Abstract
Who is going to help stop pollution? What is going to happen to our ocean if it does not stop? When are people going to start taking action? Where can we stop the source? Why haven’t we started taking action before? How can we stop this major problem? Pollution is sucking the life out of not only our oceans but our marine life, and if we do not come together and stop pollution all of our oceans will be gone. This research will help shed light on the subject. This researcher will use a variety of books, magazines, articles, and the internet to help get these answers.

What effects do water pollution have on our oceans and marine life? Marine pollution is a worldwide crisis. Debris, chemicals, and other harmful things are in every ocean around the world. There are handfuls of organizations that are joining in to help the cause, but would it be enough to stop the wide spreading effects of pollution? Pollution has a grasp on our water and marine animals, and is choking the life out of them. If it doesn’t stop now things will take a turn for the worse. The effects of pollution have grown tremendously from things such as oil spills, sewage, and from us and our everyday trash.

Organizations are trying to help and get to the root of the problem. Dive Against Debris is one of those organizations. It is a global underwater survey of marine debris. Their efforts are making differences, and with those differences people are joining in to help out. Project Aware, another organization, is joining

with Dive Against Debris. These programs are trying to help get oceans clean. Project Aware divers are rising to the marine challenge by taking local action and supporting the policy change necessary to prevent and reduce rubbish entering our oceans.
Governments and conservationists are working together to help reduce pollution. As producers of products that find their way into the marine environment, plastic makers are working with government officials, scientists, retailers, and anti-litter groups to devise solutions to prevent marine debris. The rubbish we remove makes the ocean safer for marine life and us. From everyday litter like plastic bags, food wrappers, drink bottles, to car batteries, kitchen appliances, enormous fishing nets, and industrial waste. The trash accumulating in the oceans is turning our beautiful reefs, lagoons, and sea grass meadows into rubbish dumps.

The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has approximated that 1.4 billion pounds of trash are dumped in the oceans every year. A researcher from NOAA said “We are working to advance scientific understanding of marine litter. We know plastics help make a wide range of useful versatile products. In many cases to help reduce energy use and green house gas emissions compared to alternatives, but they do not belong in our oceans.” (1-2)

The effects of pollution are vast and numerous. Many living organisms are going extinct by the day because of pollution. The ocean habitat has experienced destruction that adversely complicated the survival of the living organisms. Scientists are concerned about areas of the Pacific Ocean that have low levels of oxygen in the water. Areas of the ocean around the U.S, especially in Washington and Oregon, have little or no oxygen in their waters. According to the United Nations, “The damage to the deep oceans is getting out of control and deep ocean pollution is a major threat. Human exploitation of the deep ocean waters is quickly passing the point of no return.” To the Common Dream News Center “The damaged is caused by litter and overfishing.” (1-1)

Without healthy water for drinking, cooking, fishing, and farming the human race would perish. In the 1970’s it was found that most of the groundwater and surface water was contaminated or severely compromised. Studies revealed that the nation’s three primary sources of water pollution – industry; agricultural, and municipalities; had been regularly discharging harmful materials into water supplies throughout the country over a number of years. These harmful materials include organic waste, thermal pollutants, toxic chemicals, and other hazardous substances. Organic wastes are produced by animals and humans, and include such as fecal matter and crop debris. Waste requires oxygen to decompose. When they’re dumped into streams and lakes and begin to break down, they can deprive the aquatic life of the oxygen it needs to survive. Sediments may be deposited into lakes and streams through soil erosion caused by the clearing, excavating, grading, transportation, and filling of land minerals, such as iron, copper, chromium, platinum, nickel, zinc, etc. Can be discharged into streams.
“The majority of pollutants going into the ocean come from activities on land. Natural processes and human activities along the coastlines and far inland affect the health of our ocean. One of the biggest sources is called nonpoint source pollution, which occurs as a result of runoff. Nonpoint source pollution includes many small sources, like septic tanks, cars, trucks, and boats, plus larger sources, such as farms, livestock ranches, and timber harvest areas. Pollution that comes from a single source like an oil or chemical spill is known as point source pollution.This type of pollution has large impacts, but fortunately, they occur less often. Discharge from faulty or damaged factories or water treatment system are also considered point source polluters.” The staff at NOAA has strong feelings about marine pollution, and is trying their best to help in any way they can. According to NOAA ”Sometimes it is not the type of material, but its concentration, that determines if it is a pollutant. For example, nutrients such as Nitrogen and Phosphorus are essential elements for plant growth. However, if they are overabundant in a body of water, they can stimulate an overgrowth of algae called an algal bloom. Some algal blooms are considered to be harmful because they can have a negative effect on living organisms. An excess of nutrients entering a body of water, either through natural or human activities, can also result in hypoxic or dead zones. When large amounts of algae sink and decompose in the water, the decomposition process consumes oxygen and depletes the supply available to healthy marine life. Most of the marine life that lives in these areas either dies, or, if they are mobile fish, leave the area. Habitats that would normally be teeming with life become, essentially, biological deserts.” (2-2)

“Marine debris is another persistent pollution problem in our ocean. Marine debris injures and kills marine life, interferes with navigation safety, and poses a threat to human health. Our oceans and waterways are polluted with a wide variety of marine debris ranging from soda cans and plastic bags to derelict fishing gear and abandoned vessels. Today, there is no place on Earth immune to this problem. A majority of the trash and debris that covers our beaches comes from storm drains and sewers, as well as from shoreline and recreational activities. Abandoned or discarded fishing gear is also a major problem because this trash can entangle, injure, maim, drown marine wildlife and damage property.” (3-2)

“Pollution can have an adverse affect on the food that we eat. Heavy metals and other contaminants can accumulate in seafood and make it harmful to eat. More than one-third of the shellfish-growing waters of the United States are adversely affected by coastal pollution. NOAA monitors this contamination through the Mussel Watch program and also provides seafood safety tips through the Fish Watch program.” (4-2)

“No matter whether students live near the coasts or far inland, they are a part of the problem and the solution to ocean pollution. Through education, students can be informed of the types of pollution and actions that they can do to prevent further pollution of the ocean. This collection contains a variety of multimedia, lesson plans, data, activities, and information to help students better understand ocean pollution and what they can do to prevent it.” The educated minds of NOAA have found these resources and are working on fixing them. (5-2)

Marine pollution is a dreadful killer to our marine habitats and marine life. I think that if we could come together and realize how bad it is getting we could do something about it as a whole. This is a major problem. We need water to survive, and if we keep polluting it, unusable water will be a worldwide crisis. If pollution doesn’t stop the next war we have will be over water. People don’t realize how important water is to us if we don’t have it we will die. This is a very big problem that needs to be solved quickly, because we are running out of time. We can’t push this crisis aside. We need to join together and stop this while we can. This may possibly be our last chance to fix this huge problem. Please our oceans need help! This is our problem and it’s time we fix it.


Work Cited
1. “Water Pollution.” www. All-recycling-facts.com.2009.Environmental concerns.14 Mar.2014http://www.all-recycling-facts.com/main-types-of-pollution.html.
2. “Ocean Pollution Facts.” www.buzzle.com.2000-2014.NOAA. 14 Mar. 2014. http://www.buzzel.com/articles/ocean-pollution-facts.html.
3. “Ocean pollution.”www.controllingpollution.com.12 Mar. 2014.
4. “Water Pollution.” Encyclopedia.com. 2005
5. Neha Singh.“Cause and effect- of marine pollution.” 23 Sep. 2010.14 Mar. 2014.http://www.marineinsight.com/marine/enviornment/effects-of-marine-pollution.
6. “Operation clean sweep.”Marine debris solutions. 12 Mar. 2014. <http//www.marinedebrissollutions.com/main-menu/plastic-makers-take-action/what-were-doing.html>.
7. Dive against Debris. “Marine debris.” Project Aware. 11 Mar. 2014http://www.projectaware.org/project/marine-debris.