Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Ocean pollution impacts on the ecosystem
Effects of sea pollution
Ocean pollution impacts on the ecosystem
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Ocean pollution impacts on the ecosystem
A large amount of plastic in the water is hurting marine life and distorting the ecosystem to the extent of having dead animals. The ocean is the most important body of water that the Earth has and, if it’s polluted, then we will have a global catastrophe. The sea pollution is at an all-time high and it needs to end. Animal corpses litter the ocean floor because of the pollution. The sea is not our personal garbage dump. We need to take a stand to help change this.
Debris that pollutes the ocean is killing many living organisms. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a huge area where thousands among thousands of plastic, chemical sludge and other debris float around polluting beaches and trapping wildlife in the midst of its journey. The size of the patch is particularly unknown although there has been some estimates of its size including media reports that say, “Twice the size of the continental United States,” The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, (A.K.A. The Sea Life Killer) was formed simply by marine pollution and currents flowing through the ocean. We are the ones killing the ocean. The patch is an existence because of our selfish polluting habits. Every year cargo ships throw trash overboard and pollute the sea; therefore hurting marine habitats and to an extension, marine life. Thousands of cargo containers fall overboard in stormy seas each year, spilling their contents. One ship heading from Los Angeles to Tacoma, Wash., disgorged 33,000 blue-and-white Nike basketball shoes in 2002. (Weiss) The ocean is part of our ecosystem and it shouldn’t be treated as if it were a garbage dump.
Sea life has been endangered since the early days of the human race. Ever since humans realized that fish were edible, oceans have been in danger o...
... middle of paper ...
...n policies of public officials before you vote or contact your local representatives to let them know you support marine conservation projects. Consider patronizing restaurants and grocery stores that offer only sustainable seafood, and speak up about your concerns if you spot a threatened species on the menu or at the seafood counter. Also if you are boating, kayaking, canoeing, or doing any traveling activity, do not throw trash overboard and be a responsible traveler. Lastly, educate yourself about marine life and marine habitats because all life on Earth is connected through the ocean.
All in all, we need to protect our ocean from pollution so that we can have a water source. Without the ocean, we wouldn’t survive in the world. We need to stop littering and clean the beaches of filth. Our marine ecosystems are being endangered and we need to put a stop to it.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest garbage dump in the world. According to estimates made by experts, the patch holds approximately three and a half million tons of garbage. Majority of this garbage is made of plastic. This waste is a threatening problem to the patch’s surrounding wildlife. Many animals are caught in the floating pieces of trash and it is the cause of the deaths of about one million birds and about one hundred thousand other sea animals. Due to the oceans nature and constant moving currents, the trash is also constantly moving. Therefore the size of the patch never stays the exact same. However, scientists believe it be approximately two times the size of Texas. The plastic is mostly broken down from larger materials into small pieces. The patch has been referred to as one scientist as a, “plastic soup”. This garbage poses such a threat mainly because it does not biodegrade. These plastics will be in the ocean essentially forever. Many plastics also contain chemicals, and absorb other chemicals and pollutants they become exposed to. These newly absorbed toxins are then leaked and distributed back into the ocean over time. The chemicals can directly enter the bodies of the animals which consume them. A study was being conducted by scientists of the fish that inhabit the area around the patch. What the researchers found inside the belly of one fish (that was no larger in size than that of a finger), was eighty four small fragments of plastic. It does not take scientists to recognize the impact of this problem, Zach Gold, who is sixteen, is from Santa Monica California. Zach enjoys s...
Fifty-million plastic bags enter the Australian waters every year, causing the death of thousands of sea creatures. Imagine you went on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. As you arrive, it is clear to see garbage floating on the ocean and you can only imagine what rubbish lies beneath the surface. This disturbs me! What are we doing to our beautiful, yet innocent marine life?
People are hurting the animals, and they don’t realize it. That’s one of the issues that the people don’t realize what they are doing. All of the sea creatures about 100,000 marine animals and countless fish are being harmed by the floating plastics. Those animals die in the North Pacific every year from either eating the plastic junk or becoming ensnared, and even drowning in it. Since there is plastic in the ocean and it’s killing fish over time and from the over time it could actually make the fishes go extinct because we are throwing our garbage in the ocean, which is killing the species and affects the food chain in the ocean. Also, every people are eating plasticizing additives, drinking them, breathing them, and absorbing them through their skin every single day. Only 3 to 5 percent of plastics are recycled in any way. Which means each person tosses about 185 pounds of plastic every year. So, the plastic never really goes
Recently, an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean was found to be polluted with 38 million pieces of plastic that had been carried over by currents (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific island”). The island, dubbed ‘trash island’, is home to diverse animal populations that have all been devastated by the pollution. On the beach, hundreds of birds were seen dead by reporters and scientists. When analyzed, the primary cause of death turned out to be consumption of plastic. When animals ingest plastic, it clogs their stomach and poisons their body with toxic chemicals. These toxic chemicals cause an array of issues, such as reproductive and endocrine problems. Eventually, this leads to death (Knoblauch, “The environmental toll of plastics”). But due to the nature of plastics, it can take hundreds or even thousands of years to completely degrade, meaning that as plastic pollution continues to build up, more places like ‘trash island’ will be discovered. According to conservation scientist Alex Bond, “…[The island] is just an indicator of what’s floating around out there” (Wang, “No one lives on this remote Pacific
Being a responsible citizen of the planet can do a lot to protect the environment, and that includes the ocean and its coral reefs.
This pollution problem is so ubiquitous plastic can be found throughout the marine environment from coastlines to near shore lagoons to remote ocean hotspots where plastics caught up in marine currents. And gathered up into huge garbage patches that swirl
Ocean Pollution is a serious issue in today's global politics. The delicate balance of Earth's ecosystem is put in jeopardy when the ocean is not clean. Problem evolving from ocean pollution directly harm marine life and indirectly affect human health and the Earth's many valuable resources. Ocean Pollution is a Broad term that encpompasses any and all foregin matter that directly or indirectly makes its way into the ocean. This includes everything from the extreme: oil spills, Toxic Waste dumping and industrial dumping-- to the small scael: human activities and basic carelessness. Because the oceans and all other water bodies are invariably, somehow connected, and because they account for 3/4 of the Earth's surface, they are an ideal method of transportation for pollution, allowing the rapid spread of seemingly far away toxins into a river near you! It is increasingly important that we educate ourselves as to what, exactly, ocean pollution is, so that we can identify the causes at their source and take action in small and large ways, and hopefully, prevent this terrible form of pollution from getting any worse than it is today.
“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch – The Environmental Horror In The Pacific Ocean.” Save the Enviornment . N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2010.
Our oceans take a large beating every day by the extremely large amount of pollution humans produce. Our society easily dumps their waste into the oceans to dispose of the excessive amount of garbage, sewage, and chemicals, but this small and simple solution is creating an even bigger problem. The way humans dispose of their wastes is causing the death of our beloved marine life. Not only are we killing off our animals, our food source, and our resources, we are also minimizing our usable water. By having a better understanding of the problem on the severe dumping, it will be easier to find ways to help minimize the pollution that is going into the ocean.
The ocean is an abundant source of life. It is home to thousand of different creatures, provides a great source of food, and provides the earth with about one half of the oxygen needed to sustain life. (National Geographic) Pollution especially plastic, is a catastrophic problem. Ironically plastic, which is a material designed to last forever is generally used for things we tend to throw away. Every year about one hundred to two hundred billion pounds of plastic are manufactured. Only 31% of that plastic is actually recycled. Biomass packaging estimates 10% of that plastic ends up in the ocean annually. About 20% of it coming from ships and other platforms, and the other 80% coming from land derived sources, such as international garbage dumping, winds or tides either way it finds its way to the ocean.(Biomass Packaging Co., et al)
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is sometimes referred to as the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch and the Pacific Trash Vortex is a floating patch of garbage that has collected in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, which is located in the middle of two high-pressure areas between Hawaii and California. The majority of the garbage, which is also called marine debris, in the patch is plastic, but items made from other materials such as glass and rubber are also present. Though the garbage patch is too large and goes too deep under the surface of the ocean for scientists to determine exactly how much garbage is in it, they have collected up to 750,000 bits of plastic one square kilometer (CITE). This sort of debris floating around in the ocean is dangerous for several reasons. One important reason is that marine animals mistake some of the garbage, especially plastics, for food (CITE). Another reason that the floating debris is so dangerous is because it can block sunlight from reaching deeper levels of the ocean, and thus, it removes the energy source for many autotrophs like alga...
...an ecosystems balance. As research is being done to protect sea life, more can be done. With minimal funds, and low awareness around the world, the need for protection of the ocean is of most importance.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a stretch of several thousand miles where plastic and other debris gather due to what is called the North P...
Overfishing has become a huge problem for today’s oceans. A total of almost 80% of the world's fisheries are fully- to over-exploited, depleted, or in a state of collapse. Overfishing is exactly what it seems like it would be. The act of “fishing too much” is when fishermen are catching fish so fast and with a high occurrence that the fish are not able to reproduce quickly enough to regrow the population in the respective bodies of water. This problem has gotten progressively worse as we humans are now relying on fish as a food resource even more then the past and the equipment and techniques used by the fishermen have made it easier and more efficiently for more fish than ever to be caught. Even though overfishing
Research from the University of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography said that species in the ocean consume a projected 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic every year in the Pacific Ocean (Nall, 2014). Pollution of recyclable materials in the oceans is one of the leading causes of why some marine species are nearing extinction. Many authors of articles and books analyzing this topic tend to agree that pollution of our oceans is a problem. The future of this problem is where their ideas tend to differ. The following four literature reviews attempt to demonstrate and support my belief that pollution is getting worse in the ocean and more marine life ecosystems are being affected, but there are things that we as humans can do to change this. Imagine a world where we didn’t have to constantly worry about the vicious cycle of humans affecting animals and then animals in turn affecting us through consumption.