Selby 1

Megan Selby
Dr. Cassel
English 101-03
16 December 2016
Humans Effect on Marine Life
Only a small portion of the world is land. In fact, 70% of the surface of the Earth is water
and 96% of the Earths water is oceans (Hardesty). The problem is much of the population is
uneducated and careless towards the well-being of the Earths water. If so much of the Earth is
water, why do people refuse to take care of it? This carelessness leads to problems with the
species that live within these bodies of water, especially marine life. Humans negatively affect
marine life through multiple types of pollution and this eventually comes back to harm humans
as well. Fortunately, there are potential solutions to this issue.
One major contributor to ocean pollution is plastic debris. There are numerous different
sources of plastic debris in the ocean, including fishing fleets, merchant ships, recreational
fishing, and beachgoers (Derraik 843). These sources carelessly leave or dump plastic waste into
the ocean. In the article The pollution of the marine environment by plastic debris: a review,
Derraik states, In 1975 the worlds fishing fleet alone dumped into the sea approximately
135,400 tons of plastic fishing gear and 23,700 tons of synthetic packaging material (843).
Since then the production of plastic has rapidly increased. Plastic products are popular because
they are lightweight, strong, durable and cheap, characteristics that make them suitable for the
manufacture of a very wide range of products (Derraik 842). The problem is that these products
are not disposed of properly and end up affecting marine life. Plastic in the oceans has created
the Great Pacific garbage patch, which is plastic debris grouped together in the North Pacific

Selby 2
Ocean because of ocean currents. Scientists are not sure exactly how much the garbage patch
contains. This is due to the fact that the patch is hard to see because the plastics breaks down into
small pieces (National Geographic Society). There are multiple other patches like the Great
pacific garbage patch in the ocean, and they have a large impact on marine life.
Marine life greatly suffers from the ingestion of plastic debris. Many marine animals
mistake plastic for food. An example of this is turtles mistaking plastic bags for jelly fish
(Derraik). Derraik writes, [seventy-five point nine percent] of 54 loggerhead sea turtles captured
by fishermen had plastic debris in their digestive tracts (845). Another study was done where
scientists examined various species of fish with plastic debris in their guts and found that only
white plastic spherules had been ingested, indicating that they fed selectively (Derraik 844).
These two examples prove that marine life often ingest plastic debris when they mistake it for
food. When marine life ingests plastics, there are many harmful effects such as blockage of
gastric enzyme secretion, diminished feeding stimulus, lowered steroid hormone levels, delayed
ovulation, and reproduction failure (Derraik 845). These are major problems that cause the
animals to suffer and eventually die.
When marine life ingests plastic it also affects humans. In the article How Plastic in the
Ocean is Contaminating Your Seafood, Barclay writes, Plastics - when they end up in the
ocean are a sponge for chemicals already out therethe chemicals come off of plastic and are
transferred into the bloodstream or tissue. This means that the fish that humans eat is
contaminated with chemicals from the plastic the fish ingested in the ocean. Many times seafood
is not tested for chemicals so humans are unaware of what exactly they are ingesting (Barclay).
Plastic ingestion is extremely harmful for marine life, but there is another problem plastic debris
causes.

Selby 3

Seal entangled in abandoned fish net.

Entanglement
caused by plastic

is another problem
debris in the ocean.

Many cases of entanglement are caused by abandoned fishing nets. Fishermen dump these plastic
nets into the ocean because they are cheap (National Geographic Society). Entanglement poses
many problems for an animal such as it may drown, have its ability to catch food or avoid
predators impaired, or incur wounds from abrasive or cutting action of attached debris (Derraik
846). Many times scientists use the term ghost-fishing when referring to animals drowning due
to entanglement (National Geographic Society). This use of this term eludes to the eeriness of the
issue. Entanglement mostly affects marine mammals like seals because they are curious and
playful animals (Derraik 846). Derraik writes, Scientists estimated that up to 40,000 fur seals a
year were being killed by plastic entanglement (846). Seals try to dive through the floating nets
and end up getting stuck (Derraik 846). Plastic debris causes numerous issues for marine life
because of ingestion and entanglement, but there are scientists and other professionals that
propose potential solutions.
There are many different opinions on how to fix the issue of plastic debris. Many people
think there needs to be more research done on the topic of ocean pollution to allow scientists and
the general public to take action (Derraik 847). There have been multiple worldwide and national
legislative groups and committees that have made an effort to put restrictions on the sea disposal

Selby 4
of plastics. These restrictions are hard to regulate since the ocean is so big which leads them
being ignored (Derraik 847-848). Some people have proposed the idea of trying to clean up
garbage patches. This creates an issue because the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is so far from
any countrys coastline, no nation will take responsibility or provide the funding to clean it up
(National Geographic Society). Even if a group or country agreed to cleaning the patch it would
extremely difficult for multiple reasons. The first being that, many microplastics are the same
size as small sea animals, so nets designed to scoop up trash would catch these creatures as well
(National Geographic Society). This would still cause a negative effect on marine life. Another
issue is money and resources. The National Geographic Society writes, it would take 67 ships
one year to clean up less than one percent of the North Pacific Ocean. Because of the issues that
cleaning up the oceans would cause, many people believe prevention is the best solution. This
can be done by limiting or eliminating our use of disposable plastics and increasing our use of
biodegradable resources (Nation Geographic Society). This would cut back on the amount of
garbage reaching the ocean preventing the problem from getting worse. Plastic debris is just one
of many types of ocean pollution that affects marine life.
Foreign chemicals and an overabundance of nutrients are another form of ocean
pollution. This type of pollution has many different sources, but often originates from pollution
that gets in rivers and lakes which eventually leads to oceans. When these pollutants enter ocean
water it changes the ocean chemistry (Roberts). One particular example of this is Lake
Okeechobee which is the largest lake in Florida. This lake faces many issues with pollution, but
especially deals with an overabundance of phosphorus. In the article Algae problems stems
from decades of Lake Okeechobee pollution, Fleshler writes that pollution comes from
vegetable farms, citrus groves, cattle ranches, dairy farms and neighborhoods where lawn

Selby 5
fertilizer, animal waste and other sources of phosphorous wash into the river, which feeds into
the lake. The phosphorus-rich lake water then feeds into the ocean. Fleshler writes,
Phosphorus-laden discharges of water from the lake have been blamed, along with the hot
weather, septic tanks and other factors, with causing the catastrophic algae blooms that have
coated Treasure Coast beaches with green slime. Having an excessive amount of a certain
nutrient in one area can cause many problems for marine life and their habitat. These nutrients
come in the form of fertilizers and sewage, and cause dead zones in the ocean. Dead zones are
areas that minimal types of species can survive because there is a low amount of oxygen and
high amount of carbon dioxide (Roberts). Pollutants in the oceans leads to many problems for the
survival of marine life.
Marine life is greatly affected by pollutants and an excess of nutrients in their habitat.
The overabundance of phosphorus that reaches the ocean, from sources such as Lake
Okeechobee, changes the habitat of marine life. Fleshler writes, Its an essential nutrient for
plants and animals, but it has proven one of the most vexing problems for the Everglades, where
native sawgrass requires a low-phosphorous environment to keep out competing plants such as
cattails. With the high amount of phosphorous in the everglades it is hard for certain plants to
survive, and it promotes overgrowth of some other species. The natural balance of the habitat is
destroyed. Acidification, an overabundance of carbon dioxide, is another large issue that affects
ocean life. In the article The Sorrow Beneath the Sea, Roberts writes, At the very least life is
likely to get much more difficult for species with carbonate shells, which includes some of the
most important primary producers in the sea, the phytoplankton that sustains food webs and
releases life-giving oxygen. If the amount of phytoplankton decreases it will cause a ripple
effect and affect the entire food chain (Roberts). Pollutants in the ocean cause some species to

Selby 6
thrive, such as the jellyfish. Roberts writes, The jellyfish joyride begins when high nutrients
combine with a fall in abundance of their predators. When plentiful, jellyfish suppress their
predators further by eating more of their young and so pave the way for full-blown population
explosion. Many of the predators of jellyfish cannot handle the polluted environment so they
begin to die out. The jellyfish also feed on their predators young which decreases the numbers of
the predators even more. This causes the population of jellyfish to go largely grow. This
overpopulation can cause issues for humans. Jellyfish could start moving closer to popular
beaches because of a lack of space in their natural habitat. This would cause many beachgoers to
get stung (Roberts). There are many ways foreign nutrients and pollutants affect marine life, a
large number of people are working towards solutions.
Many of the potential solutions for the issue of pollutants and an excess of nutrients in the
ocean have to do with the government. People want the government to set regulations and make
sure they are actually followed. The Florida government listened to these requests when
regarding the problem of Lake Okeechobee. Fleshler writes, The governor announced a
proposal for matching grants to help homeowners switch from septic tanks to central sewer
systems, which would reduce one source of phosphorous reaching the water (Fleshler). This is
an example of something the government can do to help cut back on ocean pollution. Some
people criticize the government for not taking a strict enough approach to solving the ocean
pollution issue. An example from the Lake Okeechobee issue is that the state Legislature passed
an agriculture-backed revision to water-quality law that allowed polluters to continue discharging
phosphorus as long as they complied with best management practices, such as not fertilizing
when the weather forecast calls for heavy rain (Fleshler). People did not find this acceptable
because even if polluters fertilized on a sunny day the phosphorus would still eventually reach

Selby 7
the ocean (Fleshler). Another critique is, Impacts are dicussed in isolation and by different
people. But a view of the whole is far more alarming than the sum of its parts (Roberts).
Government officials need to consider pollution that happens in areas besides around the coast.
Pollution needs to be prevented everywhere because it will eventually reach the ocean no matter
where it starts. Looking at the entire picture will help in the effort to lessen and eliminate ocean
pollution (Roberts). Although there are efforts to fix the issue of ocean pollution, there is much
that still needs to be done to solve the issue entirely.
Ocean pollution is a serious issue that most people pay very little attention to. There are
many types of ocean pollution but two major ones are plastic debris and foreign chemicals or
nutrients. Plastic debris can cause issues for marine life because of ingestion and entanglement.
Foreign chemicals and nutrients in the water leads to an imbalance in the natural habitats of the
ocean. Both of these types of pollution have been proven to have a negative effect on humans as
well. There are many different governing bodies and organizations working to find solution to
the problem of ocean pollution. People need to be more aware of protecting the marine life
affected by ocean pollution before many of these species face extinction.

Selby 8

Selby 9
Works Cited
Barclay, Eliza. "How Plastic In The Ocean Is Contaminating Your Seafood." NPR. NPR, 13 Dec.
2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.
Derraik, Jose G.B. The pollution of the marine environment by plastic debris: a review.
Marine Pollution Bulletin 44.9 (2002): 842-852. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Fleshler, David. "Algae Problem Stems from Decades of Lake Okeechobee Pollution." SunSentinel.com. N.p., 11 July 2016. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
Hardesty, Denise, and Chris Wilcox. "Marine Debris: Biodiversity Impacts and Potential
Solutions." The Conversation. N.p., 22 Aug. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.
National Geographic Society. "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." National Geographic Society.
National Geographic Society, 09 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.
Perlman, Howard. "How Much Water Is There On, In, and above the Earth?" How Much Water
Is There on Earth, from the USGS Water Science School. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.
Roberts, Callum. "The Sorrow Beneath The Sea." Newsweek 159.21 (2012): 26-31. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 11 Nov. 2016