Marine Pollution

Marine PollutionMarine 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


• Most sources of marine pollution are land based.

• The pollution often comes from sources such as agricultural runoff and wind blown debris

Pathways of PollutionPathways of Pollution

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

Pathways of PollutionPathways of Pollution

• Generally there are four main types of inputs of pollution into the ocean:

1.direct discharge of waste into the oceans

2.runoff into the waters due to rain

3.pollutants that are released from the atmosphere

4. ship pollution

Direct Discharge of Waste into the Direct Discharge of Waste into the OceansOceans

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

Direct Discharge of Waste into Direct Discharge of Waste into the Oceansthe 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.

Direct Discharge of Waste into Direct Discharge of Waste into the Oceansthe 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

Surface RunoffSurface 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.


• 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.


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

Occurrence of Red Tide in Occurrence of Red Tide in Philippine BayPhilippine 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Ship PollutionShip 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Oil SpillOil 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.

Oil SpillOil Spill

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

Oil SpillOil 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.

Oil SpillOil 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.

Environmental Effects of Oil Environmental Effects of Oil SpillSpill

• 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.


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


• 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.


• 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


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

Environmental Effects of Oil SpillEnvironmental 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.


• 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.

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

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ocean Acidification

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

Marine Pollution

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