Marine Pollution

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Marine Pollution
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Marine Pollution

• Marine pollution occurs when harmful effects, or
  potentially harmful effects can result from the
  entry into the ocean of
• chemicals
• particles
• Industrial
• agricultural
• residential waste
• spread of invasive organisms

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Marine Pollution

• Most sources of marine pollution are land based.
• The pollution often comes from sources such as
  agricultural runoff and wind blown debris

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Pathways of Pollution

• There are many different ways to categorize, and
  examine the inputs of pollution into our marine
  ecosystems.

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Pathways of Pollution

• Generally there are four main types of inputs of
  pollution into the ocean
• direct discharge of waste into the oceans
• runoff into the waters due to rain
• pollutants that are released from the atmosphere
• ship pollution

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Direct Discharge of Waste into the Oceans

• Pollutants enter rivers and the sea directly from
  urban sewerage and industrial waste discharges,
  sometimes in the form of hazardous and toxic
  wastes.

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Direct Discharge of Waste into the Oceans

• Inland mining for copper, gold. etc., is another
  source of marine pollution.
• Most of the pollution is simply soil, which ends
  up in rivers flowing to the sea.

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Direct Discharge of Waste into the Oceans

• However, some minerals discharged in the course
  of the mining can cause problems
• such as copper, a common industrial pollutant,
  which can interfere with the life history and
  development of coral polyps

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Surface Runoff

• Surface runoff from farming, as well as urban
  runoff and runoff from the construction of roads,
  buildings, ports, channels, and harbours, can
  carry soil laden with carbon, nitrogen,
  phosphorus, and minerals.

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Surface Runoff

• This nutrient-rich water can cause fleshy algae
  and phytoplankton to thrive in coastal areas,
  known as algal blooms, which have the potential
  to create hypoxic conditions by using all
  available oxygen.

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Surface Runoff

• Polluted runoff from roads and highways can be a
  significant source of water pollution in coastal
  areas.

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Occurrence of Red Tide in Philippine Bay

• Red tide usually occurs when high organic loading
  from rivers drain into bays resulting in harmful
  algal blooms (HABs).
• Rapid increase in population, urbanization and
  industrialization reduce the quality of
  Philippine waters.

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• The discharge of domestic and industrial
  wastewater and agriculture runoff has caused
  extensive pollution of the coastal water bodies.
• This effluent is in the form or raw sewage,
  detergents, fertilizers, heavy metals, chemical
  products, oil and solid waste.

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• The extent of water pollution in the Philippines
  Bays can be gleaned from the frequent occurrence
  of red tide since it first came to the attention
  in 1983.

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Ship Pollution

• Ships can pollute waterways and oceans in many
  ways.
• Oil spills can have devastating effects. While
  being toxic to marine life, polycyclic aromatic
  hydrocarbons (PAHs), the components in crude oil,
  are very difficult to clean up, and last for
  years in the sediment and marine environment.

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Garbage in the Ocean

• Solid garbage also makes its way to the ocean.
• Plastic bags, balloons, glass bottles, shoes,
  packaging material - if not disposed of
  correctly, almost everything we throw away can
  reach the sea.

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Garbage in the Ocean

• Plastic garbage, which decomposes very slowly, is
  often mistaken for food by marine animals.
• High concentrations of plastic material,
  particularly plastic bags, have been found
  blocking the breathing passages and stomachs of
  many marine species, including whales, dolphins,
  seals, puffins, and turtles.
• Plastic six-pack rings for drink bottles can also
  choke marine animals.

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Toxic Chemicals

• Almost every marine organism, from the tiniest
  plankton to whales and polar bears, is
  contaminated with man-made chemicals, such as
  pesticides and chemicals used in common consumer
  products.

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Toxic Chemicals

• Some of these chemicals enter the sea through
  deliberate dumping.
• For centuries, the oceans have been a convenient
  dumping ground for waste generated on land.
• This continued until the 1970s, with dumping at
  sea the accepted practise for disposal of nearly
  everything, including toxic material such as
  pesticides, chemical weapons, and radioactive
  waste.

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Toxic Chemicals

• Dumping of the most toxic materials was banned by
  the London Dumping Convention in 1972, and an
  amended treaty in 1996 (the London Convention)
  further restricted what could be dumped at sea.
• However, there are still the problems of
  already-dumped toxic material, and even the
  disposal of permitted substances at sea can be a
  substantial environmental hazard.

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Toxic Chemicals

• Chemicals also enter the sea from land-based
  activities.
• Chemicals can escape into water, soil, and air
  during their manufacture, use, or disposal, as
  well as from accidental leaks or fires in
  products containing these chemicals.
• Once in the environment, they can travel for long
  distances in air and water, including ocean
  currents.

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Toxic Chemicals

• People once assumed that the ocean was so large
  that all pollutants would be diluted and
  dispersed to safe levels.
• But in reality, they have not disappeared - and
  some toxic man-made chemicals have even become
  more concentrated as they have entered the food
  chain.

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Toxic Chemicals

• Tiny animals at the bottom of the food chain,
  such as plankton in the oceans, absorb the
  chemicals as they feed.
• Because they do not break down easily, the
  chemicals accumulate in these organisms, becoming
  much more concentrated in their bodies than in
  the surrounding water or soil.
• These organisms are eaten by small animals, and
  the concentration rises again.
• These animals are in turn eaten by larger
  animals, which can travel large distances with
  their even further increased chemical load.

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Oil Spill

• An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum
  hydrocarbon into the environment due to human
  activity, and is a form of pollution.

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Oil Spill

• The term often refers to marine oil spills, where
  oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters.

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Oil Spill

• The oil may be a variety of materials, including
  crude oil, refined petroleum products (such as
  gasoline or diesel fuel) or by-products, ships'
  bunkers, oily refuse or oil mixed in waste.

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Oil Spill

• Spills take months or even years to clean up.
• Oil also enters the marine environment from
  natural oil seeps.
• Most human-made oil pollution comes from
  land-based activity, but public attention and
  regulation has tended to focus most sharply on
  seagoing oil tankers.

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Environmental Effects of Oil Spill

• The oil penetrates and opens up the structure of
  the plumage of birds, reducing its insulating
  ability, and so making the birds more vulnerable
  to temperature fluctuations and much less buoyant
  in the water.

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Environmental Effects of Oil Spill

• It also impairs birds' flight abilities, making
  it difficult or impossible to search for food and
  escape from predators.

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Environmental Effects of Oil Spill

• As they attempt to clean, birds typically ingest
  oil that covers their feathers, causing kidney
  damage, altered liver function, and digestive
  tract irritation.
• This and the limited foraging ability quickly
  causes dehydration and metabolic imbalances.
  intervention.

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Environmental Effects of Oil Spill

• Hormonal balance alteration including changes in
  luteinizing protein can also result in some birds
  exposed to petroleum.
• Most birds affected by an oil spill die unless
  there is human

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Environmental Effects of Oil Spill

• Marine mammals exposed to oil spills are affected
  in similar ways as seabirds.

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Environmental Effects of Oil Spill

• Oil coats the fur of Sea otters and seals,
  reducing its insulation abilities and leading to
  body temperature fluctuations and hypothermia.
• Ingestion of the oil causes dehydration and
  impaired digestions.

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Environmental Effects of Oil Spill

• Because oil floats on top of water, less light
  penetrates into the water, limiting the
  photosynthesis of marine plants and
  phytoplankton.
• This, as well as decreasing the fauna
  populations, affects the food chain in the
  ecosystem.

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Guimaras Oil Spill

• The oil tanker M/T Solar I, carrying more than
  two million liters of bunker fuel, sank on August
  11, 2006 at the Guimaras Strait off the coast of
  the Guimaras and Negros Occidental provinces
• Causing some 500,000 liters of oil to pour into
  the strait.
• Siphoning the remaining 1.5 million liters from
  the sunken tanker, at a depth of more than 600
  meters, was scheduled for last March 2007

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Guimaras Oil Spill

• The Guimaras oil spill is an ongoing
  environmental and economic disaster that started
  on August 11, 2006.
• It is dubbed as the worst oil spill the
  Philippines had ever seen.

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Guimaras Oil Spill

• It has been said and said about the recent oil
  spill which has now adversely affected marine
  sanctuaries and mangrove reserves in three out of
  five municipalities in Guimaras Island and
  reached the shores of Iloilo and Negros
  Occidental.

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Guimaras Oil Spill

• The oil spill occurred in the Visayas Sea which
  is considered a rich fishing ground that supplies
  most of the fisheries demand for the entire
  country. (NDCC, August 2006)

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Effects of Oil Spill

• The spill has damaged Taklong Island National
  Marine Reserve, a marine sanctuary for feeding
  and breeding ground for fish and other species.

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Guimaras Oil Spill

• Dr. Jose Ingles, eco-region coordinator of the
  World Wide Fund for Nature in the Philippines,
  Indonesia and Malaysia, said that the damage may
  be felt by at least two generations.
• He warned that the disaster may have damaged the
  reefs and mangroves, scarring the ecosystem and
  causing seafood yields to significantly decrease.
• According to him, the worst hit would be the
  shorelines, the coasts and the swamplands with
  mangroves.

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Guimaras Oil Spill

• In the south-southeast of the spill site is
  located the Sulu Sea, a deep water area
  frequented by commercially valued fishes.
• The towns of southern Negros Occidental province
  prides themselves as the home of the Blue Marlin
  and the Yellow Fin Tuna.
• This is an important source of income for the
  communities.
• If the slick is not effectively contained, this
  will surely damage this thriving local industry.

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Marine Pollution

• Another pathway of pollution occurs through the
  atmosphere.
• Wind blown dust and debris, including plastic
  bags, are blown seaward from landfills and other
  areas.

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Ocean Acidification

• 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.

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Ocean Acidification

• The potential consequences of ocean acidification
  are not fully understood
• There are concerns that structures made of
  calcium carbonate may become vulnerable to
  dissolution
• Affecting corals and the ability of shellfish to
  form shells.

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Ocean Acidification

• 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.

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Ocean Acidification

• Rising ocean temperatures and ocean acidification
  means that the capacity of the ocean carbon sink
  will gradually get weaker