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Ocean
Pollution, Ocean Garbage and Marine Debris
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Marine pollution
can start as far away as middle-America. Any toxic
materials that are put into rivers and bodies of
water can flow eventually to the oceans. Run-off
from drains and areas adjacent to the ocean is also
a severe problem, bringing all kinds of materials
into the sea. Toxic pollutants in the ocean have
considerable impacts on plants and animals. Heavy
metal poisoning from elements such as lead and mercury
caused by industry builds up in the tissues of top
predators such as whales and sharks, causing birth
defects and nervous system damage. Dioxins from pulp
and paper mills, and poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's)
from oil pollution and burning wood and coal cause
cause genetic problems in marine animals. Polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCB’s) from electrical equipment can cause
birth problems in most marine organisms. Sewage can
cause massive nutrient loading in the oceans, which
leads to algal blooms, effectively decreasing the
amount of dissolved oxygen in the water and many
organisms die from lack of oxygen. Sewage also introduces
parasites and bacteria, which can cause beach and
shellfish harvesting closures. Garbage has always
been discarded into the ocean, but since the 1940s,
plastic use has increased dramatically, resulting
in a huge quantity of nearly indestructible, lightweight
material floating in the oceans and eventually deposited
on beaches worldwide. Marine garbage includes fishing
nets, plastics, party balloons, beach toys, general
household garbage. Animals eat this garbage and it
strangles them or blocks their digestive system causing
starvation. Entanglement can also constrict growth
and circulation, causing eventual slow death, or
trap marine animals within large debris, leading
to drowning, starvation or attack by predators. Even
if just attached, it slows the animals’ ability to
move through the water, and animals starve due to
their inability to catch prey. Always pick
up your trash when you leave the beach. Pollution
can be reduced a number of ways. Many communities
have beach-clean-up days. Recycling reduces the amount
of trash that is available to go into the ocean.
Care should be taken to make sure that oil from cars,
suds from washing, and other pollutants do not go
down your storm drain. Any landscaping should be
protected until it is stable so that silt does not
get washed into rivers and streams. Party balloons
should be popped and never released into the air.
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Picture of old shoe,
garbage, marine environment , Philippines, Batangas
Picture #: 080830 |
Image of oiled little
blue penguin or fairy penguin, Eudyptula minor, North
Island, New Zealand
Picture #: 074997 |
Stock photo of
grizzly bear, Ursus horribilis, also known
as brown bear, Ursus arctos, sow and cubs climbing
into a dumpster looking for food in Prudhoe Bay,
the North Slope of the Brooks Range, central Arctic
coast of Alaska
Picture #: 021576 |
Photo of full trash
container on a beach of Bolivar Peninsula, Texas.
Picture #: 018760 |
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Picture of the mile
marker O zero at the start of the Alaska Oil Pipeline
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
Picture #: 068816 |
Image of oil and
gas forming patterns on the surface of a marina,
Ketchikan Alaska.
Picture #: 067473 |
Stock photo of a painted
sign that appears next to a storm drains near Monterey
Bay, California to inform residents not to dump harmful
fluids as they will damage the environment by ending
up in the bay.
Picture #: 082972 |
Picture of a sign warning
of coastal pollution, California
Picture #: 081531 |
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Picture of
trash washed up on beach. After winter storms, raw
sewage and every possible type of floating trash
from modern urban life are flushed down the Tijuana
River from Mexico and ultimately end up in the ocean
south of Imperial Beach San Diego California.
Picture #: 067475 |
Image of a juvenile
Hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys
imbricata, caught in a fishing
net in the Red Sea.
Picture #: 085017 |
Stock photo of ten year
old girls doing a beach coastal cleanup, Old Airport
State Beach Park, Big Island, Hawaii, Pacific
Picture #: 089864 |
Photo of juvenile coconut
crab, birgus latro, using a red plastic bottle cap
as a protective shell instead of the usual mollusk
shell. This is an environmental issue as more rubbish
is thrown in the ocean to wash up on the sea shore.
Uepi, Solomon Islands.
Picture #: 087666 |
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Picture of the rescue
of leatherback turtle, Dermochelys
coriacea, Scotts
Head, Dominica, Windward Islands, tangled in ropes
and trash
Picture #: 089335 |
Image of a placard
that appears next to a storm drain in Olympia Washington,
to inform residents not to dump harmful fluids as
they will damage the environment by ending up in
Puget Sound.
Picture #: 082973 |
Stock photo of Chevron
oil rig Grace, Santa Barbara Channel, California,
Pacific
Picture #: 064209 |
Photo of coastal pollution
, California, Pacific Ocean
Picture #: 081681 |
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Picture of California
sea lion, Zalophus californianus, with fishing
net around neck, Monterey Bay, California, Pacific
Ocean
Picture #: 091184 |
Image of oil from automobiles
that flows into a storm drain after a heavy rain
and then into Westport Harbor, Washington.
Picture #: 082981 |
Stock photo of a sign
that warns of water and soil pollution indicating
not to swim or eat fish, crabs and shellfish in the
surrounding water. Olympia, Washington
harbor
Picture #: 082976 |
Photo of common tern,
Sterna hirundo, landing on marine debris
or garbage, floating oil drum, Azores Island, Portugal,
Atlantic
Picture #: 090827 |
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