What is Marine Pollution: Causes, Effects, and Solutions
Despite its detrimental effects, the production of plastic continues and reaches up to 200 million tons every year. Eventually, it enters the ocean due to a lack of proper disposal.
Once thrown away, these materials would break into small debris called micro-plastics. It is commonly mistaken as food that causes the death of millions of seabirds and marine mammals each year.
This cycle leads to a harmful type of environmental contamination known as marine pollution. It is the result of chemicals and trash that came from the land and washed into the ocean. It causes adverse effects to marine habitats including all organisms and aquatic mammals.
Causes of Marine Pollution
Various sources pollute the ocean which is classified into two types: chemicals and trash.
Chemical Pollution
These are harmful contaminants that are usually man-made including:
- Nuclear waste or radioactive elements
- Herbicides or weedkillers
- Household products such as detergents, chlorine bleaches, antibacterial gel, etc.
- Fertilizers
- Oil industrial chemicals/ oil spills
- Pharmaceuticals
- Pesticides
- Sewage or liquid waste
When these contaminants flow from the farmland, local streams to coastlines, it can produce algae that pollute the oxygen in the water and eventually kills marine organisms and affect the aquatic food webs.
Trash
Trash or garbage brings hazardous waste impact to marine life and the ecosystem. The commonly found litter on the ocean include:
- Animal carcasses
- Broken bottles
- Cans
- Cigarette butts
- Fishing equipment scraps
- Food wrappers
- Plastic toys
Whether you throw away these items intentionally or not, still exacerbates pollution on marine ecosystems. Considering that these materials are non-biodegradable products, it takes thousands of years to decompose.
This may not be new to you but most of these materials cause painful death to marine animals and sea birds when ropes and plastics strangle them.
Effects of Marine Pollution
The damage brought by marine pollution not only affects life underwater but also imposes a risk to human health and lifestyle.
Here are some of the most common effects of a contaminated marine environment:
- An excessive amount of nitrogen and phosphorous. It causes algae to grow faster which depletes the amount of oxygen in the water, leading to diseases and death of small marine species.
- Oil deposits and strong chemicals may irritate your eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs.
- Exposure to poisonous chemicals/pesticides can harm the human reproductive system.
- Fish species for human consumption may store fatty tissues that come from toxic substances they absorbed.
- The continuous amount of litter on the beaches can affect human recreation and can impose danger for ships to navigate.
- Oil spills may cause suffocation to marine mammals when spread through their gills.
- Other sea creatures may endure different illnesses such as cancer, inability to reproduce, and changes in behavior.
Solutions for Marine Pollution
Thinking about its disastrous impact on marine life and humans, we can make a change and protect marine biodiversity. Here are the things we can do to help save the ocean.
- Avoid using chemical fertilizers and promote organic farming by using an eco-friendly pesticide.
- Employ proper sewage treatment for wastewater through biosolids recycling.
- Eat organic foods to help lessen the use of oil-based fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture.
- Look for alternatives when cleaning your home. You can use baking soda or lemon instead of toxic cleaning products.
- Dispose properly of hazardous items like motor oil, light bulbs, batteries, etc.
- If possible, ride a bike or walk to save gas and conserve energy.
- Bring your reusable bags when buying groceries to lessen the consumption of single-use plastics.
- Be responsible for keeping your garbage if there are no public trash cans available.
- Learn the 3Rs – reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Don't miss out on the latest lifestyle beats across Asia. Subscribe to The Beat's newsletter to receive compelling, curated content straight to your inbox!
