The plague of the oceans has come back from the dead and is not showing mercy. With all the pollution being brought on by human life, water is being contaminated which is causing some substances to rise in population and is sickening al who come in contact with the poisonous substance. Imagine just doing your job when you come in contact with the poisonous elements also known as Lyngbya majuscula, or fireweed. Your skin breaks out in blisters and welts and no matter how much you try it doesn’t stop neither does the burning sensation that comes with it. You go to shake this off your fishing nets only to have trouble breathing as the substance fills the air making your throat close. Well this is what is happening to the fishermen of Morenton Bay, Australia. And to make it worse, fireweed can spread enough to fill an entire football field in an hour. Making it fast and deadly. Not only is it hurting humans, but causing some species in the ocean to fight for their lives. More advanced species such as fish, coral, and marine mammals are slowly dying while more primitive species such as jellyfishes, algae and bacteria are growing at unprecedented rates that are baffling scientists. Such patterns where found hundreds of millions of years ago. It’s as if the pattern of evolution is reversing and it’s not looking so good for the more advanced species. When a sample got to scientist Judith O’Neil she figured out that the element was a strand of cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria is a modern day ancestor of bacteria and algae that flourished 2.7 billion years ago (Weiss). An accumulation of environmental pressures have made to oceans more hospitable to primitive organisms and has altered the basic chemistry of the ocean. Industries are overdosin...
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...ied in the ballast water of a ship from the East Coast of the United States took over waters saturated with farm runoff. Free of predators, the jellies gorged on plankton and fish larvae, depleting the fisheries on which the Russian and Turkish fleets depend. The plague subsided only with the accidental importation of another predatory jellyfish that ate the comb jellies. Industries are not only polluting our air but turning back the clock on ocean evolution. Lyngbya majuscula has been around for three billion years so with all those tricks up its sleeves for survival it may be hard to stop it. However just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Industries must limit the amount of carbon, iron, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxide and phosphorus compounds they put out into the environment so that our oceans can stop living in the past and look to the future.
"Ocean Pollution." MarineBio Conservation Society ~ Marine Biology, Ocean Life Conservation, Sea Creatures, Biodiversity, Research... Web. 19 May 2014.
The presence of excess nutrients in fresh water bodies can breed bacteria that can kill both livestock and humans if not properly filtered and sanitized. This is particularly problematic in areas that do not have access to clean water such as developing countries. The presence of excess nutrients in water supplies can cause sickness in humans that exacerbates the issues of poverty across the globe. In addition, to humans becoming sick, “Mass mortalities of wildlife have been attributed to cyanobacterial blooms (Dodds et al., 2008). These deaths can be avoided if care is taken in how humans affect the biogeochemical cycles on this planet. Together, all of the impacts mentioned that include losses of aesthetics and use, losses of biodiversity, and decreasing water quality cost large amounts of money to human populations every year. As Dodd’s et al. estimated, just in fresh water ecosystems the annual costs of eutrophication totals more than 2.2 billion dollars annually(Dodd’s et al.2008), and this is a conservative estimate. If the costs associated with salt water ecosystems were added to the costs estimated in fresh water habitats, this number would be much higher. Overall, the issue of eutrophication has massive impacts across many scales and represents a key issue that
Imagine a lush underwater place. Beautiful structures colorful animals and places that would never have been thought of before. In reality that's not what it really looks like, really the ocean is a desolate place that is barren like a desert. Many marine species have been lost by as much as 49%.(seeker) A big part of that reason is because of coral bleaching which causes as stated above a decline in species that depend on the coral as there home. Coral bleaching is a serious problem that could cause problems for everyone if we don’t fix it.
The increasing decay of marine ecosystems combined with limited treatment options for CFP highlight the public health importance of continued active reporting, surveillance and preventive measures. Additionally, with expansion of global trade and increased international travel it is likely that CFP will be less and less localized to the current endemic regions.
The influence of human activity concerning marine chemistry has numerous negative effects on the marine environment.
Ocean Pollution is a serious issue in today's global politics. The delicate balance of Earth's ecosystem is put in jeopardy when the ocean is not clean. Problem evolving from ocean pollution directly harm marine life and indirectly affect human health and the Earth's many valuable resources. Ocean Pollution is a Broad term that encpompasses any and all foregin matter that directly or indirectly makes its way into the ocean. This includes everything from the extreme: oil spills, Toxic Waste dumping and industrial dumping-- to the small scael: human activities and basic carelessness. Because the oceans and all other water bodies are invariably, somehow connected, and because they account for 3/4 of the Earth's surface, they are an ideal method of transportation for pollution, allowing the rapid spread of seemingly far away toxins into a river near you! It is increasingly important that we educate ourselves as to what, exactly, ocean pollution is, so that we can identify the causes at their source and take action in small and large ways, and hopefully, prevent this terrible form of pollution from getting any worse than it is today.
Our Earth consists of many of many different components, such as land, animals, air, etc. and lately a lot of our attention has been brought to pollution and the state in which our Earth and atmosphere is in. Our ocean covers seventy one percent of the earth’s total surface area and plays a major role in our Earth’s atmosphere. (Hoegh-Guldberg, 2010) Acidification has been one of the many components that has been leading to the destruction of our surrounding oceans. (Doney, 2008)
...e effect of what humankind does to the ocean, the implications became far worse than any had individually realized. It is a very serious situation demanding unequivocal action at every level. We are looking at consequences for humankind that will impact in our lifetime, and worse, our children's and generations beyond that
Recently, scientists have been noticing a quite thing occurring in the ocean that had never been seen before. Scientists have been recently finding a new type of algae in the ocean that does not have very great effects on the environment. Many say that this alga is probably a type of algae that is similar to the ones that grew millions of years ago; this alga is toxic though. It releases terrible pungent odors that can affect health. This algae was first discovered in Australia by fisherman and is now ruining Australian fishing industries by taking over the ocean. Scientist Judith O’Neil from the University of Queensland was the first scientist to discover the origins of this toxic algae. It has been considered a fireweed since it has severely affected ecosystems all over the ocean and has been dominating. However this is not the only primitive species if ocean plant taking over rapidly now. It has been stated that, “Evolution is in reverse” (Kenneth R. Weiss from the Los Angeles Times). Now ancient species of sea life are thriving while more complex organisms and new species aren’t thriving in our oceans. That situation is bad since they are taking over ecosystems completely blocking animals from sunlight, space, and any other necessities. There have also been other species that are now plaguing our oceans such as jellyfish, and other species of algae. These organisms can definitely lead to negative impacts on us and the ocean’s vast ecosystems.
Everyone has that childhood memory of running through the park or the backyard with a tiny plastic net to catch the fascinating winged creatures people know as butterflies. Imagine that childhood memory and appreciation of nature vanished from the lives of children in future generations. Instead of drawing what is real and tangible in their coloring books, children would be drawing butterflies as if they were dinosaurs, curious if their existence was a fable or reality. With the continued use of herbicides and insecticides, specifically neonicotinoids, the butterfly’s food source of milkweed is drastically depleting to the point where it is not only a childhood memory and appreciation of nature vanishing; the food chain every living organism relies on is also vanishing. Numerous animals
A statistic released by the Marine Science Education Project of the Indonesian Ministry of Higher Education States that “…Reefs subject to land-based pollution (sewage, sedimentation, and or industrial pollution) show 30–50% reduced diversity at 3 m, and 40–60% reduced diversity at 10 m depth relative to unpolluted comparison reefs in each region.” This statistic is alarming because it shows just how much pollution can affect a certain environment. Not only does it affect the environment but it also affects animals, plants and people.
Toufexis Anastasia, Andrea Dorfman, Eugene Linden, and Edwin M. Reingold. "The Dirty Seas Threatened by Rising Pollution, the Oceans Are Sending out an SOS." Time 132.5 (1988): 1-8. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
Oceans are such so vast that people underestimate the impact their actions —seeming so insignificant— have on them. Humans have by and large taken the oceans for granted; not considering how important a healthy ocean is to our survival. A popular mind-set is that the oceans are a bottomless supply of fish, natural resources, and an infinite waste dump. There are myriad reasons why the oceans should be saved and the most obvious one is marine life. With 71% of the Earth being covered by water, it is obvious that sea creatures are predominant form of life, making up 80% of the species of life on Earth. However, as important as marine life is, that is not the only reason why saving the oceans is crucial. The ocean floor provides natural resources such as, oil, natural gas, petroleum, minerals, medications, and ingredients for foods and products. The economic benefits of the oceans are huge and significant, as well. Fishing and fish products have provided employment to 38 million people and have generated about $124 billion in economic benefits. However, oceans are on the verge of crisis, marine life, natural resources, transportation, the economy, and important ingredients are at risk due to overfishing, pollution, and acidification. Thus, in this essay I will argue that, oceans are not impervious to human activity and threatening the health of the ocean threatens the health of humanity, since oceans key to our survival.
Did you know that more than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct? According to Pandey, the author of Humans Pushing Marine Life toward ‘Major Extinction’, nearly 10,000 species go extinct each year, and this rate is estimated to be 1,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate (1). Human beings are causing irreversible damage to the oceans and their wildlife, which is being led by two major reasons: Commercial fishing or over-fishing, which damaged the marine environment and caused a loss in the marine life diversity, and pollution, which is a primary way of the extinction causes that drastically modifies the marine life habitat. As a result of the commercial fishing and pollution, many of the marine species will start disappearing of the oceans. Briggs emphasizes that over-fishing “has induced population collapses in many species. So instead of having less than a hundred species at risk, as was the case some 30-40 years ago, there are now a thousand or more (10).”
The oceans need to be protected because it is where life began and if not taken care of, life as we know it will end. When dangerous substances go into the ocean, ecosystems are suffer and become endangered along with lives of people and of marine life. Surfrider Foundation recognizes the importance of protecting and preserving the quality and biodiversity of the world's coasts because they are truly irreplaceable. There is also historical evidence of ocean pollution being present in the past, but the problem still lingers today. Heal the Bay discovered that,“Did you know there is a DDT and PCB hot spot off the coast of Palos Verdes? This superfund site (which indicates it's one of the most polluted places in the United States), is left over from a 1930's era chemical plant. Because DDT takes so long to break down in the marine environment, it persists to this day, contaminating certain species of fish. There are also highly polluted sediments in the Long Beach area, a sign of the heavy shipping in the port. Heal the Bay works on developing effective capping and removal plans to keep those toxins from spreading” (Heal the Bay). DDT is still highly concentrated in the South Bay area and still contaminating different species of fish. Even after more than 80 years DDT, a toxic insecticide, is still very concentrated and during upwellings, DDT particles come back up and continue to harm marine life. If humans are careless about what is thrown on the floor or sprayed on lawns, it can lead to disastrous affects when it comes to the condition of the ocean's ecosystems, and can endanger life itself leading to a problem that only we can mend.