4.7.4 Identify Major sources of ocean pollution 1. Oil (eg. Exxon valdez p195)

2. Toxic Material (ex. Industrial, agricultural, household cleaning, gardening, and automotive products regularly end up in coastal waters)

3. Dangerous debris

4. Deposits & withdrawals

1. OilWhen it comes to mixing oil and water,

oceans suffer from far more than an occasional devastating spill. Disasters make headlines, but hundreds of millions of gallons of oil quietly end up in the seas every year, mostly from non-accidental sources

Millions of Gallons

2. Toxic MaterialIndustrial, agricultural, household cleaning,

gardening, and automotive products regularly end up in water. About 65,000 chemicals are used commercially in the U.S. today, with about 1,000 new ones added each year. Only about 300 have been extensively tested for toxicity

• TBT, or tributyl tin, is added to boat paints to kill or repel barnacles and other nuisance organisms that foul ships' hulls.

• Top = Normal oyster, about 8 years old

• Middle = Oyster with first 5 years of growth affected by TBT, followed by 3 years after TBT ban;

• Bottom = Oyster, exposed to high levels of TBT throughout 8 years of life

3. Dangerous DebrisOur trash kills. When odds and ends of life on

land-- particularly plastics--end up in the sea, they pose hazards to marine life. Animals drown or strangle from getting tangled in discarded or lost fishing gear, or suffer and even die from eating plastics and other garbage.

• A northern sea lion, entangled in an old net, St. Paul Island, Alaska

• This party balloon killed sperm whale by blocking its digestive tract.

Great Eastern Garbage Patch

Why doesn’t this plastic biodegrade?

It photo-degrades

- a process in which it is broken down by sunlight into smaller and smaller pieces, all of which are still plastic polymers, eventually becoming individual molecules of plastic, still too tough for anything to digest

Bio-AmplificationIt turns out that plastic polymers are

sponges for DDT, PCBs and nonylphenols—oily toxics that don't dissolve in seawater.

Plastic pellets have been found to accumulate up to 1 million times the level of these poisons that are floating in the water itself. These are not like heavy metal poisons that affect the animal that ingests them directly. Rather, they are what might be called second-generation toxics.

Interference in genetics, growth etcAnimals have evolved receptors for

elaborate organic molecules called hormones, which regulate brain activity and reproduction. Hormone receptors cannot distinguish these toxics from the natural estrogenic hormone, estradiol, and when the pollutants dock at these receptors instead of the natural hormone, they have been shown to have a number of negative effects in everything from birds and fish to humans.

Solutions?Use less plastic!

Reusable shopping bags for EVERYTHING!!!No straws!Do not buy water in plastic bottles – bring from

home in your own reusable bottle!No more plastic baggies (ziploc, shopping etc)Bring lunch!! Dont buy lunch which is served

on disposable paper/plastic!Don’t use plastic forks, spoons etc

Beach CleanupGo to your local beach and pick up one garbage bag

of plastics. Better in the landfill than the ocean!Pick up litter. Better yet – DON’T LITTER!!!!

Recycle plastic and tin cansBuy as little plastic as you can. Shop in bulk,

buy things in paper which can be recycled more easily. As least paper is a renewable resource.

School suppliesNo mechanical pencilsBuy supplies made from natural fibers or with as

little plastic as possibleReuse supplies from year to year (eg binders etc).

Why make the box stores rich???Note books and paper from recycled sources not

top grade paper

4. Deposits & withdrawalsFor thousands of years humans have

viewed oceans as vast dumps for domestic, municipal, and industrial garbage

enormous deep-sea resources will undoubtedly attract more miners in the future, as easy-to-reach deposits on land are depleted.

• Mining sand for landfill, Belize Sand and gravel are in demand as fill, and as an ingredient of concrete.

4.7.7 Predict possible effects of declining fish resource on the livelihood of fishers. Fishers may concentrate more on

conservation. (hopefully)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fishers and the community they live in will have to diversify or die. Many are gone!! Eg. Great Harbour Deep

1. Develop aquaculture ex. Bay despair2. Golf course construction ex. Frenchman’s

cove3. Sea weed aquaculture ex. Isle aux Morts4. Eco-tourism ex. Northern Peninsula &

everywhere!5. Fish underutilized species6. Fort McMurray Jobs in Oil Sand7. Growing St. John’s due to international oil

in NL