Pollutants in Seawater

Several causes of seawater pollution that have a direct effect on the oceans and wildlife include discarded waste materials, toxic chemical disposal and oil leaks. Conversations relating to sea pollutants 40 years ago generally did not consider it as serious a problem as it is recognized to be today. Scientific research and testing are showing society that pollutants adversely affect not only the oceans and their wildlife, but also the health of many people and the surrounding environment.

Discarded Waste

• It only takes a single wave to take trash in to the sea waters, affecting the environment.

  The types of discarded waste that often make their way to ocean waters include items like fishing wire, shoe strings, plastic bags, food containers and wrappings, dirty diapers and drink containers made of glass or plastic. The seas may look vast, and it may seem that a single container could not cause a problem, but what happens when thousands of individuals think the same thing? Fish and sea mammals die from consuming solid waste materials. The solid waste can block airways and stomachs of sea creatures such as whales, turtles and dolphins. Throughout the duration of any given year, more than 25 percent of U.S. beaches are closed due to water pollution.

Oil Pollution

• Accidents have occured causing large oil spills on the sea waters.

  Oil spills in the sea are caused during transportation and collection. The World Wildlife Fund states that only 12 percent of oil pollution is caused by spills; oil wastage poured down drainpipes and disposed of in rivers causes 36 percent of oil pollution in the seas and oceans. Oil pollutants are a cause of death for some sea animals, but it also has a detrimental effect on land creatures like birds. Oil is very difficult to clean up, and it takes many volunteers a long time to clean up land animals that have been in direct contact with oil, just so they can survive. In 1992 over four million metric tons of oil was poured into the Earth's seas and oceans.

Radioactive Waste

• Radioactive waste is one of the sea's most dangerous pollutants. Initially, radioactive waste is kept in water pond storage near the plants where it originated, but not long after, the waste is transported a couple of miles out to sea and dumped within sealed steel canisters. Canisters leak often, and sea creatures and plants soon become radioactively contaminated or simply poisoned by this highly toxic pollutant. Many states and countries have enacted laws to protect the environment from radioactive waste dumping, but it has yet to become a thing of the past. One of the only actions that can really have an effect on toxic waste dumping is to change power generation sources.