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Marine Pollution In The Great Barrier Reef

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What is Marine Pollution?
Marine pollution is the spreading of harmful substances into the ocean. Oil, carbonic acid and plastics are harming the marine environment as well as the wide variety of animals and plants within. Marine pollution is caused by many industrial and domestic activities such as oil spills, garbage dumping, factory waste disposal and the burning of fossil fuels. A few of the main causes in the great barrier reef are oil spills, the burning of fossil fuels and general waste.Fossil fuels affect the reefs by the carbon dioxide from the fossil fuels accumulates in the atmosphere. As carbon dioxide enters the ocean, it reacts with the seawater to form carbonic acid. The carbonic acid harms oysters, mussels and clams, floating marine snail as well as the coral reefs - all of which are significant to the marine food webs.
The oils spills can kill the animals or delay their reproduction, growth and development. The entire reef ecosystem can suffer from an oil spill, affecting the many species of fish, crabs, and other marine animals that live in and around the coral reefs.

Who is involved with Marine Pollution?
Many people are to blame for Marine Pollutions in the Great Barrier Reef. Anyone …show more content…

I have based my research in the Great Barrier Reef. The great barrier reef is situated in the Coral Sea, on Australia’s north-eastern coast. It stretches 2,300km along Queensland’s coastline, beginning at the top of Cape York Peninsula in the north and traveling all the way down to Bundaberg in the south. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef ecosystem on earth, representing about 10% of all the world's coral reefs. The Reef was listed on the World Heritage Register in 1981 on the basis of its Outstanding Universal Value.
The Reef contains the greatest species diversity of any World Heritage Area on the planet, including: o 56% of the world’s hard coral species o 33% of the world’s soft coral and sea fan

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