Effects Of Ocean Pollution

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The ocean is the home of most of the life on earth, but not for long. Our oceans are rapidly becoming less suitable for life, all thanks to human pollution. Ocean pollution has gotten to the point where there are islands of pure waste floating through the ocean, and fertilizers that mix into the ocean have created hundreds of dead zones. According to Discovery News, the ocean will have more plastic than fish in only thirty years. When you drive a car, you’re not just putting carbon into the atmosphere. The carbon in the air will always eventually reach the ocean, and mix into the water. This causes a chemical reaction that ends up rising acidic levels in the water. In fact, as PMEL shows, the pH of the surface of the ocean has dropped by …show more content…
What gets worse is the trash that doesn’t end up in our beaches stays in the ocean. Although it is not hard to find debris scattered throughout the entire ocean, the currents in the ocean lead to much of the plastic and other waste to congregate into a single area. Although the size of this area is not known due to much of the plastic being too small to sea with the naked human eye, and being underwater, the estimated size of these debris zones go up to being the size of Texas, if not larger. However don’t be fooled, it’s not just visible islands of plastic that are the problem as stated by Darby Hoover, senior resource specialist at Natural Resources Defense Council, “A lot of people think of an island of floating garbage . . . it’s much more diffuse than that. All of our oceans are plastic soups- everywhere you can go”. There are many instances were wildlife has died due to consuming or getting caught in the plastic in this area, especially the jellyfish. In the multiple debris zones throughout the oceans, the jellyfish mortality rate is climbing as they very often get tangled in the floating debris. However, marine pollution does not stop with carbon emissions and human waste. Many fertilizers used in farms are very harmful to ocean life. There are many ways fertilizer gets into the ocean as well, runoff from farms being one of them. This fertilizer contaminates the water and ends up with the death of many microorganisms such phytoplankton, which is a vital part of the ecosystem. If harmful fertilizers continue to be used, the stability of the ecosystem could deteriorate very