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Marine pollution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marine pollution
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marine pollution occurs when harmful, or potentially


harmful, effects result from the entry into the ocean of
chemicals, particles, industrial, agricultural and
residential waste, noise, or the spread of invasive
organisms. Eighty percent of marine pollution comes
from land. Air pollution is also a contributing factor by
carrying off pesticides or dirt into the ocean. Land and
air pollution have proven to be harmful to marine life
and its habitats.[1]
The pollution often comes from nonpoint sources such
as agricultural runoff, wind-blown debris and dust.
Nutrient pollution, a form of water pollution, refers to
contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients. It is a
primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters, in
which excess nutrients, usually nitrogen or phosphorus,
stimulate algae growth.
Many potentially toxic chemicals adhere to tiny
particles which are then taken up by plankton and
benthos animals, most of which are either deposit or
filter feeders. In this way, the toxins are concentrated
upward within ocean food chains. Many particles
combine chemically in a manner highly depletive of
oxygen, causing estuaries to become anoxic.

While marine pollution can be obvious, as with the


marine debris shown above, it is often the pollutants
that cannot be seen that cause most harm.

When pesticides are incorporated into the marine


ecosystem, they quickly become absorbed into marine
food webs. Once in the food webs, these pesticides can
cause mutations, as well as diseases, which can be harmful to humans as well as the entire food web.

Toxic metals can also be introduced into marine food webs. These can cause a change to tissue matter,
biochemistry, behaviour, reproduction, and suppress growth in marine life. Also, many animal feeds have a
high fish meal or fish hydrolysate content. In this way, marine toxins can be transferred to land animals, and
appear later in meat and dairy products.

Contents
1 History
2 Pathways of pollution
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2.1 Direct discharge


2.2 Land runoff
2.3 Ship pollution
2.4 Atmospheric pollution
2.5 Deep sea mining
3 Types of pollution
3.1 Acidification
3.2 Eutrophication
3.3 Plastic debris
3.4 Toxins
3.5 Underwater noise
4 Adaptation and mitigation
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links

History
Although marine pollution has a long history, significant international laws to counter it were only enacted
in the twentieth century. Marine pollution was a concern during several United Nations Conferences on the
Law of the Sea beginning in the 1950s. Most scientists believed that the oceans were so vast that they had
unlimited ability to dilute, and thus render pollution harmless.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, there were several controversies about dumping radioactive waste off the
coasts of the United States by companies licensed by the Atomic Energy Commission, into the Irish Sea
from the British reprocessing facility at Windscale, and into the Mediterranean Sea by the French
Commissariat l'Energie Atomique. After the Mediterranean Sea controversy, for example, Jacques
Cousteau became a worldwide figure in the campaign to stop marine pollution. Marine pollution made
further international headlines after the 1967 crash of the oil tanker Torrey Canyon, and after the 1969 Santa
Barbara oil spill off the coast of California.
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Marine pollution was a major area of discussion


during the 1972 United Nations Conference on
the Human Environment, held in Stockholm.
That year also saw the signing of the
Convention on the Prevention of Marine
Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other
Matter, sometimes called the London
Convention. The London Convention did not
ban marine pollution, but it established black
and gray lists for substances to be banned
Parties to the MARPOL 73/78 convention on marine
(black) or regulated by national authorities
pollution
(gray). Cyanide and high-level radioactive
waste, for example, were put on the black list.
The London Convention applied only to waste dumped from ships, and thus did nothing to regulate waste
discharged as liquids from pipelines.[2]

Pathways of pollution
There are many different ways to categorize, and examine the inputs
of pollution into our marine ecosystems. Patin (n.d.) notes that
generally there are three main types of inputs of pollution into the
ocean: direct discharge of waste into the oceans, runoff into the
waters due to rain, and pollutants that are released from the
atmosphere.
One common path of entry by contaminants to the sea are rivers. The
evaporation of water from oceans exceeds precipitation. The balance
is restored by rain over the continents entering rivers and then being
Septic river.
returned to the sea. The Hudson in New York State and the Raritan
in New Jersey, which empty at the northern and southern ends of
Staten Island, are a source of mercury contamination of zooplankton (copepods) in the open ocean. The
highest concentration in the filter-feeding copepods is not at the mouths of these rivers but 70 miles south,
nearer Atlantic City, because water flows close to the coast. It takes a few days before toxins are taken up by
the plankton.[3]
Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution. Point source pollution occurs when
there is a single, identifiable, and localized source of the pollution. An example is directly discharging
sewage and industrial waste into the ocean. Pollution such as this occurs particularly in developing nations.
Nonpoint source pollution occurs when the pollution comes from ill-defined and diffuse sources. These can
be difficult to regulate. Agricultural runoff and wind blown debris are prime examples.

Direct discharge
Pollutants enter rivers and the sea directly from urban sewerage and industrial waste discharges, sometimes
in the form of hazardous and toxic wastes.

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Inland mining for copper, gold. etc., is another source of marine pollution. Most of the pollution is simply
soil, which ends up in rivers flowing to the sea. However, some minerals discharged in the course of the
mining can cause problems, such as copper, a common industrial pollutant, which can interfere with the life
history and development of coral polyps.[4] Mining has a poor environmental track record. For example,
according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency,
mining has contaminated portions of the headwaters of over 40% of
watersheds in the western continental US.[5] Much of this pollution
finishes up in the sea.

Land runoff
Surface runoff from farming, as well as urban runoff and runoff from
the construction of roads, buildings, ports, channels, and harbours,
Acid mine drainage in the Rio Tinto
can carry soil and particles laden with carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus,
River.
and minerals. This nutrient-rich water can cause fleshy algae and
phytoplankton to thrive in coastal areas; known as algal blooms,
which have the potential to create hypoxic conditions by using all available oxygen.
Polluted runoff from roads and highways can be a significant source of water pollution in coastal areas.
About 75% of the toxic chemicals that flow into Puget Sound are carried by stormwater that runs off paved
roads and driveways, rooftops, yards and other developed land.[6]

Ship pollution
Ships can pollute waterways and oceans in many ways. Oil spills can have
devastating effects. While being toxic to marine life, polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), found in crude oil, are very difficult to clean up, and
last for years in the sediment and marine environment.[7]
Oil spills are probably the most emotive of marine pollution events.
However, while a tanker wreck may result in extensive newspaper
headlines, much of the oil in the worlds seas comes from other smaller
sources, such as tankers discharging ballast water from oil tanks used on
return ships, leaking pipelines or engine oil disposed of down sewers.[8]

A cargo ship pumps ballast


water over the side.

Discharge of cargo residues from bulk carriers can pollute ports,


waterways and oceans. In many instances vessels intentionally discharge
illegal wastes despite foreign and domestic regulation prohibiting such
actions. It has been estimated that container ships lose over 10,000
containers at sea each year (usually during storms).[9] Ships also create
noise pollution that disturbs natural wildlife, and water from ballast tanks

can spread harmful algae and other invasive species.[10]


Ballast water taken up at sea and released in port is a major source of unwanted exotic marine life. The
invasive freshwater zebra mussels, native to the Black, Caspian and Azov seas, were probably transported to
the Great Lakes via ballast water from a transoceanic vessel.[11] Meinesz believes that one of the worst
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cases of a single invasive species causing harm to an ecosystem can be attributed to a seemingly harmless
jellyfish. Mnemiopsis leidyi, a species of comb jellyfish that spread so it now inhabits estuaries in many
parts of the world. It was first introduced in 1982, and thought to have been transported to the Black Sea in a
ships ballast water. The population of the jellyfish shot up exponentially and, by 1988, it was wreaking
havoc upon the local fishing industry. The anchovy catch fell from 204,000 tons in 1984 to 200 tons in
1993; sprat from 24,600 tons in 1984 to 12,000 tons in 1993; horse mackerel from 4,000 tons in 1984 to
zero in 1993.[10] Now that the jellyfish have exhausted the zooplankton, including fish larvae, their
numbers have fallen dramatically, yet they continue to maintain a stranglehold on the ecosystem.
Invasive species can take over once occupied areas, facilitate the spread of new diseases, introduce new
genetic material, alter underwater seascapes and jeopardize the ability of native species to obtain food.
Invasive species are responsible for about $138billion annually in lost revenue and management costs in the
US alone.[12]

Atmospheric pollution
Another pathway of pollution occurs through the atmosphere. Wind
blown dust and debris, including plastic bags, are blown seaward
from landfills and other areas. Dust from the Sahara moving around
the southern periphery of the subtropical ridge moves into the
Caribbean and Florida during the warm season as the ridge builds
and moves northward through the subtropical Atlantic. Dust can also
be attributed to a global transport from the Gobi and Taklamakan
deserts across Korea, Japan, and the Northern Pacific to the
Hawaiian Islands.[14] Since 1970, dust outbreaks have worsened due
to periods of drought in Africa. There is a large variability in dust
transport to the Caribbean and Florida from year to year;[15]
however, the flux is greater during positive phases of the North

Graph linking atmospheric dust to


various coral deaths across the
Caribbean Sea and Florida[13]

Atlantic Oscillation.[16] The USGS links dust events to a decline in


the health of coral reefs across the Caribbean and Florida, primarily since the 1970s.[17]
Climate change is raising ocean temperatures[18] and raising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
These rising levels of carbon dioxide are acidifying the oceans.[19] This, in turn, is altering aquatic
ecosystems and modifying fish distributions,[20] with impacts on the sustainability of fisheries and the
livelihoods of the communities that depend on them. Healthy ocean ecosystems are also important for the
mitigation of climate change.[21]

Deep sea mining


Deep sea mining is a relatively new mineral retrieval process that takes place on the ocean floor. Ocean
mining sites are usually around large areas of polymetallic nodules or active and extinct hydrothermal vents
at about 1,400 3,700 meters below the oceans surface.[22] The vents create sulfide deposits, which contain

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precious metals such as silver, gold, copper, manganese, cobalt, and zinc.[23][24] The deposits are mined
using either hydraulic pumps or bucket systems that take ore to the surface to be processed. As with all
mining operations, deep sea mining raises questions about environmental damages to the surrounding areas
Because deep sea mining is a relatively new field, the complete consequences of full scale mining
operations are unknown. However, experts are certain that removal of parts of the sea floor will result in
disturbances to the benthic layer, increased toxicity of the water column and sediment plumes from
tailings.[23] Removing parts of the sea floor disturbs the habitat of benthic organisms, possibly, depending
on the type of mining and location, causing permanent disturbances.[22] Aside from direct impact of mining
the area, leakage, spills and corrosion would alter the mining areas chemical makeup.
Among the impacts of deep sea mining, sediment plumes could have the greatest impact. Plumes are caused
when the tailings from mining (usually fine particles) are dumped back into the ocean, creating a cloud of
particles floating in the water. Two types of plumes occur: near bottom plumes and surface plumes.[22] Near
bottom plumes occur when the tailings are pumped back down to the mining site. The floating particles
increase the turbidity, or cloudiness, of the water, clogging filter-feeding apparatuses used by benthic
organisms.[25] Surface plumes cause a more serious problem. Depending on the size of the particles and
water currents the plumes could spread over vast areas.[22][26] The plumes could impact zooplankton and
light penetration, in turn affecting the food web of the area.[22][26]

Types of pollution
Acidification
The oceans are normally a natural carbon sink, absorbing carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere. Because the levels of atmospheric
carbon dioxide are increasing, the oceans are becoming more
acidic.[28][29] The potential consequences of ocean acidification are
not fully understood, but there are concerns that structures made of
calcium carbonate may become vulnerable to dissolution, affecting
corals and the ability of shellfish to form shells.[30]

Island with fringing reef in the


Maldives. Coral reefs are dying
around the world.[27]

Oceans and coastal ecosystems play an important role in the global


carbon cycle and have removed about 25% of the carbon dioxide
emitted by human activities between 2000 and 2007 and about half
the anthropogenic CO2 released since the start of the industrial
revolution. Rising ocean temperatures and ocean acidification means
that the capacity of the ocean carbon sink will gradually get

weaker,[31] giving rise to global concerns expressed in the Monaco[32] and Manado[33] Declarations.
A report from NOAA scientists published in the journal Science in May 2008 found that large amounts of
relatively acidified water are upwelling to within four miles of the Pacific continental shelf area of North
America. This area is a critical zone where most local marine life lives or is born. While the paper dealt only

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with areas from Vancouver to northern California, other continental shelf areas may be experiencing similar
effects.[34]
A related issue is the methane clathrate reservoirs found under sediments on the ocean floors. These trap
large amounts of the greenhouse gas methane, which ocean warming has the potential to release. In 2004 the
global inventory of ocean methane clathrates was estimated to occupy between one and five million cubic
kilometres.[35] If all these clathrates were to be spread uniformly across the ocean floor, this would translate
to a thickness between three and fourteen metres.[36] This estimate corresponds to 5002500 gigatonnes
carbon (GtC), and can be compared with the 5000 GtC estimated for all other fossil fuel reserves.[35][37]

Eutrophication
Eutrophication is an increase in chemical nutrients, typically
compounds containing nitrogen or phosphorus, in an ecosystem. It
can result in an increase in the ecosystem's primary productivity
(excessive plant growth and decay), and further effects including
lack of oxygen and severe reductions in water quality, fish, and other
animal populations.
The biggest culprit are rivers that empty into the ocean, and with it
the many chemicals used as fertilizers in agriculture as well as waste
from livestock and humans. An excess of oxygen depleting
chemicals in the water can lead to hypoxia and the creation of a dead

Polluted lagoon.

zone.[3]
Estuaries tend to be naturally eutrophic because land-derived
nutrients are concentrated where runoff enters the marine
environment in a confined channel. The World Resources Institute
has identified 375 hypoxic coastal zones around the world,
concentrated in coastal areas in Western Europe, the Eastern and
Southern coasts of the US, and East Asia, particularly in Japan.[38] In
the ocean, there are frequent red tide algae blooms[39] that kill fish
and marine mammals and cause respiratory problems in humans and
some domestic animals when the blooms reach close to shore.

Effect of eutrophication on marine


benthic life

In addition to land runoff, atmospheric anthropogenic fixed nitrogen can enter the open ocean. A study in
2008 found that this could account for around one third of the oceans external (non-recycled) nitrogen
supply and up to three per cent of the annual new marine biological production.[40] It has been suggested
that accumulating reactive nitrogen in the environment may have consequences as serious as putting carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere.[41]
One proposed solution to eutrophication in estuaries is to restore shellfish populations, such as oysters.
Oyster reefs remove nitrogen from the water column and filter out suspended solids, subsequently reducing
the likelihood or extent of harmful algal blooms or anoxic conditions.[42] Filter feeding activity is
considered beneficial to water quality[43] by controlling phytoplankton density and sequestering nutrients,
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which can be removed from the system through shellfish harvest, buried in the sediments, or lost through
denitrification.[44][45] Foundational work toward the idea of improving marine water quality through
shellfish cultivation to was conducted by Odd Lindahl et al., using mussels in Sweden.[46]

Plastic debris
Marine debris is mainly discarded human rubbish which floats on, or
is suspended in the ocean. Eighty percent of marine debris is plastic
a component that has been rapidly accumulating since the end of
World War II.[47] The mass of plastic in the oceans may be as high
as one hundred million metric tons.[48]
Discarded plastic bags, six pack rings and other forms of plastic
waste which finish up in the ocean present dangers to wildlife and
fisheries.[49] Aquatic life can be threatened through entanglement,
A mute swan builds a nest using
plastic garbage.

suffocation, and ingestion.[50][51][52] Fishing nets, usually made of


plastic, can be left or lost in the ocean by fishermen. Known as ghost
nets, these entangle fish, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, dugongs,
crocodiles, seabirds, crabs, and other creatures, restricting movement, causing starvation, laceration and
infection, and, in those that need to return to the surface to breathe, suffocation.[53]
Many animals that live on or in the sea consume flotsam by mistake,
as it often looks similar to their natural prey.[54] Plastic debris, when
bulky or tangled, is difficult to pass, and may become permanently
lodged in the digestive tracts of these animals. Especially when
evolutionary adaptions make it impossible for the likes of turtles to
reject plastic bags, which resemble jellyfish when immersed in
water, as they have a system in their throat to stop slippery foods
from otherwise escaping.[55] Thereby blocking the passage of food
and causing death through starvation or infection.[56][57]

Remains of an albatross containing


ingested flotsam

Plastics accumulate because they don't biodegrade in the way many


other substances do. They will photodegrade on exposure to the sun, but they do so properly only under dry
conditions, and water inhibits this process.[58] In marine environments, photodegraded plastic disintegrates
into ever smaller pieces while remaining polymers, even down to the molecular level. When floating plastic
particles photodegrade down to zooplankton sizes, jellyfish attempt to consume them, and in this way the
plastic enters the ocean food chain.[59][60] Many of these long-lasting pieces end up in the stomachs of
marine birds and animals,[61] including sea turtles, and black-footed albatross.[62]
Plastic debris tends to accumulate at the centre of ocean gyres. In particular, the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch has a very high level of plastic particulate suspended in the upper water column. In samples taken in
1999, the mass of plastic exceeded that of zooplankton (the dominant animal life in the area) by a factor of
six.[47][63] Midway Atoll, in common with all the Hawaiian Islands, receives substantial amounts of debris
from the garbage patch. Ninety percent plastic, this debris accumulates on the beaches of Midway where it
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becomes a hazard to the bird population of the island. Midway Atoll is home to two-thirds (1.5 million) of
the global population of Laysan albatross.[64] Nearly all of these albatross have plastic in their digestive
system[65] and one-third of their chicks die.[66]
Toxic additives used in the manufacture of plastic materials can
leach out into their surroundings when exposed to water. Waterborne
hydrophobic pollutants collect and magnify on the surface of plastic
debris,[48] thus making plastic far more deadly in the ocean than it
would be on land.[47] Hydrophobic contaminants are also known to
bioaccumulate in fatty tissues, biomagnifying up the food chain and
putting pressure on apex predators. Some plastic additives are known
to disrupt the endocrine system when consumed, others can suppress

Marine debris on Kamilo Beach,


Hawaii, washed up from the Great
Pacific Garbage Patch

the immune system or decrease reproductive rates.[63] Floating


debris can also absorb persistent organic pollutants from seawater,
including PCBs, DDT and PAHs.[67] Aside from toxic effects,[68]
when ingested some of these are mistaken by the animal brain for
estradiol, causing hormone disruption in the affected wildlife.[62]

Toxins
Apart from plastics, there are particular problems with other toxins that do not disintegrate rapidly in the
marine environment. Examples of persistent toxins are PCBs, DDT, TBT, pesticides, furans, dioxins,
phenols and radioactive waste. Heavy metals are metallic chemical elements that have a relatively high
density and are toxic or poisonous at low concentrations. Examples are mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and
cadmium. Such toxins can accumulate in the tissues of many species of aquatic life in a process called
bioaccumulation. They are also known to accumulate in benthic environments, such as estuaries and bay
muds: a geological record of human activities of the last century.
Specific examples
Chinese and Russian industrial pollution such as phenols and heavy metals in the Amur River have
devastated fish stocks and damaged its estuary soil.[69]
Wabamun Lake in Alberta, Canada, once the best whitefish lake in the area, now has unacceptable
levels of heavy metals in its sediment and fish.
Acute and chronic pollution events have been shown to impact southern California kelp forests,
though the intensity of the impact seems to depend on both the nature of the contaminants and
duration of exposure.[70][71][72][73][74]
Due to their high position in the food chain and the subsequent accumulation of heavy metals from
their diet, mercury levels can be high in larger species such as bluefin and albacore. As a result, in
March 2004 the United States FDA issued guidelines recommending that pregnant women, nursing
mothers and children limit their intake of tuna and other types of predatory fish.[75]
Some shellfish and crabs can survive polluted environments, accumulating heavy metals or toxins in
their tissues. For example, mitten crabs have a remarkable ability to survive in highly modified
aquatic habitats, including polluted waters.[76] The farming and harvesting of such species needs
careful management if they are to be used as a food.[77][78]
Surface runoff of pesticides can alter the gender of fish species genetically, transforming male into
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female fish.[79]
Heavy metals enter the environment through oil spills such as the Prestige oil spill on the Galician
coast or from other natural or anthropogenic sources.[80]
In 2005, the 'Ndrangheta, an Italian mafia syndicate, was accused of sinking at least 30 ships loaded
with toxic waste, much of it radioactive. This has led to widespread investigations into radioactivewaste disposal rackets.[81]
Since the end of World War II, various nations, including the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the
United States, and Germany, have disposed of chemical weapons in the Baltic Sea, raising concerns
of environmental contamination.[82][83]

Underwater noise
Marine life can be susceptible to noise or the sound pollution from sources such as passing ships, oil
exploration seismic surveys, and naval low-frequency active sonar. Sound travels more rapidly and over
larger distances in the sea than in the atmosphere. Marine animals, such as cetaceans, often have weak
eyesight, and live in a world largely defined by acoustic information. This applies also to many deeper sea
fish, who live in a world of darkness.[84] Between 1950 and 1975, ambient noise at one location in the
Pacific Ocean increased by about ten decibels (that is a tenfold increase).[85]
Noise also makes species communicate louder, which is called the Lombard vocal response.[86] Whale
songs are longer when submarine-detectors are on.[87] If creatures don't "speak" loud enough, their voice
can be masked by anthropogenic sounds. These unheard voices might be warnings, finding of prey, or
preparations of net-bubbling. When one species begins speaking louder, it will mask other species voices,
causing the whole ecosystem to eventually speak louder.[88]
According to the oceanographer Sylvia Earle, "Undersea noise pollution is like the death of a thousand cuts.
Each sound in itself may not be a matter of critical concern, but taken all together, the noise from shipping,
seismic surveys, and military activity is creating a totally different environment than existed even 50 years
ago. That high level of noise is bound to have a hard, sweeping impact on life in the sea."[89]

Adaptation and mitigation


Much anthropogenic pollution ends up in the ocean. The 2011
edition of the United Nations Environment Programme Year Book
identifies as the main emerging environmental issues the loss to the
oceans of massive amounts of phosphorus, "a valuable fertilizer
needed to feed a growing global population", and the impact billions
of pieces of plastic waste are having globally on the health of marine

Aerosol can polluting a beach.

environments.[90] Bjorn Jennssen (2003) notes in his article,


Anthropogenic pollution may reduce biodiversity and productivity
of marine ecosystems, resulting in reduction and depletion of human

marine food resources.[91] There are two ways the overall level of
this pollution can be mitigated: either the human population is reduced, or a way is found to reduce the
ecological footprint left behind by the average human. If the second way is not adopted, then the first way
may be imposed as world ecosystems falter.
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The second way is for humans, individually, to pollute less. That requires social and political will, together
with a shift in awareness so more people respect the environment and are less disposed to abuse it.[92] At an
operational level, regulations, and international government participation is needed.[93] It is often very
difficult to regulate marine pollution because pollution spreads over international barriers, thus making
regulations hard to create as well as enforce.[94]
Without appropriate awareness of marine pollution, the necessary global will to effectively address the
issues may prove inadequate. Balanced information on the sources and harmful effects of marine pollution
need to become part of general public awareness, and ongoing research is required to fully establish, and
keep current, the scope of the issues. As expressed in Daoji and Dags research,[95] one of the reasons why
environmental concern is lacking among the Chinese is because the public awareness is low and therefore
should be targeted. Likewise, regulation, based upon such in-depth research should be employed. In
California, such regulations have already been put in place to protect Californian coastal waters from
agricultural runoff. This includes the California Water Code, as well as several voluntary programs.
Similarly, in India, several tactics have been employed that help reduce marine pollution, however, they do
not significantly target the problem. In Chennai, sewage has been dumped further into open waters. Due to
the mass of waste being deposited, open-ocean is best for diluting, and dispersing pollutants, thus making
them less harmful to marine ecosystems.

See also
Marine debris
Nutrient pollution
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
Environmental effects of pesticides
Plastic pollution
Garbage patch state environmental artwork intended to raise awareness

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Further reading
Cookson, Clive (Feb. 2015). Oceans choke as plastic waste pours in at 8 million tonnes a year
(http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2198fdea-b297-11e4-b234-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=uk) (free
registration required), The Financial Times
Ahn, YH; Hong, GH; Neelamani, S; Philip, L and Shanmugam, P (2006) Assessment of Levels of
coastal marine pollution of Chennai city, southern India. Water Resource Management, 21(7), 1187
1206.
Daoji, L and Dag, D (2004) Ocean pollution from land-based sources: East China sea. AMBIO A
Journal of the Human Environment, 33(1/2), 107113.
Dowrd, BM; Press, D and Los Huertos, M (2008) Agricultural non-point sources: water pollution
policy: The case of Californias central coast. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 128(3), 151
161.
Laws, Edward A (2000) Aquatic Pollution (http://books.google.com/books?
id=11LI7XyEIsAC&pg=PA4) John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-34875-7
Sheavly, SB and Register, KM (2007) Marine debris and plastics: Environmental concerns, sources,
impacts and solutions. Journal of Polymers & the Environment, 15(4), 301305.
Slater, D (2007) Affluence and effluents. Sierra 92(6), 27
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UNEP/GPA (2006) The State of the Marine Environment: Trends and processes
(http://gpa.unep.org/documents/soe_-_trends_and_english.pdf) United Nations Environment
Programme, Global Programme of Action, The Hague. 2006 ISBN 92-807-2708-7.
UNEP (2007) Land-based Pollution in the South China Sea
(http://www.unepscs.org/SCS_Documents/Download/19__Technical_Publications_and_Guidelines/Technical_Publication_10_-_LandBased_Pollution_in_the_South_China_Sea.html). UNEP/GEF/SCS Technical Publication No 10.

External links
Coastal Pollution Information from the Coastal Ocean Institute (http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?
pid=12049), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Mercury pollution (http://web.archive.org/web/20001021140316/www.ecoscope.com/mercury.htm)
How Oil Spill Absorbent Products Work (http://www.censol.co.uk/censol%20%20oil%20absorbents%20-%20testing.html)
Facts about Marine Mercury Pollution from Oceana.org (http://www.oceana.org/north-america/whatwe-do/stop-seafood-contamination)
Science News / Marine Pollution Spawns 'wonky Babies'
(http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/38922/title/Marine_pollution_spawns_wonky_babies)
Plastics at SEA: North Atlantic Expedition (http://plastics.sea.edu)
Plastic Trash Plagues the Ocean (http://ocean.si.edu/blog/plastic-trash-plagues-ocean), Trashing the
Ocean (http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-news/trashing-ocean), Oil's Impact on Marine Invertebrates
(http://ocean.si.edu/blog/invisible-loss-impacts-oil-you-do-not-see) on the Smithsonian Ocean Portal
How the oceans can clean themselves (http://www.youtube.com/watch?
feature=player_embedded&v=ROW9F-c0kIQ) TED Talk
Which Countries Create the Most Ocean Trash? (http://www.wsj.com/articles/which-countries-createthe-most-ocean-trash-1423767676)Wall Street Journal (February 12, 2015)
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