DBQ On Ocean Pollution

“The world produces 200 billion IB, of plastic a year which 10% ends up in the ocean.” (Kester. The world book encyclopedia volume 15.) This sharp increase in plastic entering our waters harms marine life. In the ocean, plastic debris causes damage and kills fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Marine plastic pollution has impacted at least 267 species worldwide, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species and 43% of all marine mammal species.

Sadly all these things contribute to decreases in marine life and affect the everyday marine life in a negative way. Eight million tons of plastic is dumped in the ocean every year, that is equal to five grocery bags per every

As people have to be hired to clean up, and people not wanting to go to dirty beaches. Cost money to people working at the beach.This problem doesn’t just occur in the Persian Gulf, it occurs world wide. A study from the university of Georgia, February 3rd 2015, claims that about 8 million metric tons of plastic trash enters the ocean every year. Pollution in the Persian gulf is negatively impacting marine life, as oils spills occur, and ocean mining is at it’s peak, but most importantly sewage dumping. Believe it or not we are all a witness of watching someone litter, or us littering.

Negative Effects of Ocean Pollution “Each day, oil used to lubricate engines and to power the vessel leaks into the ocean” (Wroble 44). When the residue enters the ocean, it begins to affect the environment and animals. This is just one of the many problems from ocean pollution. “According to Worldwatch research associate Peter Weber, 80 to 90 percent of all of the materials dumped at sea are dredgings...dredgings are rich in toxic chemicals...from nonpoint sources” (Wroble 49). One particular chemical that affects the oceans are Polychlorinated Biphenyls, or PCBs.

These information is telling us about the depth of the oceans dumping, and how people are throwing trash into the sea, and not throwing them properly away in their right place. The source is also giving other ways to help stop throwing trash into our oceans and spread the awareness between people. The author of this article is Rodman Griffin. I didn’t find any information about the author on that site. The purpose of this article is biased on not to dumping trash into the ocean.

In the article, Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too, Kara Lavender Law, an oceanographer at the Sea Education Association, went on record and described the situation in the Atlantic. "Many people have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but this issue has essentially been ignored in the Atlantic." In the Atlantic, this garbage patch spans roughly the distance from Cuba to Virginia and sits between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude. Same as the Trash in the Pacific Ocean, the trash in the Atlantic can filter for years, causing damage to marine life and the ocean. In the article, more than 7,000 students have gone off many research cruises were they deployed fine-mesh plankton nets to try and catalog the amount of plastic was caught.

Oceans are threatened daily by both natural and manmade pollution, as the largest factor affecting them is plastic. Over the last decade, there has been more plastic produced compared to the last 100 years (“How Ocean Pollution Impacts Marine Life-and All of Us”). Around 100 millions tons of plastic is produced every year and 10 percent of that plastic ends up in the sea. Many sources are the cause of ocean litter including trash that washes off city streets, waste blown in from landfills, and containers that fall off ships during heavy storms. Many marine mammals mistake these for food (Greer, Abigail).

Every year, nine billion tons of trash and waste are being dumped into the ocean. Some of this trash stays in the oceans for years, while other trash ends up on our beaches. On beaches, the majority of littered trash is made up of cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic bottles, and plastic bags. The turtles living in and around our Destin waters mistake these plastic items for food and attempt to eat it. These turtles then either choke and die or are stuck and die from starvation.

It started on 20th April 2010 and continued for 87 days. It had a huge effect on the marine life and people who were living on coastlines. Due to release of 4.9 million barrels of oil in the sea, even today, the water of Gulf Mexico is contaminated. This has caused psychological, social, cultural and economic long-term and long lasting effects. More importantly, it was caused due to carelessness of government and BP oil owners as they could not manage the fire which led to this enormous disaster.

Thirdly, the ocean and its inhabitants are greatly affected by marine pollution. Marine pollution is the entrance of hazardous materials into the ocean. The ocean can be polluted a number of ways, including garbage, sewage, and noise. Garbage pollutes the ocean by disturbing marine life and tarnishing the marine environment, it can also damage ships. Sewage pollutes by adding dangerous chemicals to the ocean and depleting oxygen used by the animals.