basically if anyone comes across this, i am temporarily putting this here because my "temporaty trial version of word" ran out at the perfect time and i need to have this at school tomorrow...
"Coral reefs are the pinnacle of nature's achievement in the ocean realm. Even so, they have become degraded throughout much of the world through coastal degradation, uncontrolled exploitation and climate change. Most of this has happened in a single human lifetime. If this decline is continued for another generation, much of the fauna recorded will exist only in artificially managed reserves and the concept of the abundance of nature will be but a distant memory." (Veron vii) The ocean is one of our richest treasures, but humans are putting it in more and more danger every day. Will the damage continue and will what has already been done be able to be reversed? Humans directly and indirectly impact the well-being of the ocean. Sewage and excess nutrients from farming are dumped into the ocean which causes algae blooms that choke out the reefs. Accidental oil spills, pipe leaks, and dumping of petroleum waste in the ocean kills wildlife and ruins beaches. New "alien" species introduced in different areas of the ocean usually turn out to be bad because many alien species thrive and take over their new environment. Rise in temperature due to global warming can heat up the water around the reefs and bleach miles upon miles of corals, completely killing off the ecosystem which took hundreds and hundreds of years to develop. Some fishing practices such as trawling, dynamite fishing and cyanide fishing are harmful to the reefs. Over fishing is killing off species such as sharks and tuna. In the recent years, there has been a lot of things being done to improve these situations, but these problem still exist and do not seem to be going away in the near future.
One of the several threats to the ocean is pollution due to the excess of nutrients in the ocean. These nutrients enter the ocean in the form of human sewage, industrial sludge, and agricultural pollution which is usually fertilizer runoff. These wastes are not necessarily deadly to marine life in their raw form, but what they can do to the marine environment is. When human sewage is dumped into the ocean, it requires people to test the water as often as every week and post the results to the public and close public beaches if the levels of human waste in the water exceeds a certain point. Human waste can carry many disease causing pathogens which can be easily transfered to another person by swimming in infested waters. Agricultural pollution comes from fertilizer being carried away by the rain, and by fertilization using animal manure. Human sewage, farm fertilizer runoff and industrial sludge are very high in nutrients such as Ammonia, Ammonium, Nitrate, Nitrite, and Phosphate. An excess of nitrogen and phosphate containing wastes causes "coastal Eutrophication". " Nutrients and organic matter from plants, animals, and humans that enter the waters, either directly or indirectly, can stimulate a biological, chemical, and physical progression known as eutrophication. Coastal Eutrophication is commonly observed in estuaries, bays, and marginal seas. In a broad sense, coastal eutrophication mirrors the eutrophication of lakes. For example, as increased nutrients stimulate algal and other plant growth, light transmission decreases. The eventual bacterial decay of algae and other plants lowers the dissolved oxygen level in the water. In extreme cases, all of the oxygen can be removed" ( Clendenon ). At one time, all twenty sewage plants of New York City dumped their raw sewage in an area known as "New York Blight," The area was practically lifeless up until the dumping of sewage became illegal. Over half the farms in the US are found in the Mississippi River basin. Most all these farms supplement their plants with artificial fertilizer which is carried out the Mississippi River down to the Gulf of Mexico. The excess of nutrients in the Gulf of Mexico cause coastal eutrophication to happen, leaving a 7,700 sqare mile area of coastal ocean lifeless (Clendenon).
Humans also pollute the ocean by either accidentally or intentionally introducing chemicals which can be harmful to wildlife in the ocean. The first form of chemical pollution that everyone thinks of is oil pollution. America is a country with a huge demand for oil-based products with a low domestic supply of oil. Oil is shipped in tankers, and pipes under water. leaks in pipelines can go unknown for days, and a ship that gets a hole in it and leaks oil is very hard to stop. Oil is a substance that has many toxic compounds in it and is lighter than water, so it floats on top. when an oil spill occurs, a large slick will form. Sometimes they are miles across, and many of the times it covers shorelines, birds, and marine mammals. The oil is very hard to get out of birds' feathers and mammals' fur. Many of the animals covered in oil will wither away and die unless they are taken care of. When the oil hits the shoreline, it covers all the rocks and plant life. The oil is very hard to get off of the rocks to make the beach look normal again. When an oil spill occurs in open ocean, it is fairly easy to take care of as long as it is reported early. When oil is spilled in open ocean, a set of boats string a floating rope around the oil to trap it while a variety of machines pick up and dispose of the oil. Other chemicals such as pesticides, lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic are introduced into the ocean. These are then absorbed by low food chain animals such as invertebrates and small fish which get eaten by bigger fish which get eaten by food fish and the chemicals make their way into the human body. Examples of this are when DDT was a legal pesticide; it would make its way into sea birds and cause them to lay very brittle eggs which usually crack before birth. Another was in Japan when mercury released in the ocean was absorbed by shell fish which were eaten by the people. The mercury led to birth defects, insanity, and death. Fortunately from 1890 up until this day, many acts have been passed by congress eliminating and regulating the dumping of harmful chemicals and wastes in the oceans to improve the health of the ocean and the people around it.
Another threat to marine life in the oceans is the introduction of alien species into different waters. Two very good and well know examples of invasions of alien species include the introduction of snakeheads into the lakes of Maryland. Snakeheads are a very predatory fish that are native to asia which have the ability to walk out of water for up to two days to move to a different location. When snakeheads were introduced in Maryland, they rapidly reproduced and began to kill off the native population of fish. another invasive species is the zebra muscles which were brought up to lake erie via ships up the Mississippi river. The zebra muscles rapidly reproduced and they cause damage to docks and boats. Many marine specis are either accidentally or intentionally introduced a non native habitat. Most of the time, these animals and plants do not do well, but sometimes they thrive and they thrive too well. a plant from Australia called Caulerpa taxifolia is very common in the aquarium trade. It is a very fast growing plant that can grow into a whole new plant from just a piece of root. One day someone dumped this plant down a storm drain which drained to the ocean in California. This case turned out well as it was eliminated fast, however in the Mediterranean, off of Monaco, the algae was left to grow and it ended up choking out all other forms of life and will now be impossible to eradicate.
"The biggest risk to the ocean is the bleaching of coral reefs. Bleaching is typically caused by a large(+- 3 degree F) temperature swings in the water. The stress caused by the temperature change causes the corals to expel their zooxanthellae. Zooxanthellae is the symbiotic algae in corals that provide the coral with color and energy. When a coral is bleached, it only has a 20% chance of full recovery. Bleaching is the largest risk to the ocean because only a three degree rise in temperature can kill miles upon miles of beautiful coral reef" (Borneman). To most people, bleaching is when the corals turn white due to high temperature and many people think that the bright white corals look nice. The truth is, after the corals die, they will turn white, then start to get covered by algae turning them different colors. Bleaching occurs when the densities of zooanthellae decline and/or the pigments in the zooxanthella are expelled from the corals (Buchheim). Since the beginning of recorded history of the reefs, bleaching has been noted although since the 1980's, the frequency of these bleachings have greatly increased. Temperature is what causes over half the bleachings, however there are many other factors that can cause it. It is common for low tides to expose many corals to the baking sun day after day, however these corals have grown accustom to it and are more hardy. Corals that are not accustom to these extreme conditions are at high risk of bleaching due to the stress. Sedimentation which is the release of particles in the ocean have been known to cause bleaching. other minor causes of bleaching are an excess of inorganic nutrients, copper and pesticides, and disease causing pathogens. Sixty coral reef bleaching events occurred between 1979 and 1990 compared to only three bleaching events in the preceding 103 years. (Buchheim)
Contrary to what many believe, the collection of live fish, corals, and invertebrates has a fairly small impact on the ocean, however it does have a negative impact. Net caught fish always fare best for the stressful shipping and acclimation process from the ocean to a wholesaler to a store to a home aquarium. Unfortunately a large number of people still use a deadly fishing method using cyanide. cyanide is used to stun the fish for an easy catch, but in the process it moves the fishes final survival rate from the ocean to the home from 90% to less than 20%. Cyanide also kills many of the corals it comes in contact with. Whether the collection of live corals for the aquarium trade is harmful to the reef is still in question as the collection of corals for aquarium trade has only been around 15 years. However there are a few species that are already standing out as species that cannot be sustainably harvested to keep up with the demand. these corals include hard to keep and poor shipping corals such as corals of the Euphyllia. genus and gonipora. Species that stand out as ones that can be sustainably harvested are fast growing corals such as many of the less sought after(because of their sensitivity in the aquarium) small polyp stony corals such as Acropora, Stylophora, Pocillipora, and montipora and many other fast growing octocorals( soft corals) There are not many if any invertebrates that stand out as being threatened by collection for aquariums. Destructive food fishing methods such as dynamite fishing and trawling tear up the ocean floor and because of that, it is banned in many countries.
The last major problem for the ocean that stands out is over fishing. New fishing methods almost make it impossible for any fish to get away especially with trawling and other large net fishing. Two species that are currently being over fished are all species of tuna and sharks. Tuna is a very important food fish all around the world, but it is simply being over-harvested. Sharks are illegal to catch in most countries although if it is caught as by-catch(accidental catch) it is legal. many times, the sharks fins are just cut off and its body is thrown back into the ocean.
Will the damage continue and is what has already been don be able to be reversed? The answer to this question, unfortunately is still unknown and time will only tell as there are too many factors to be able to accurately tell. although the world for the most part does seem to care about the ocean and is working to protect it, but we are still putting making money in front of saving the oceans.
Works Cited
Bucheim, jason. "Coral Reef Bleaching." 1998. 19 Oct. 2006
<http://www.marinebiology.org/coralbleaching.htm>.
Clendenon, Cindy. "Pollution of the Ocean by Sewage, Nutrients, and Chemicals." 18 Oct. 2006
<http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Po-Re/pollution-of-the-ocean-by-Sewage-nutrients- and-chemicals.html>.
Veron, Jen. Vol. 1. New York: Sea Challengers, 2000.
Borneman, Eric. Interview with Michael McNamee. 29 Oct. 2006.
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