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SEMINAR TOPIC:MARINE POLLUTIONGUIDES :Dr S.N.GHOSH Dr S.P.MOHANTYPRESENTED BY: SHREYA MUKHERJEE
MARINE POLLUTION
• WHAT IS MARINE POLLUTION• FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR
MARINE POLLUTION• EFFECTS OF MARINE POLLUTION• STEPS TAKEN TO COMBAT
MARINE POLLUTION• ORGANISATIONS DEALING WITH
MARINE POLLUTION• LAWS REGARDING MARINE
POLLUTION• STATISTICAL DATA REGARDING
MARINE POLLUTION• CONCLUSION
What is marine pollution?• The introduction of harmful or potentially
harmful substances into the marine environment that interfere with the functioning of the marine ecosystem and render the marine environment unfit for sustaining life.
Pathways of marine pollution:
• Pollution is often classified as point source or nonpoint source pollution
• There are three main types of inputs of pollution into the ocean: direct discharge of waste into the oceans, runoff into the waters due to rain, and pollutants that are released from the atmosphere.
Major Causes of marine pollution
OIL SPILLS ALGAL BLOOMS PLASTIC POLLUTION INVASIVE SPECIES ACIDIFICATION EUTROPHICATION GLOBAL WARMING TOXINS NOISE NUCLEAR ACTIVITY
OIL SPILLS
• SOURCES OF OIL SPILLS.
Oil spills happen when people make mistakes or are careless and cause an oil tanker to leak oil into the ocean. There are a few more ways an oil spill can occur. Equipment breaking down may cause an oil spill. If the equipment breaks down, the tanker may get stuck on shallow land. When they start to drive the tanker again, they can put a hole in the tanker causing it to leak oil.
When countries are at war, one country may decide to dump gallons of oil into the other country’s oceans.
Terrorists may cause an oil spill because they will dump oil into a country’s ocean. Many terrorists will do this because they are trying to get the country’s attention, or they are trying to make a point to a country.
Illegal dumpers are people that will dump crude oil into the oceans because they do not want to spend money on decomposing their waste oil. Because they won’t spend money on breaking up the oil (decomposing it) they will dump oil into the oceans, which is illegal.
Natural disasters (like hurricanes) may cause an oil spill, too. If a hurricane was a couple of miles away, the winds from the hurricane could cause the oil tanker to flip over, pouring oil out.
EFFECTS OF OIL SPILLSThe 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.Marine mammals exposed to oil spills are affected in similar ways as seabirds. 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.Oil spills are one of the many ways killer whales have become endangered. The oil may be eaten or enter the whale’s blowhole.
OIL COATED WHALE
2)ALGAL BLOOMS
Harmful algal blooms (HABs), which are algal bloom events involving toxic or otherwise harmful phytoplankton such as dinoflagellates of the genus Alexandrium and Karenia.
ALSO KNOWN AS RED TIDES
WHAT CAUSES ALGAL BLOOMS?
• The frequency and severity of HABs in some parts of the world have been linked to increased nutrient loading from human activities.
• In other areas, HABs are a predictable seasonal occurrence resulting from coastal upwelling, a natural result of the movement of certain ocean currents.
• Coastal water pollution produced by humans and systematic increase in sea water temperature have also been suggested as possible contributing factor
• ]. Other factors such as iron-rich dust influx from large desert areas such as the Saharan desert are thought to play a role in causing HABs
EFFECTS OF ALGAL BLOOMS:
• People may experience respiratory irritation (coughing, sneezing, and tearing) when the phytoplankton Karenia brevis is present along a coast and winds blow its toxic aerosol onshore.
• skin irritation and burning is possible in areas of high concentration
• Dead zones are often caused by the decay of algae during algal blooms. These occur near inhabited coastlines, where aquatic life is most concentrated.
RED TIDE
3)PLASTIC POLLUTION: Marine debris is mainly discarded human rubbish which floats
on, or is suspended in the ocean Eighty percent of marine debris is plastic - a component that has
been rapidly accumulating since the end of World War II Discarded plastic bags, six pack rings and other forms of plastic
waste which finish up in the ocean present dangers to wildlife and fisheries
Known as ghost nets, these entangle fish, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, dugongs, crocodiles, seabirds, crabs, and other creatures, restricting movement, causing starvation, laceration and infection, and, in those that need to return to the surface to breathe, suffocation
Toxic additives used in the manufacture of plastic materials can leach out into their surroundings when exposed to water.
PLASTIC JELLYFISH
PLASTIC OR JELLY?
EFFECTS OF PLASTIC POLLUTION Many animals that live on or in the sea consume flotsam by
mistake, as it often looks similar to their natural prey. Plastic debris, when bulky or tangled, is difficult to pass, and
may become permanently lodged in the digestive tracts of these animals, blocking the passage of food and causing death through starvation or infection.[43][44]
When floating plastic particles photodegrade down to zooplankton sizes, jellyfish attempt to consume them, and in this way the plastic enters the ocean food chain
Many of these long-lasting pieces end up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals,[48] including sea turtles, and black-footed albatross
4)Invasive species
What are invasive species?
• A particular species of flora or fauna that suddenly and unfavourably introduced in an environment and disrupts the normal functioning of that ecosystem.
How are invasive species transported?
• Ballast water taken up at sea and released in port is a major source of unwanted exotic marine life.
• Discharge of cargo residues from bulk carriers• By ocean currents
Effects of invasion of alien species?
• Cause diseases• Cause genetic pollution• alter underwater seascapes• jeopardize the ability of native species to
obtain food by offering unnecessary competetion.
Case study
• a seemingly harmless jellyfish. Mnemiopsis leidyi, a species of comb jellyfish that spread so it now inhabits estuaries in many parts of the world. It was first introduced in 1982, and thought to have been transported to the Black Sea in a ship’s ballast water. The population of the jellyfish shot up exponentially and, by 1988, it was wreaking havoc upon the local fishing industry in many countries.
Wart comb jelly
5)Eutrophication
• Eutrophication is an increase in chemical nutrients, typically compounds containing nitrogen or phosphorus, in an ecosystem
Causes of eutrophication:
• The biggest culprit are rivers that empty into the ocean, and with it the many chemicals used as fertilizers in agriculture as well as waste from livestock and humans
• In addition to land runoff, atmospheric anthropogenic fixed nitrogen can enter the open ocean. A study in 2008 found that this could account for around one third of the ocean’s external (non-recycled) nitrogen supply and up to three per cent of the annual new marine biological production.[33]
Effects of eutrophication:
• It can result in an increase in the ecosystem's primary productivity (excessive plant growth and decay), and further effects including lack of oxygen and severe reductions in water quality, fish, and other animal populations.
• An excess of oxygen depleting chemicals in the water can lead to hypoxia and the creation of a dead zone.[30]
• [33] It has been suggested that accumulating reactive nitrogen in the environment may have consequences as serious as putting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.[34]
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
Causes of acidification:
• Human activities such as land-use changes, the combustion of fossil fuels, and the production of cement have led to a new flux of CO2 into the atmosphere
• the oceans absorb more anthropogenic CO2
Effects of ocean acidification:
• One of the most important repercussions of increasing ocean acidity relates to the production of shells and plates out of Changes in ocean chemistry can have extensive direct and indirect calcium carbonate CaCO3.
• There are concerns that structures made of calcium carbonate may become vulnerable to dissolution, affecting corals and the ability of shellfish to form shells.
SEA PH CHANGE
GLOBAL WARMING:
THERMOHALINE CIRCULATION:
• The term thermohaline circulation (THC) refers to the part of the large-scale ocean circulation that is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes. The adjective thermohaline derives from thermo- referring to temperature and -haline referring to salt content, factors which together determine the density of sea water.
EFFECT OF GLOBAL WARMING ON THERMOHALINE CIRCULATION:
• There is some speculation that global warming could, via a shutdown or slowdown of the thermohaline circulation, trigger localized cooling in the North Atlantic and lead to cooling, or lesser warming, in that region. This would affect in particular areas like Scandinavia and Britain that are warmed by the North Atlantic drift.
• warming reduces the ocean's ability to absorb CO2. As well as having effects on ecosystems (e.g. by melting sea ice, affecting algae that grow on its underside),
NOISE:
• Marine life can be susceptible to noise or sound pollution from sources such as passing ships, oil exploration seismic surveys, and naval low-frequency active sonar. Sound travels more rapidly and over larger distances in the sea than in the atmosphere
EFFECTS OF NOISE POLLUTION:
• Noise also makes species communicate louder, which is called the Lombard vocal response.Whale songs are longer when submarine-detectors are on.If creatures don't "speak" loud enough, their voice can be masked by anthropogenic sounds. These unheard voices might be warnings, finding of prey, or preparations of net-bubbling. When one species begins speaking louder, it will mask other specie voices, causing the whole ecosystem to eventually speak louder.
• the noise from shipping, seismic surveys, and military activity is creating a totally different environment than existed even 50 years ago. That high level of noise is bound to have a hard, sweeping impact on life in the sea."[74]
NUCLEAR ACTIVITY:
• Radioactive wastes discharged into the ocean adversely affect marine life.i.e,both flora and fauna
• They occur in the form of radioactive fallout as a result of nuclear explosions.
• Nuclear wastes as a result of military activity are dumped into the oceans.
Effects of nuclear activity:
• . Radioactive fallout as a result of nuclear explosions enter the ocean ecosystem when they are eaten by fish which in turn are consumed by larger fish and marine mammals and reptiles.some of them re consumed by human beings and birds like seagulls.
• These radioactive substance cause undesirable mutations and embryological defects and may even lead to cancer.
Under water nuclear explosion
Toxins:• Apart from plastics, there are particular problems with other toxins that
do not disintegrate rapidly in the marine environment. Examples of persistent toxins are PCBs, DDT, pesticides, furans, dioxins, phenols and radioactive waste. Heavy metals are metallic chemical elements that have a relatively high density and are toxic or poisonous at low concentrations. Examples are mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and cadmium. Such toxins can accumulate in the tissues of many species of aquatic life in a process called bioaccumulation.
• Mercury enters the environment naturally and through industrial pollution, mostly from coal-fired power plants.
Effects of toxins:
• Nearly all fish contain trace amounts of mercury, but longer-lived predators — like tuna, swordfish and sharks — generally have higher levels. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns pregnant women against eating large amounts of fish to avoid harming an unborn child's developing nervous system.
• Mercury and methylmercury are not soluble, so they primarily accumulate in the viscera, although they are also found in the muscle tissue
Steps to combat marine pollution:
• TREATING OIL SPILLS by introducing OIL CONSUMING MICROBES
• Say no to plastic or recycle it.• Avoiding channelising industrial affluence
into the sea.• Sewage should be treated in sewage
treatment plants and not channelised into oceans.
• Controlling sea traffic• Creating awareness by educating people
Case study:black rose oil tragedy.
How spills are treated?
• Alcanivorax borkumensis is a rod-shaped bacteria that relies on oil to provide it with energy. Relatively rare in unpolluted seas it quickly comes to dominate the marine microbial ecosystem after an oil spill, and it can be found throughout the world's oceans.
• By sequencing the genome of this oil-eating microbe, the scientists hope to harness its power to help clean up future oil spills.
• digest the big hydrocarbon molecules of oil, generating much shorter chains of carbon
INTERNATIONAL LAWS REGARDING MARINE POLLUTION:
• Maritime pollution has subsided somewhat over the past 30 years, thanks to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which was passed in 1972, and reauthorized twice in the 1980s as the Clean Water Act. The law imposed uniform minimum federal standards for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment, and put limits on pollutants in discharges from industrial facilities—requiring plants to adopt up-to-date pollution-control technology.The Clean Water Act also increased standards for waste treatment plants—under law, about $125 billion was spent between 1972 and 1992 creating new public treatment works. The ban of pesticides and other harmful chemicals such as DDT, PCBs, and lead additives in gasoline, have also helped to control maritime pollution.
ORGANISATIONS DEALING WITH MARINE POLLUTION:
• ENVIROCARE SYSTEMS(PVT LTD)• Environment Protection: Offering a wide range
of Oil Spill Control Equipments, Sea Water Pollution Control Equipments, Marine Pollution Control Equipments, etc. since the last two decades......
• INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANISATION: IMO is the United Nations' specialized agency responsible for improving maritime safety and preventing pollution from ships.
CONCLUSION:
• MARINE POLLUTION IS INCREASINLY BECOMING A THREAT TO MANKIND AND FLORA AND FAUNA AS WELL.INTERNATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS A RE REQUIRED TO COMBAT THE SAME AND MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN.
THANK YOU
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