Marine pollution is the next big environmental concern - Essay Example

Marine pollution is the next big environmental concern Introduction Marine pollution refers to the process where potentiallyharmful or harmful components find way into the seas and oceans, thus disrupting the normal marine life, and upsetting the marine balance such that the marine organisms are endangered (Sheavly and Register, 302). Marine pollution is not only a concern for the marine life, but also for the human life, considering that the pollutants found in the oceans and seas eventually find way to the ocean beaches, rivers and streams, thus ending up in homes.

Plastic pollution is the major global concern as long as marine pollution is concerned, and it poses a big threat to the future marine life and human health. Due to the vastness of the oceans ad seas, it has been assumed for long, that any dumping of wastes in the oceans will just be negligible. However, the impact of the negligence that has been adapted in tackling the issue of marine pollution has come back to hurt the world, through the negative consequences such as the high rate of decline of marine life, and the endangerment of the most of the marine species (Center for Biological Diversity, n.p.).

The metric tons of waste that has been dumped in the oceans to present day is almost inconceivable, with industrial discharge, agricultural runoff and ship emissions having already caused the near extinction of some fish species (Kullenberg, 99). The pollutants that have been deposited in the oceans and seas include heavy metals that are as a result of the emissions by ships, carbon and nitrogen compounds that are deposited by the agricultural runoff of fertilizers and farm chemicals and direct plastic deposits such as plastic bags and oil spillage from the ships and from industrial overflows (Kullenberg, 107).

Consequently, the marine environment has been changed completely, with plastic compounds now making 48% of the ocean surfaces (Center for Biological Diversity, n.p.). The garbage patch has now been observed to occupy 40% of the oceans, thus taking up more space than the fish foods (Center for Biological Diversity, n.p.). The effect is that most of the big marine species such as the sea turtles, seabirds, marine mammals and variety of sea mammals are killed every year, due to ingesting plastic compounds, which either causes indigestion or causes air blockage and chocking (Center for Biological Diversity, n.p.).

On the other hand, the small marine species are being affected by starvation, since most of the ocean no longer supports fish food growth. The effect of marine pollution is not only felt by the marine life, but also by the humans, since the toxic chemical compounds eventually find way into rivers and streams, causing health risks after such water consumption at homes (Sheavly and Register, 304). Conclusion The continued marine pollution poses a great risk of causing the extinction of some marine species.

While the big marine species will perish out of ingesting the plastic compounds, thus being chocked and injured internally, the small species are likely to vanish due to intoxication and starvation. The danger and human health risks posed by marine pollution are also immense. Therefore, the world must act now and stop marine pollution. Works Cited Center for Biological Diversity. “Ocean plastics pollution: A Global Tragedy for Our Oceans and Sea Life”, 2010. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from http://www.

biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/ Kullenberg, G. "Approaches to addressing the problems of pollution of the marine environment: an overview". Ocean & Coastal Management 42, 12 (1999): 99–108. Sheavly, S.B. and Register, K.M. “Marine debris and plastics: Environmental concerns, sources, impacts and solutions”. Journal of Polymers & the Environment 15, 4: (2007), 301-305.