Pollution is everywhere. There are a lot of things that can be the cause of pollution. Somehow, by the time goes by and when the technology become more advance then it used to be, people are polluting the world with their invention such as vehicle.
What is bad is that people do not realize that what they invent can create such a pollutant that is so dangerous for the last of the environment and many lives. And what is worse is that when people finally failed to realize what kind of impact that may come after they polluting the world. Today in this article I would like to share you with about some of the interesting facts of ocean pollution that you might not known before.
See also: Characteristics of Ocean Environment – Destruction of Ocean Habitat
1. Plastic create the biggest pollution
Plastic is the biggest contributor towards both land and ocean pollution. This is because the use of plastic is pretty high. Indonesia it self is in the second position as a country who has the biggest plastic pollution. So, no wonder if you will see plastic pollution almost everywhere. This is the first interesting facts of ocean pollution.
See also: Causes of Plastic Pollution in the Ocean
2. Pollution mostly came from the land based source
Do you know that the dirt or feces from the septic tank will go to the sea? Basically, almost all land based source will be thrown to the sea and open ocean. This may include another thing such as agriculture runoff, ranches, and oil.
3. Over one million seabirds dies
You do know that seabirds will find and eat fish from the ocean. Somehow, since the ocean is polluted, it means that the toxic substance in the water is absorbed by the fish. This also means that by the time seabird eat the fish and keep consuming the fish from the polluted area of the sea, the toxic substance will be pilled up inside the seabird’s body.
4. Affect almost everything in land
Even though the garbage or any other waste will be brought to the open ocean for example, these waste and garbage will eventually go back to the land, or the coast. When the waste and garbage is accumulated in the coast it will create a different condition where it can change the balance of the ecosystem since it has a characteristic of polluting. This also become an interesting facts of ocean pollution.
5. There is an island creates from garbage
Since the amount of waste and garbage is a lot, believe it or not there is an island that is created from garbage. To be more exact, it is made of plastic waste. Surprisingly, the size of the garbage island is two times bigger than the size of Texax. Amazing isnt it?
6. Small amount of oil create a bigger effect compare to plastic
Even though plastic is the biggest contributor towards the pollution that happen in the ocean for example, but in fact a small amount of oil can kill or damage the ocean ecosystem. The effect comes from the oil is bigger rather than the effect comes from plastic waste.
See also: Causes of Oil Pollution in the Ocean – How to Treat Oil Spills in the Ocean
7. Toxic metal waste can be fixed
Since there are so many type of waste, the researcher or scientist is trying to find a way to fix the problem of waste. And it turns out to be the toxic metal waste can be fix. So the waste will be destroy through some kind of biochemistry reaction.
8. Plastic has an absorbant characteristic
Sea turtle is feed on jellyfish. Somehow since the amount of plastic waste is high in the ocean, there are a lot of seaturtle that think that plastic is a jellyfish so they eat it. In the end the sea turtle will die since plastic is a waste that can absorb the amount of toxic surround it as well.
9. There are more waste than what you already knew
Maybe you will know some kind of waste that is exist in our ecosystem such as plastic waste and oil waste. But in fact, there are a lot more waste. These waste are nuclear reactors, industrial race, and drained sewage.
See also: Effects of Radioactive Waste in Ocean
10. Creates a dead zones
Since the amount of pollution is quite high, there is a condition called as eutrophication happens. Eutrophication basically is a water pollution caused by a really high number of nutrient into the water or ocean ecosystem. The main cause is actually came from the phosphate. The dead zones is created by the eutrophication condition, where there will be no live in the dead zone for sure.
11. Alga bloom caused by the waste
Alga bloom is another problem that we should face today. The bloom of the algae create a negative impact since the algae will cover the ocean or water ecosystem surface which will block the sunlight to help the ocean plant to do a photosynthesis.
See also: Types of Algae
12. Chemical displacement from the marine organism body
The toxic or chemical substance can’t disappear, it will be only accumulated inside the body. So once the fish eat something that has been contaminated and the fish. This might be an interesting facts of ocean pollution yet a dangerous thing that we need to avoid as best as we can.
See also: Types of Soil in the Ocean
13. People get contaminated
People who like to eat seafood might have a probability to get contaminated by the seafood that they have eaten if the seafood coming from the contaminated area. So, you have to be careful to choose the product for you to consume since the amount of toxic or dangerous substance will be accumulated inside your body.
14. Affect the tourism industry
Few years ago till now, hospitality industry is experiencing the higher demand where people are tend to go and travel somewhere. And most of the destination will be nature such as mountains and beach. The tourist will surely expecting a place where they can fully enjoy their holiday, a nice clean place with a proper accommodation.
Now let’s us imagine how if the beach is polluted with many plastic bags or packaging, surely we don’t want to swim there. This may affect the tourism industry where the tourist do not want to come twice because our place has a lot of pollution.
15. The pollutant effect won’t disappear
Since a long time ago, people used to throw all the garbage to the ocean and it sink there for such a long period of time. And if you are considering that the negative effect coming up from the garbage is gone, but in fact it still exist till now.
Since the ocean is the biggest ecosystem that support us with water, it means that the ocean support us with water that we need for our daily life.
And since it is polluted since a long period of time, it means that the toxic substance and negative impact that can be received by human also still exist there.
16. Absorbing waste from the land
Another interesting facts of ocean pollution is that the ocean actually absorbing the waste from the land that has a form of liquid such as oil and fertilizer. The waste from mining industry can also be absorb by the ocean. All these waste actually move through the soil structure that lead it to the open ocean and polluting it as their last stop.
17. The pollutant can move to the freshwater area
Event though the ocean is the one that is polluted by many things, but the pollutant and all dangerous yet toxic substance can move to the freshwater area such as river and lake, even well. This is because the salinity in the ocean can move the pollutant substance.
See also: Salinity of Ocean Water
So those are some of the interesting facts of ocean pollution that I can share you with. Thank you for your time and attention towards our website. This is means that you have awareness and willingness to learn more about the deep ocean ecosystems. There are a lot of article that you can find in this website in order to help you expand your knowledge.