 Heavy metals enter the environment
metallic chemical elements that have a relatively
through oil spills - such as the Prestige oil
high density and are toxic or poisonous at low
spill on the Galician coast - or from other
concentrations. Examples are mercury, lead,
natural or anthropogenic sources.[67]
nickel, arsenic and cadmium. Such toxins can
accumulate in the tissues of many species of
 In 2005, the 'Ndrangheta, an Italian mafia
aquatic life in a process called bioaccumulation.
syndicate, was accused of sinking at least
They are also known to accumulate in benthic
30 ships loaded with toxic waste, much of
environments, such as estuaries and bay muds: a
it radioactive. This has led to widespread
geological record of human activities of the last
century.
7 MARINE POLLUTION

investigations into radioactive waste abuse it. At an operational level, regulations, and
disposal rackets.[68] international government participation is needed.
It is often very difficult to regulate marine
pollution because pollution spreads over
Adaptation and mitigation international barriers, thus making regulations
hard to create as well as enforce.

Perhaps the most important strategy for reducing

marine pollution is education. Most are unaware
of the sources, and harmful effects of marine
pollution, and therefore little is done to address
the situation. In order to inform the population of
all the facts, in depth research must be done to
provide the full scale of the situation. Then this
information must be made public.
Aerosol can polluting a beach.
As expressed in Daoji and Dag’s research,[75] one
Much anthropogenic pollution ends up in the
of the reasons why environmental concern is
ocean. Bjorn Jenssen (2003) notes in his article,
lacking among the Chinese is because the public
“Anthropogenic pollution may reduce biodiversity
awareness is low and therefore should be targeted.
and productivity of marine ecosystems, resulting
Likewise, regulation, based upon such in-depth
in reduction and depletion of human marine food
research should be employed. In California, such
resources” (p. A198). There are two ways the
regulations have already been put in place to
overall level of this pollution can be mitigated:
protect Californian coastal waters from
either the human population is reduced, or a way
agricultural runoff. This includes the California
is found to reduce the ecological footprint left
Water Code, as well as several voluntary
behind by the average human. If the second way is
programs. Similarly, in India, several tactics have
not adopted, then the first way may be imposed as
been employed that help reduce marine pollution,
world ecosystems falter.
however, they do not significantly target the
problem. In Chennai city, India, sewage has been
The second way is for humans, individually, to
dumped further into open waters. Due to the mass
pollute less. That requires social and political will,
of waste being deposited, open-ocean is best for
together with a shift in awareness so more people
diluting, and dispersing pollutants, thus making
respect the environment and are less disposed to
them less harmful to marine ecosystems.