YOU ARE DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY OCEAN POLLUTION:
Our earth’ surface is covered by 71% of water and around 97% of earth’s water is in oceans. The oceans
play a pivotal role in every living organism’s life on earth. Yet the ocean is endangered by the manmade
pollution and natural changes.
The natural changes are rapidly increasing and it’s quite difficult to stop all of sudden but we can still
minimize it if we start taking responsibility for the manmade pollution. It’s usually our own actions that
are responsible for manmade pollution.
Initially, people taught that the dumping of litter and trash in the oceans won’t have much effect on the
environment. But with the passage of time, it has proven wrong. For years oceans been used for
dumping toxic waste, oil spills, garbage which has immensely contributed to the ocean’s pollution.
HOW DOES IT AFFECTS:
Not only ocean pollution affects marine life and the environment, it also affects our lives. We have been
polluting both air and water not knowing what takes place offshore has a direct impact on mankind.
People usually consume seafood like fish, lobsters, crabs, etc. which are impacted by the
chemicals such as oil, lead, mercury, asbestos, phosphates, etc produced by the industrial waste,
sewage, pesticides that are either dumped into the ocean or land into the ocean by rains or
floods.
Although, the industries dump their toxic waste miles away from the land the ocean never keeps
something that doesn’t belong to it and ends up throwing up on the shore. The garbage that is
build up on the shore of beaches or coastal areas can affect the humans if by mistake they come
into contact or ingest the water around this pollution. It can result in causing rashes, stomach-
aches or diarrhea.
Crude oil is the biggest reasons behind the oceanic deterioration. 12% is oil enters our ocean
due to the oil spill and 36% comes from land run-offs. This crude oil suffocates the marine life
and if they survive and end up on your plate, its consumption may cause disorientation and
poisoning.
Similarly, the bacteria in the ocean turn the metal that land into the ocean by land run-offs into
most toxic form i.e. methylmercury, these toxic metals are absorbed by the plastics and
plankton. Then the plankton on which they feed or the plastics which is unfortunately mistaken
as food is consumed by the small creatures. These small creatures are then eaten by larger
fishes and that fishes are eaten by us. If we have a prolonged exposure to mercury it can cause
all kinds of systemic and neurological disease such as; Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and heart
diseases.
We need to protect of what’s left and the least we could do is take proper measures to minimize ocean
pollution.
