The Dangers Of Marine Pollution

     Heavy metals, such as copper, lead, mercury, and selenium are another group of toxins that pollute the water as well as the rest of the environment. The source of many of these pollutants are industries, automobile exhaust, mines, and even natural soil.

The chemicals from Industries can quite harmful depending on what 's flowing into the water. Releasing toxic liquids directly into the water affects marine life as is, but it can also change the temperature of the water, also known as thermal pollution causing animals and plants that can 't handle that temperature to eventually die. Land run off usually happens when rain or perhaps a flood carry a harmful pollutants, which include fertilizers, petroleum, and waste from animals. One of the major sources of ocean pollution would be oil spills that can come from Ships. However, oil is not only extremely toxic, but it is very difficult to clean up. Unfortunately when there is a spill people may try to clean it up as best as they can, but a good amount will stay. Ocean mining can be extremely harmful to the ocean. They use ocean mining to drill for silver, gold, copper, cobalt and zinc, however in doing so they create sulfide deposits deep down in the ocean causing long term effects to the area. Finally, littering is another huge source of ocean pollution. Such things can include debris, especially plastic, which never goes away.

Copper is another pollutant that at very high levels is toxic and can cause vomiting, diarrhea, loss of strength or, for serious exposure, cirrhosis of the liver (Pure Water Services). In order for copper to metabolized the heavy metal zinc is needed. Zinc helps with copper breakdown but too much zinc can cause a copper deficiency which can also cause problems such as anemia. While copper has some severe side effects there have not been any cases that are related to cancer. In most cases throughout the Silver Bow Creek copper is not thought to be a severe threat to the community.

Copper concentrations that exceed 20 micrograms per gram can be toxic to any living thing (Solomon). Copper binds easily to organic matter, which means it levels are rather high in animals that can filter materials from water; although biomagnification doesn’t occur in the food web. In terms of aquatic organisms and ecosystems, copper is one of the most toxic metals, and aquatic organisms tend to be more sensitive to its effects.

Effects on the local Great Lake biosphere have accumulations of toxins within the food chain. For instance, fish. Consuming a large amount of fish exposed to these toxic chemicals can expose you to DDT, dioxin, and PCVs, these chemicals are known for being carcinogenic, and can cause neurological disorders and a weakened immune system. Being exposed to the Water by swimming can also cause immune problems if swallowed. These chemicals also are known for causing skin cancer if exposed to the external body.

Another major health risk that occurs when our oceans are being polluted is that the seafood becomes contaminated with chemicals. Chemicals are beginning to move up the food chain and soon into our plates. Research and studies show that plastic is absorbed by animals when it floats in waters and when these innocent fish and marine life ingest these foods it is endangering the marine ecosystem as a whole.

These fish becoming poisoned by the toxins can carry disease and end up on your plate. Local seafood restaurants or grocery stores cannot tell if the fish they serve to you has been affected by the hazardous pollution. The fishermen that catch the fish locally cannot see a difference between the diseased fish and normal ones either so the pollution in the community deposits into the harbor can come right back. The local population also drinks the water that has been filtered and sometimes contains dangerous minerals. This water runs through showers and faucets in homes that people use every day.

The health hazards for humans who come in contact with contaminants from exposure to polluted water can have long term effects on the body causing possible organ failure and death. Contaminants and chemicals such lead and mercury can bring about many minor illnesses ranging from nausea, lung irritation, skin rash, vomiting, and dizziness, to the major diseases that include cancer, liver and kidney damage, disorders of the nervous system, damage to the immune system, birth defects and even death.

After scrutinizing the available information one is led to think otherwise.  No amount of Spokane River fish can be ‘safely’ eaten.  The fish themselves are not safe.  Toxic and poisonous chemicals such as mercury, arsenic, lead and PCB’s (polychlorinated-biphenyl) have been found in the tissues and bones of all fish studied in the Spokane River.  The fish’s food sources and even the beach sand along the riverbank have been found to contain harmful levels of these chemicals.  Studies on the effects of PCB’s on human memory loss and learning disabilities have been conducted by four universities around Lake Michigan over a 9 year period showing a direct link between PCB levels in adults and their lower scores on learning tests.  People who eat a certain amount of either commercially available fish or sports fish have sometimes as high as four times in parts per million the amounts of mercury and lead that the FDA would approve. The sources of these pollutants are industrial waste and some naturally occurring elements. Mining in Idaho has historically been the prime factor in the declining water quality of the Spokane River in Washington State and has been the focus of our national Superfund clean-up

When looking at the ocean pollution caused by people it impacts animals and ourselves as humans. For many years, the unregulated dumping of chemicals, toxins and other waste directly into lakes, rivers, streams and oceans triggered disease and other risks to humans and wildlife(Calhoun 89). This can affect

Many of my sources including ‘Methyl Mercury - The Danger from the Sea’ (Protect the sharks, 2012) offer data and detailed explanations as to why it is so toxic to us as humans and the extreme problems it can cause to the human body. As mammals, we cannot manage mercury levels in our system because it is not naturally occurring in our environment, meaning we have not adapted to cope with is causing us to suffer various negative side effects when ingesting mercury. Methyl mercury is 1000 times more toxic than organic mercury (Protect the sharks, 2012) which is an alarming statistic considering the fact human tissue assimilates almost 100% of methyl mercury. According to Dr. Jane Hightower, although there is no ‘safe’ level of chronic mercury exposure, for reasons currently thought to be related to genetics, some people have higher tolerances to methyl mercury than others. This means reactions to the substance can vary in severity on wide scale. ‘The Effect of Fish Consumption on Blood Mercury Levels of Pregnant Women’ (Euy Hyuk Kim et al, 2006) explains that once the methyl mercury is ingested, usually through the consumption of fish, initial signs of the poisoning include numbness of the hands and feet, general weakness of the muscles, loss of peripheral vision and damage to hearing and speech. However within the course of only a few weeks the effects of the poisoning can dramatically worsen to anything between the development of type 2 diabetes, infertility (especially in men), immune dysfunction, an increase in coronary heart disease and heart attacks or strokes, mutations leading to cancer, dysphagia, visual impairments, insanity (hence the term mad as a hatter) and neuropsychiatric damage being the worst. The neurological problems tend to originally show themselves in the form of ataxia earlier on in the timeline of

Mercury poisoning around the world spread dangerously into the waters and into foods that people ate, especially fish, creating not only health issues, but also environmental issues. Dietary exposure to methylmercury is the most common type of mercury exposure. Methylmercury is an organic form that is found in fish, contaminating them (Gerdes, 2006). Methylmercury was created when elemental mercury got into rivers, lakes, and oceans, therefore forming mercury poisoning in many types of fish. Even though fish contained many good vitamins, minerals, and protein, fish attracted methylmercury, which was extremely toxic to organ of the

The oceans face many types of pollution every day, every second. The ocean is our greatest ecosystem and out most valuable resource. A common misconception is that the rainforests are the lungs of the planet however, the majority of our oxygen is made via the algae in the sea. The oceans feeds, hydrates, and provides us with oxygen; ironically enough, despite its monetary value to mankind, it is what is treated the worst. For ages we have been dumping our trash, chemicals, and waste into the oceans with no fear or regret, almost an “out of sight- out of mind” mentality. People once and still assume that the oceans are so vast that all of the pollution is diluted and would be dispersed through out, going unnoticed. However, dilution is a myth and an idea that renders ocean dumping to be less impactful. Even so much of the man made pollution is becoming even more concentrated and have entered our natural food chain. However vast the waters of the ocean are, they are not meant to house all of these external factors. There are many alternatives to marine pollution including recycling, finding alternative trash dump sites, cutting down on harmful chemicals for agriculture, and most importantly having the ability to recognize when a problem is developing and counter act, immediately.

Ocean pollution is one of the most urgent issues in our world today. The ocean is crucial to our ecosystem and it is being severely damaged at an alarmingly increasing rate. In this paper I will educate about the role the ocean plays in our beautiful Earth, why it is being so widely ignored and dismissed, the causes of pollution, and its effects on animals and humans alike.

As the world develops and the human population grows there is more pollution being dumped into the oceans, causing major problems to marine life and ecosystems. Major causes of marine pollution involve non-point pollutants, marine garbage, toxic ocean pollutants and sewage disposal in oceans. From heavy metal poisoning including lead and mercury killing predators such as sharks and whales, to waste getting trapped in the digestive tracts of marine animals, this essay focuses on how human interference causes horrifying problems to the marine life, but also how to fix it. It will also explore the normal activities of people including farming and how this can cause an imbalance in an ecosystem. Everyday activities can cause massive nutrient