Oceanography mini-Research Paper

Posted by Winnie Melda on March 28th, 2019

Introduction

From time immemorial, the oceans have always been subject to human activities (Hassan, 2005). To a contrasting extent, these activities have adverse impacts on the state of the marine environment. Of concern is that marine water forms a huge and basic source of life to a great habitat. It also forms a diverse part of the natural ecosystem based on the fact that water covers a very extensive portion of the earth (Weis, 2015). The term pollution implies the presence of substances, things or objects that have harmful or poisonous effects and their introduction into the marine environment.   According to the UN, Marine Pollution is the direct or indirect introduction of substances or energy into the marine environment particularly by the human. That results in deleterious effects such as hazards to the health of marine life, a hindrance to marine activities, a blight of the quality of seawater for various uses and reduction of amenities. This paper aims to discuss two types of marine pollution and the dynamics of each. Pollution in the sea is of different types. As observed from the data below, the most detrimental are sourced from human activities. 

 The paper aims to study two types of ocean pollution which are: First Radioactive Substances and secondly is Agricultural runoff (herbicides, pesticides and nutrients).

Radioactive Materials

Radioactive Materials including alpha, beta and gamma radiation emitted from unstable isotopes of some chemical elements is a common natural phenomenon (Garrison, 2009). That means that the seawater is naturally radioactive. The so-called background radioactivity stems from potassium-40, as well as from the decay products of uranium and thorium. Human activities, however, have made some areas to get marked as a hazard due to radioactivity. In the last century, scientific developments have made it easier for humans to make unstable isotopes. The sustainability of these isotopes gets remedied through returning them to a stable state. During this process, radiation energy get emitted that can be utilized, for instance, to produce electricity or to fuel engines. Sources of marine radioactive pollution are anthropogenic and include discharges of cooling water from nuclear power plants. Another source is the waste water from reprocessing plants and the loss of radioactive goods in transit by ships. Testing of military weapons and dumping of solid nuclear waste is another potential source of radioactive waste.

The most momentous contribution of radioactive materials into the marine environment originates from nuclear activities from industries and dumping of radioactive waste. It gets estimated that continued releases of wastewater have accumulated in sediments in the sea. Other radioactive elements such as plutonium have got detected which poses a threat to marine life (Garrison, 2009). Both short-run radioactive components, such as iodine and longer-lived elements such as cesium can get absorbed by zooplankton, phytoplankton, kelp and other marine plants. Afterward, they get transmitted up the food chain, to fish, marine mammals, and finally to humans.

Agricultural runoff

The second only priority to the availability of drinking water is the access to the food supply. Thus, agriculture no doubt is a dominant component of the global economy. While automation of farming in many states has lately resulted in a drastic fall in the fraction of the population working in agriculture, the need to produce enough food has had a worldwide impact on agricultural practices. In many countries, this demand has resulted in expansion into marginal lands and is usually associated with chemical inclusion to yield more. In different countries, food requirements have required expansion of irrigation and a steady increase in the utility of fertilizers and pesticides to achieve and sustain better produce (Weis, 2015).

It gets well known that agriculture is the single largest user of freshwater resources. Apparently, agriculture uses a global average of 70% of all surface water supplies. Apart from that amount lost through evapotranspiration, agricultural water is recycled back to surface water and groundwater. However, agriculture is both causative and victim of water pollution. First agricultural activities get involved with the release of pollutants and sediment to the ground-water. Second is through the net loss of soil by poor agricultural practices, and through salinization and water-logging from irrigated land.  Whenever extensive tracts of land get plowed, the exposed soil erodes during rainstorms. As a matter of fact, much of this runoff flows to the sea carrying with it agricultural fertilizers and pesticides. Through soil erosion, soil and particles laden with carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and minerals are carried down to the sea. In return, the nutrient-rich water causes the thriving of fleshy algae and phytoplankton in coastal areas. These have the potential to create hypoxic conditions by using all available oxygen. The marine organisms thereby suffer low oxygen supply.

Of these categories of marine pollution, Agricultural runoff poses a higher threat. That is because Agriculture has been adopted by most nations as a primary activity either as a source of food or income. To make higher yields, it is very improbable that a farmer would forego the use of fertilizers and other chemical inputs. Moreover, rainstorms have been found to be one of the most common phenomena in continents. That implies that, erosion get witnessed and due to undue methods of prevention, these chemicals get loaded into waterways. However, compared to the radioactive pollution, agricultural runoff is much controllable.

Action plan

An action plan to control marine pollution is vital with reference to the threats as mentioned earlier to marine life. Its importance can get traced from the fact that water follows a cycle. That is, ocean water evaporates, condenses and finally falls back. The implication of that is, if contaminated water condenses, it may rain being toxic. It is thus vital for a man to devise an action plan to control marine pollution.

In an action plan to control the two mentioned pollution types, the first thing to include is an Environmental Assessment. That gets concerned with the assessment and evaluating the causes of two environmental issues, and their magnitude and impact on the region. Emphasis gets given to such activities as conducting a baseline research on the root sources of radioactive emissions or the toxicity of agricultural inputs. Second is Environmental management. Each regional particularly those surrounding a marine environment should have a program that entails a wide range of activities for environmental management. Such activities may include cooperative regional projects on training in environmental Impact assessment (Churchil & Lowe, 1998). Also, management of coastal lagoons, estuaries, and mangrove ecosystems should be taught and enforced. Training for control of industrial, agricultural and domestic wastes as well as the formulation of contingency plans for dealing with pollution emergencies in the population is advantageous (Churchil & Lowe, 1998).

Third is planning an environmental legislation. That acts as an umbrella to the regional convention. From these, industries that use radioactive materials as raw materials must as well as those preparing agricultural additives should sign to technical protocols that provide legally for better disposal mechanisms. This legal commitment clearly stipulates the will to manage individually and jointly the common environmental management desires. Another component is institutional arrangements. When adopting an action plan, it is viable for organizations to agree upon the action as interim of the action plan. Institutions decide upon the periodicity of meetings to review the progress of the agreed.

Conclusion

Marine environment fresh or not fresh hosts majority of organisms (Hassan, 2005). However, eighty percent of pollution to the marine environment comes from the land. One of the biggest sources is called nonpoint source pollution, which occurs as a result of runoff (Weis, 2015). More than  a third of the shellfish growing waters of the United States are adversely affected by coastal pollution. Marine pollution is of many types and may include sewerage drainage, the inclusion of metals, radioactive materials, agricultural runoff pollutants and several others that threatens the marine life (Churchil & Lowe, 1998). The paper, having discussed radioactive related pollution and agricultural runoff finds agricultural runoff as most epic as compared to radioactivity. That is because agriculture get practiced in the majority of countries in the world (Garrison, 2009). In comparison radioactivity pollution though equally contagious is not a common area of practiced by a large proportion of nations. As also seen, controlling agricultural founded marine pollution is much easier. That is because the chemical components of fertilizers and farm inputs are easier to manage than the parts of radioactive materials. Moreover, enhancing agricultural practices is easy as it would involve farmers training who mostly are easier to handle (Churchil & Lowe, 1998).  

References

Churchill, R. & Lowe, A. (1998). The law of the sea. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.

Garrison S. (2009).Oceanography: An Invitation to Marine Science. Cengage Learning

Hassan, D. (2005). Protecting the marine environment from land-based sources of pollution: Towards effective international cooperation. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate.

Lauretta. (1998). Reefs at risk: a map indicator of threats to the world’s coral reefs. Washington DC.: World resources institute

Weis, J. (2015). Marine pollution: What everyone needs to know. Oxford: New York : Oxford