Pollution at Sea

The Impact of Human Activity on Earth’s Oceans

What is pollution?• Chemicals and waste products• Introduced by Humans• Damaging to environment• Sickens or kills living organisms

Types of Marine Pollution

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• 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:

1. Cholera2. Cladoceran Water Flea3. Mitten Crab4. Toxic Algae (R, G, B tides)5. Round Goby6. European Green Crab7. Asian Kelp8. Zebra Mussel9. North Pacific Seastar10. 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

– 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