Sources Sea Pollution: Endangered Species And Coral Bleaching

Oceanic pollution is an issue these days, and ocean pollution is causing our natural environment to die, you may believe that it doesn’t cause several situations, but in actual theory it does! In this inquiry, we will be notifying you about the consequences and impacts sea pollution has. How sea pollution is altering the many species in the ocean, what is happening presently, what will happen in the future and who is helping to prevent these problems.

Approximately 0.01% ~0.1% of marine species in the ocean get extinct each year and it’s basically caused by sea pollution and presently 5,200 species are in danger of going extinct. All of this is caused by mankind, we put the rubbish in the ocean, we put the toxic chemicals in the ocean, and as our population grows continuously more toxins and chemicals (etc) go into the ocean. SOURCE Imagine our oceans having no sea creatures at all! Some scientists say that by 2050 there will be more rubbish in the ocean than fish, if no one acts this prediction will come true(www.panda.org).

Endangered species……

The blue whale, which has a long stream-lined body and wide head, staggering flippers, a really powerful tail which is famous for the big splash and incredible view when people are having tours and lastly a small dorsal fin. Blue whales can develop up to 100 feet and can weigh about 50,000~150,000kgs, their tongue weighs about an equal amount as an elephant and their heart is similar to an automobile.

Around 350,000 were killed during 1904~1967. Presently only 10,000~25,000 blue whales are left in the wild. Blue whales and including most whales feed on a healthy diet of small strips called krill, the extinction of these whale species is caused by the sea pollution in the ocean like chemicals and rubbish and since and the krill get harmed as well the decreasing of krill, is also harming the whales. (natgeokids.org)(wwfpanda.org)

The fin whale has a different coloured appearance to the blue whale, the fin whale has dark grey to brownish-black skin and white undersides. This whale has a streamlined body and has a big jaw. The scientific name for the fin whale is “Balaenoptera physalus”.This animals is also hunted for their fins oil and meat. Fin whales can weigh approximately 48,000kgs and are about 19 to 25 meters. They feed on schooling fish, squid, copepods and krill. There are 18,000 left in the Northern pacific which is their main habitat. (wwfpanda.org) The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, hawksbill turtle and the green sea turtle are basically all sea turtles that are highly endangered with only a few million left. It is estimated that 4,600 turtles get killed only by fishing and if sea turtles were completely extinct some sea coral could change

and it will be harder to harvest seafood. Turtles get caught in nets and get hooked on fishing lines, other than that there is something that harms sea turtles the most…it’s sea pollution it’s mostly the rubbish which they swallow thinking its food and since rubbish doesn’t break down easily it fills their stomach always thinking that they’re full and starving to death. (conserveturtles.org)(nationalgeographic.com)(seaturtleinc.org)

A vaquita might sound unusual but they actually have a similar appearance to a dolphin, they have large dark rings around their eyes and patches on there it’s lips that form a line to their mouth to their pectoral fins. The scientific name for these adorable creatures is ”Phocoena sinus”.Vaquitas are critically endangered and, according to propose.org which is believed to be the most recent updated website, there are only 10-15 vaquitas which remain in the world

The Hector’s dolphins are also endangered and around 1000~10,000 left, 5 are erased from the earth each year, the causation of this reason is that they continuously get stuck in fishing nets and this has been taking place since 1973. If we keep up the problems we are doing the species will die out and become extinct. (worldwildlife.org)(marinemammalcenter.org)(porpoise.org)

The Hawaiian monk seal which is mostly found in Northwestern Hawaiian islands, they have a flat body that is shaped like a torpedo. Amazingly, they own eight pairs of teeth/cetacean teeth and has a slender physique. Only about 1,400 Hawaiian monk seals are left alive in the world, some people say that they won’t make the same mistake they did to the Caribbean monk seal(which is extinct), so these species are under protection by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). (animalspot.net)(fisheries.noaa.gov)(safety4sea.com)

Steller sea lions are also endangered but to avoid going extinct they are under control by ESA and MMPA.Livescience.com says that these creatures are in the endangered charts because they need to feed on the fish we eat, so some fishermen shoot them dead so they don’t eat their fish. The approximate amount of Steller sea lions that are left are about 85,000 worldwide.(nationalgeographic.com)(fisheries.noaa.gov)(marine mammalcenter.org)

Coral bleaching……

Coral bleaching can be due to colourful colours turning white and looking like they have been breached, they can be bleached when the seawater temperatures are either too hot or too cold when this happens, corals will release their algae, which live in their tissues causing the coral to turn white. Even though corals turn white and have no algae they are not completely dead. In January 2010, in the Florida keys, the water temperatures were named to be cold so this resulted a lot of corals getting bleached. Also, in the U.S in the year 2005, they lost nearly 50% of their corals due to their immense coral bleaching event.

If all of the corals get bleached there is a big chance that some aquatic fish and other species could become endangered and extinct. Coral is home to many sea animals because of the cause of coral loss the fishes won’t have homes to live in. (sciencedaily.com)

Sources of sea pollution……

Some common sources for sea pollution are garbage materials like cigarettes, plastic, packets, bags and bottles, but most man-made objects casually end up in the water even expensive electronic material! Travelling through to a nearby place or even to the other side of the world, since rubbish on the ocean takes thousands of years to break down it could still survive and end up in the bottom or the top of the ocean as well.Roughly 80% of marine litter comes from land sources like; drains, sewage outfalls, pipes etc, while the other 20% comes from illegal actions such as dumping, oil spills, tourism and fishing. From 80% plastics are estimated to be around 60~80% of the rubbish, and most of the plastics in the present environment which have been produced could still be there. Plastic takes about a thousand years to break down. The circulative amount of plastic made since the mid 20 century has the order of 5 billion tons, which is around enough to wrap the Earth is with the plastic. There is a prediction that by 2050 there will be 40 billion pieces of plastic, that could wrap the planet 6 times. (nrdc.org)

Oils…..

Oils have been a major contribution to sea pollution, and many sea creatures die from them. When oil spills commonly happen the oil doesn’t mix with the seawater since it is much denser, and after all birds feathers are waterproof but when their feathers become in contact with the oil it will coat their feathers and they won’t be able to fly so most drown, but organisation sometimes go through the oceans to look for suffering birds and rescue them. During 2018~2019 there have been 59 oil spills which are 163,000 tonnes of hazardous oils. It has harmed 82,000 birds, 6,165 sea turtles and 25,900 marine mammals have died from the past 9 years. (large.stanford.edu)

Diseases….

​There are health connections that may occur because of marine pollution. Diseases like Dysentery, Cholera, Arsenicosis, Polio, Schistosomiasis, Trachoma, Malaria, Typhoid fever and Lead poison. Dysentery has side effects like nauseousness, abdominal pain and severe diarrhoea, they are caused if they intake contaminated water or food. There are two types of Dysentery, bacillary and amoebic, bacillary dysentery is substantially caused by bacteria, and amoeba is caused by amoeba. Cholera is a major infection of the small intestine by the bacterium Vibrio Cholerae. this particular disease is so dangerous that it can kill mankind and other living creatures in hours if it’s not treated well in time. Some symptoms that can arise from Cholera can be headaches vomiting, diarrhoea as well as abdominal pain. The Who says that every year globally roughly 21,000~143,000 passings because of this disease. Arsenicosis is made by arsenic which is a poison substance, often released by industrial units. This happens due to the chronic display of miniature amounts of arsenic through drinking water, this disease can affect your lungs, kidney, bladder and also can cause cancer. There are many additional tonal diseases caused by water pollution and that can change. (livpure.com)Every eight seconds a child under the age of five dies because of diseases that are related to the contaminated waters(sufertoday.com)

What sea pollution has done to the world…..

Sea pollution negatively impacts the planet and is caused by natural causes like volcanoes, algae blooms, critter waste and storms and hurricanes. But a large amount of water pollution comes from human activity like sewage, farms, greenhouses, wastewater and chemicals from factories. Pollution in the ocean can reach a point where there isn’t enough oxygen in the sea for the fish so it results in suffocation! (ducksters.com)

Organisations and how we can help….

Numerous organisations and companies cooperate in solving and preventing our life-threatening problems. Organisations like;5 GYRES, Ocean Conservancy, The Ocean cleanup, EDF and plastic pollution coalition(marinesight.com)But other companies we all know contribute as well, like Coca-cola it has now moved onto environmentally friendly bottles/packages, and Mcdonalds say that by 2025 they will change their food packing to renewable and recyclable sources. (fortune.com)

We can also help! Even though we don’t own or participate in organisations, just by changing some ways on what we use and what we do we can make a difference as well.

Reducing the use of single-use plastics can help decrease the amount of plastic that goes into the ocean, recycling properly and not putting non-recyclable rubbish in recycling bins. Participating in ocean/river cleanup and support organisations. you may bring reusable bags when you go shopping to places where they’ve banned plastic bags, they have done this to help mainly for preventing water pollution, like Woolies, Coles, Aldi and others(ducksters.com)(oceanicsociety.org)

Conclusion…

To stop sea pollution and to make it into the beautiful ocean it once was, we need to work together. Ocean pollution harms so much, in various ways,it harms us and sea creatures in the sea, and it’s all caused by different reasons but most is from us, take responsibility and save the ocean…….