Introduction
Oceans are one of the most expensive gifts of nature. There are many ways it can benefit us, and the most highlighted ones are providing quality food and fast transportation. From the perspective of the human eye as well as nature, many oceanographers, as well as scientists who are currently active in studying ocean pollution and are concerned about its health, have explained that the earth’s oceans are deadly polluted, and in many areas of the world, the death of fish is increased. The main topic of this essay is the discussion of general pollution of the oceans. The oceanic ecosystem is highly damaged by all this, and a huge number of natural deaths of fish and sea creatures are happening, which is an alarming situation. The paper’s main aim is to discuss ocean health, the general pollution of the oceans, and the ways to prevent and reduce it.
Discussion
Pollution was not a concern in the past because of less industry and the unnatural use of natural resources. The general discussion of water pollution started when big cities started to pollute the rivers and streams. Water pollution intensified during the Industrial Revolution. It took a century to cause deadly effects on ocean health. The natural causes of ocean pollution could be neglected because the organic pollutants are dissolved in the water and don’t cause any deadly effects on a larger scale. There are outnumbered problems raised because of the ocean pollution on the ocean’s ecosystem as well as the coastal areas.
In history, scientists have assumed that the seas and the oceans are extremely big and humans are very little ineffective in causing any severe effects on the oceans. They assumed that it would only cause little or minimal consequences on the oceans if a few pollutants could be thrown into it. They are assumed to be correct even now because if a little is spilled into the ocean, that makes sense, but continuously, a century ago, a huge number of polluted rivers and canals were directed towards the ocean, which is a continuous cause of ocean pollutants. All four oceans and a number of connecting seas have been polluted as a result of human consequences for over millennia. In the past, there were a number of incidents that were the main source of pollution and damage to the oceans.
Sources of Ocean Pollution
There are outnumbered sources that are causing damage to ocean health, and the most concerning ones are oil spills, toxic wastes, floating inorganic solid waste, and nature.
Firstly, nature itself is causing ocean pollution. The process started centuries ago when, for the first time, the world was created. The seawater already has higher intensities of minerals and salts, which are driven from the land towards the sea because of the rain process. It is a natural process and can neither be minimized nor ended. Some toxic minerals and acids came into existence due to the reactions of water with the solid rocks on the land, but they happen in very low quality. They are the source of pollution to the oceans, but they are ineffective.
Now comes the human activities. One of the worst times for the oceans started when the first industry was started, and it’s all toxic waste, liquids, and many other pollutants that caused the rivers, lakes, and oceans pollution. It is estimated that the 80% of the pollution to the oceans and seas is coming from the lands.
The biggest sources of ocean pollution are nonpoint sources, including cars, boats, farms, ranches, mountains, and forests. There are uncountable and ignored incidents of oil leakage from road vehicles into the seas and oceans.
Nonpoint sources could also include incidents in which the oil tankers spill a huge quantity of crude oil on the ship. There are many incidents in the oil transportation field in which the world’s known oil transportation corporations’ ships spill oil into the seas and oceans. The cleaning was performed, but the water was found contaminated to a huge scale, which made them step back instead of pointless cleaning to perform. One of the main incident happened in the red sea whose consequences were observed even after a half decade and in a week a huge sea life was found dead on the Arab and African shorelines.
Mexican Bay is considered a deadly polluted sea. The most active toxins were thrown into the seawater, and tons of solid waste were seen on the surface of the sea. It was never assumed that the effects would be that bad, but the uncomfortable environment is currently considered the cause of damaging the tourism industry.
Dirt can be considered a pollutant. Contaminated air dissolves in flowing water, harming fish and other water creatures.
Many emerging superpowers and developing countries like China, Israel, and India are also among the top performers in polluting the oceans. It is internationally known that they do not process the liquid before spilling it into the oceans. China has started working to decrease pollution, but it is pointless because the actions are not effective over the best performers of the industry. Bombay shore is also highly polluted, and no doubt the conditions will be worse rather than improved in the next few years.
Plans & Strategies for Securing the Health of Oceans
In a discussion to check how healthy the overall five oceans are, the results after reviewing the facts conclude less than 60 out of 100. This means that there is a great chance of improvement. There are a lot of ways the oceans could be cleaned. Since some countries are the best performers in polluting the oceans, some of the best countries are the best performers in the cleaning of the oceans. The countries whose economy is mostly based on tourism and are economically strong include France, the USA, Australia, Mexico, and England. They have started cleaning the oceans through an initiative to remove solid waste from the coastal regions. The staff is hired to eliminate the solid waste coming from land as well as from the ocean and remove them from the shore to keep the environment tidy and clean. These tasks are known as beach sweeps. The waste is recycled and reused. Government officials find the throwing of solid waste.
Last year, all the sea shores were seen to be highly polluted by solid waste in the United States, but after the actions of the general public, NGOs, government, and social workers from all over the United States, approximately all the shores of the country are clean. The awareness of the people about the little contributions to decreasing pollution and saving the ecosystems in the oceans is also performed, which is also highly effective.
Australia has the best surf riders, and they are also acting as ocean cleaners by sweeping the surface of the ocean and eliminating solid waste. The government has started offering cash prizes for the one who cleans the most.
The awareness programs of cleaning the oceans are so good and effective that people from all over the planet have started performing in cleaning the oceans. Locally as well as on the international levels, the campaigns resulted in the installation of recycling plants beside the oceans for recycling waste as well as making incredible pieces of art that are sold for charity purposes as well as investment collection for enhancing ocean cleaning performance. Most of the ocean-cleaning activities are being performed by non-government organizations with the help of public fundraising programs. Scientific research has also been conducted, explaining the best ways to limit ocean pollution. According to the analysts, if these activities would be performed sincerely for the next ten years, then the oceans would be rated 40 out of 100 in pollution estimates.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, it can be explained that the health of the oceans is extremely important for the humans living on the land, both in coastal areas and landlocked countries. There are many sources of ocean pollution that currently pollute the ocean. The most effective are the nonpoint sources, oil tanker leakage, industries releasing toxic waste, and agricultural fertilizers. All over the world, including developed and developing countries, have discussed this issue deeply, and even the UN has organized collective discussions on this point so that the problem can at least be minimized. The cleaning of oceans has started, and the dumping of solid waste has also been minimized and, in most developed countries, eliminated. Industries are using processing plants that throw harmless and non-toxic wastes into rivers and oceans to decrease the increase in pollution.
Works Cited
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