Marine Pollution

1. Marine Pollution www.wcc.hawaii.edu

2. What is pollution? • Pollution is harmful material not native to the environment that is present in large quantity • Pollutants cause damage to organisms • Reach oceans by: • Dumping • Loss from ships • From air via rain • From rivers

4. Marine Pollutants • Petroleum hydrocarbons • Plastics • Pesticides • Heavy metals • Sewage • Radioactive waste • Thermal effluents

5. Petroleum Hydrocarbons Oil drums on a beach in Pulau Redang, Malaysia.

6. Petroleum Hydrocarbons Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge 100,000 gallons jet fuel spilled 2003.

7. Exxon Valdez (1989)- Prince William Sound, Alaska • 10 million gallons of oil spilled • 400 miles of shore line affected • $3 billion and 2 summers cleaning

8. Persian Gulf War (1991) • 240 million gallons of oil spilled

9. BP offshore drilling rig (Deepwater Horizon) April 20, 2010; 50 miles off Louisiana Spilling 5,000 barrels/day = 200,000 gal/day

10. Containing oil spills: • Floating booms- contain oil and then pump into other ship • Burning oil off • Chemical dispersants • Bioremediation- bacteria

11. Relative amounts of petroleum in the ocean: River runoff 31.1% Tanker operations 21.8% Coastal facilities 13.1% Atmospheric fallout 9.8% Natural seepage 9.8% Other transportation activities 9.8% Tanker accidents 3.3% Offshore petroleum production 1.3%

12. Plastics • 100,000 marine mammals & 2 million sea birds die each year after ingesting or being trapped in plastic debris • WHOI 1987 survey off N.E. coast of U.S.: found 46,000 pieces of plastic floating on surface

13. North Pacific Subtropical Gyre • “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” • Estimate: 46,000 pieces of floating garbage/mi2.

14. North Pacific Subtropical Gyre http://www.marineinsight.com/marine/environment/what-is-the-pacific-ocean-garbage-patch/

15. Laysan Island

16. A dead Laysan Albatross chick with seven bottle tops in its gullet. Adult Albatross feed on flying fish eggs that the adult fish attach to floating debris.

17. Japan Tsunami 2011 Prediction of Marine Debris Drifting Trajectories Hawaii http://www.hawaii247.com/2011/04/07/tsunami-2011-japan-debris-likely-to-hit-hawaii-twice/

18. Pesticides & Herbicides • Designed to kill a variety of pests, such as mosquitoes, agricultural pests and weeds. • Toxin enters food chain and effects non targeted species • Pesticide toxicity often affects human health Bioaccumulation  biomagnification

19. Biomagnification

20. Toxic Metals Hg, Pb, Cd, Cu Heavy metals resist biodegradation Natural occurrence- volcanoes • Mercury (Hg)- toxic when attached to short carbon-chain alkyl group, strongly neurotoxic, birthdefects • Lead (Pb)- from batteries, sewage, fuel additives, neurotoxic effects, mental development in children • Cadmium (Cd)- from batteries, sewage, electroplating factories, effects on human kidney function, bone deformities

21. Point Source Pollution Sewage • Causes disease outbreaks • Contributes to eutrophication

22. Sewage Discharge and Agricultural Runoff • nutrient enrichment of coastal waters • physiological consequences on corals • ecological consequences • phytoplankton bloom reduces light penetration • benthic seaweeds overgrow and smother corals

23. Atomic Testing

24. Ocean Dumping USSR total > 10 million Curies Three Mile Island (‘79) = 17 Curies Chernobyl (‘86) = 100 million Curies Great Britain US Other Switzerland

25. Thermal Effluents Power plants

26. Sediment Runoff

27. Sediment Plume Entering the Ocean(Maui)

28. Corals Smothered in Sediment

29. Types of Non-Point Source Pollution • sediments from coastal urban and agricultural development • nutrients from detergents, fertilizers, leaky septic tanks, and domesticated animals • pesticides (home use, agricultural, & golf courses)

30. Types of Non-Point Source Pollution • automobile wastes such as combusted motor oil, tire rubber, brake pad dust, coolant, etc. • waste water from swimming pools and aquaculture ponds

32. Sept. 28, 2007 Kamilo Beach Big Island