1. Introduction

Why is marine pollution an issue?

What probably comes quickly to your mind are animals and plants that live in the oceans, people who live at the sea side or tourists who spend their holidays at the beach. It is obvious that they would be directly affected by polluted water.

A baby reef whitetip shark (Triaenodon obesus), at Isla del Coco (Cocos Island, Costa Rica) Photo: Terry Goss 2008 / Marine Photobank

Diverse coral and sponge-based community off Adak Island, Alaska Photo: Alberto Lindner, NOAA / Marine Photobank

People spending their summer holidays at a beach in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa Photo: Kathleen Reaugh / Marine Photobank

44% of the world's population live within 150 kilometres of the coast. In numbers that's about 3 billion (3,000,000,000) people, more people than inhabited the entire globe in 1950!
These people strongly depend on the sea in terms of health, living space, water supply, recreational value and as a source of food (fisheries).

But how about places further inland?

Do you think the people below are affected by marine pollution?

A Snowboarder in the Austrian Alps Photo: Christina Klose

A camp in the desert of Lompoul, Senegal. Photo: G.No / Wikimedia Commons

People at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. Photo: Janusz Jurzyk 2005 / Wikimedia Commons

1. A snowboarder in the Austrian Alps
   (distance to the nearest sea: approx. 500 km)
   Check your answer ↓↑

   The girl from Austria needs a lot of skin cream because winter in the Alps means low humidity and many hours of sunshine. Many skin creams contain marine algae. Pollution of these algae would thus not be favourable.
2. A camp dweller in the desert of Lompoul in Senegal
   (distance to the nearest sea: approx. 50 km)
   Check your answer ↓↑

   The people in Senegal regularly face the problem of locust swarms that destroy their crops and eat up the straw huts of local farmers. While Senegalese farmers clamour for more insecticide powder to dust on the insects themselves, officials from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) are reluctant to give it to them, because of the dangerous levels of toxic chemicals it leaves in the soil in local water supplies. The toxic substances will eventually end up in the Atlantic Ocean.
3. A resident of the city of Berlin
   (distance to the nearest sea: approx. 200 km)
   Check your answer ↓↑

   The mean annual consumption of fish per person in Germany is 16.4 kg (Fisch-Informationszentrum 2008). If fishing grounds are polluted there will be less fish which means that the fish that the people in Berlin can buy will become more expensive.

These examples show:

And who is responsible?

On the last page you learned that marine pollution is not only caused by substances thrown or spilt directly into the sea.

The consequences that marine pollution may have on the social and economic welfare of people can be quite serious:

• Increased risk to human health
• Increased cost of human health protection
• Loss of water supplies
• Increased clean up costs
• Loss of tourism or recreational values
• Loss in fisheries
• Loss of property value
• Potential for international conflicts
• Damage to equipment
• Endangerment of species
• Costs of litigation

Thus, marine pollution is a topic that concerns all of us. Although it is on the news mainly when catastrophes like big tanker accidents happen or mass mortality affects the beaches, marine pollution is an issue we should all care about. It is also small amounts of litter or other harmful substances that pollute the marine environment!

A salmon panhandling wearing a sign, "Will work for clean water"
Source: T. McCracken / pioneer.net