Sunday, June 8, 2008

Impacts of human activities on the oceans

Impacts of human activities on the oceans
In the article “ Study finds human activities affect oceans worldwide,” the author says sea water is very important to human life. 3⁄4 of earth is covered with water. People’s activities are causes of sea pollution in the most countries, which is shown in a map which is made every year by the American Association for Advancement of Science in Boston. One of the most affected areas is the Caribbean Sea, and the least affected areas are near the poles. Pollution causes the killing of fish and animals in the seas, and coral reefs, seagrass beds and shelves. However, there are some small and scattered areas that have a good environment which we have to protect them. Researchers try to find some activities which pollute water such as oil, commercial shipping, climate change, acidification, ultraviolet rays and sea temperature. Also, some researchers found there is no oxygen which is important for life in some water areas. However, there are a lot of areas of water that are not explored, so the House in Congress will give financial support for the next seven years to ocean exploration.

People on earth depend on the sea as their main source of nutrition. Some of these countries are China, Japan and south Asia in general. Humans have a direct impact on sea life. Sea pollution is a result of human activities. Pollution causes many damages on the sea world. There are many human activities which are considered the cause of sea pollution.

These activities include “oil rigs, commercial shipping, species invasion, climate impacts including acidification of ultraviolet radiation and sea temperature, various types of fishing and several types of human related pollution”, ( Schmid,2008). I agree with him boat damage the oil which is chemical products difficult to degrade. Also it prevents the sunshine from going inside the sea which that effects parts of the ocean and the animals which eat the plants. Commercial shipping requires more fuel which may spill in the water or become smoke in the air.

“Demage includes reductions in fish and sea animals as well as problems for coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, rockey reefs and shelves and sea mounts” ( Schmid,2008, para.8). I agree with the author about all these damages such as killing fish because oil layers sit on the sea surface and prevent oxygen and sunshine from going inside water which is the significant resource for oxygen for seas of the world.

In conclusion, humans have to find solutions for sea pollution by finding reasons of make some areas in seas are more expose to pollution than others, and try to prevent the spread of the pollution to other areas. Also, we should purity all polluted seas to protect our life.

Reference:
Schmid, R. (2006, Feb 14). Study find human activities affect ocean world. The Associated Press. Retrieved on May 29, 2008, from LexisNexis

2 comments:

Aparana Chauhan said...

Oh that's nice talking about the human caused climate change that has made a impact on the earth's eco system, natural habitat and its resources. Today is the need to understand what climate change actually is and what we can do to make the planet cool. It is necessary to communicate its potential impact and focus world's attention to show how global climate change has affected our planet and its people.

Peter Maier said...

As long as EPA does not consider nitrogenous waste (urine and protein) pollution, we will never implement the Clean Water Act, as it was intended. This waste not only, like fecal waste, exerts an oxygen demand, but also is a fertilizer for algae and aquatic plant growth, causing eutrophication and eventually dead zones.

The reason EPA ignored this pollution is caused by a worldwide incorrect applied pollution test that EPA used to base its NPDES discharge permits on.

Although EPA in 1984 acknowledged this incorrect use, in stead of correcting the test, it allowed an alternative test and now officially ignored this type of pollution and by doing so lowered the goal of the CWA from 100% treatment to a measly 35% treatment, without notifying Congress.

Other problems caused by this incorrect applied test are that we do not know the real performance of a sewage treatment plants and have no idea what the effluent waste loading is on receiving water bodies, besides the possibility that such plants are designed to treat the wrong waste in sewage.

Want to know more visit www.petermaier.net and read the description of this test (BOD) in the Technical PDF section.