What is Ocean Pollution?

What is considered ocean pollution? Is it,

a) the trash that floats on the surface

b) the chemicals that run into it

c) something we can’t see at all

d) all of the above

Answer: d; unfortunately it’s all of the above. 1

The Truth

In many minds the ocean is a huge, big, blue, and clean body of water. How could the ocean, a body of water that covers 71% of the earths surface, be polluted? That’s the problem, people don’t know the impact of their actions. Or they do, and there is no one stopping them from causing destruction.

From the plastic and trash that make their way into the ocean, to the runoff of fertilizers and other chemicals, the ocean is being used as a landfill. The ecosystems and marine life that are being affected by this pollution are trying to adapt, but how much longer until it becomes to large to handle...

Here are some statistics:

• “Around 60% of the wastewater discharged into the caspian Sea is not treated” 2

• “ In a study released in the February 2008 journal Science, researchers found that human activity -- from over-fishing to greenhouse gases and global warming to the introduction of toxins into the environment – has affected every square mile of ocean on the planet and strongly impacted roughly 40 percent of marine ecosystems.”3

• “Despite the Ocean Dumping Reform Act, the U.S. still releases more than 850 billion gallons of untreated sewage and storm runoff every year”4

• “Plastic constitutes approximately 90% of all trash floating on the ocean’s surface, with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile.”5

Throughout this blog I will be going over all the different types of marine pollution in detail, and describing different news stories that spring up about them.

Works Cited

Pictures:

Trash wave: http://yesurun.blogspot.com/2013/10/kamuflajl-dusman.html
Seal: http://coastalcare.org/2009/11/plastic-pollution/
Runoff: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/ioc-oceans/priority-areas/rio-20-ocean/blueprint-for-the-future-we-want/marine-pollution/


Content

1 "Marine problems: Pollution." WWF. WWF, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014. <http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/problems/pollution/>.

2 "Rapid Response Assessments." What is Marine Pollution and How Does it Affect Marine Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014. <http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/our-precious-coasts/page/1292.aspx>.  UNEP. 2006. The state of the marine environment-trends and processes. United Nations Environment Programme and the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), The Hague. 52 p.

3 Bohle, Bob. "The Effects of Ocean Pollution on Marine Mammals." Ocean Pollution and Marine Mammals – BlueVoice.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014. <http://www.bluevoice.org/news_issueseffects.php>.

4 Hohn, Donovan. "Sea of Trash." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 June 2008. Web. 19 Sept. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/magazine/22Plastics-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.

5  "Oceans: Plastic Pollution." TakePart. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014. <http://www.takepart.com/oceans/plastic-pollution>.

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