Ott 1

Zoe Ott

Professor Macleod

ENG 100

26 October 2020

Ocean Pollution and Its Effects on Marine Life

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Association declared that the outbreak of the

coronavirus (COVID-19) was a global pandemic. The virus led to social distancing of people

which seemed like it was going to be great for the environment. With less people driving from

place to place, and air travel being shut down temporarily, the air quality was definitely going to

improve. Carbon emissions were projected to fall by four percent and factories that were closed

in China made an impact by significantly lowering the pollution rates. All in all, the coronavirus

seemed to be beneficial to the planet’s health. However, this is not true when it comes to oceans.

The outbreak caused a need for mass production of face masks, gloves, sanitary cleaning

products, and basic home necessities, as they were flying off every store shelf. It was estimated

that 129 billion face masks were being used globally, which could be used to cover the entirety

of the country of Switzerland (Ford). In reality, it is very likely that a decent chunk of these

masks find their way into streams and oceans, then become a nice snack for a sea turtle that

mistakes the mask for a jellyfish. The elastic on the mask can also make it easy for marine life,

such as fish or coral, to get entangled in. Take-out food has also contributed to the problem.

Although it has been great for restaurants who can no longer serve their customers in person, the

increased use of single-use plastic bags to transport said food is not great for the environment.

Overall, it is looking like 2020 will have 30 percent more waste than 2019, and the Earth’s

oceans will be suffering because of it.

It is clear that plastic and other trash that makes its way into the ocean is a growing

concern and has been for almost 6 decades now. A total of 80 percent of debris comes from a

land source. This can be due to littering, poor waste management, and many other factors.

Cigarette butts and fishing gear are both usual items found in the sea, along with various plastics

including shopping bags, bottles, and food wrappers. The reason plastic is such a huge problem

in the ocean is because it takes hundreds of years to decompose, which means lifetimes of the

same plastic in the ocean (Stanley). Every year about 8 million metric tons of plastics are put into

the ocean, only adding onto the plastics that are already in the ocean (Ocean Conservancy).

Scientists estimate that there are up to 51 trillion pieces of plastic throughout the world’s oceans.

There is not one square mile free of plastic pollution along the surface of the ocean

anywhere.There are five major ocean gyres, which are ocean currents, and every single one has

plastic within it (Ocean Plastics). One of these gyres filled with plastic has its own name, the

Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This patch is located in the North Pacific and is between Japan and

the West Coast of North America. The floating landfill could cover the area of Texas twice

without any problem. Patches like this one are almost completely made of microplastics, which

are small pieces of plastic that when gathered together make the water look very cloudy. Due to

the fact that about 70 percent of marine trash sinks to the bottom of the ocean, there is a lot more

to the garbage patch than what is on the surface (Great Pacific). Plastic and other litter is very

problematic when it comes to the ocean, but it is not the only pollutant the ocean has faced.

Oil drilling, burning fossil fuels, and even noise are all things that have an impact on the

ocean. Almost all humans use oil every single day without even thinking about it. Petroleum

products can be used to heat buildings, move vehicles, and produce electricity. The industry of

gas and oil operations emits toxic by-products and releases high levels of greenhouse gases.
 Ott 3

Oftentimes these operations can lead to many spills into the ocean every year. It is estimated that

about 1.3 million gallons of petroleum are spilled into just the United States’ water in the

average year (Thompson). These oil spills can lead to serious damage on marine ecosystems and

can remain in the water for decades, for example the Exxon Valdez tanker spill that occurred in

1989 has oil remaining even after 30 years. A more recent spill, the BP Deepwater Horizon

disaster in 2010 spread millions of gallons throughout the Gulf of Mexico. These are large oil

disasters, but there are smaller ones, including fishing boat leaks, that also contribute to the

filling of oil in the seven seas. Burning fossil fuels can be another form of pollutant because the

ocean absorbs a quarter of man-made carbon emissions. This then leads to the changing of water

pH on the surface, which then causes acidification. This has quickly become a problem and if it

continues at the current pace, the ocean's surface could be 150 percent more acidic than they are

now. Unlike the oil spills and ocean acidification, noise is a pollutant that can not be seen. There

are about 60,000 commercial tanker and container ships that sail all times during the day or night

and a giant boat is not exactly quiet. Some marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, use

sound as a way to communicate to find a mate, food, or signal about a predator, however this is

being interrupted by human-generated noise pollution in the oceans (Denchak). This is not the

only pollutant to have an effect on the marine animals or ecosystem below the surface though.

Sea creatures and even coral have been affected by ocean pollution. The most common

though seems to be plastic pollution. At least 800 species have experienced some impact due to

marine debris. Sea turtles, seabirds, and fish for example, find plastic and think it is food. More

specifically turtles, whose normal diet include jellyfish, can mistake a floating grocery bag for

the stinging animal. They then try to digest the waste which could lead to getting entangled and

suffocating, or even starving because they can not eat anymore. Fish who eat plankton, or even
 Ott 4

coral, can mistake microplastics as food and consume the tiny plastic, and in the fish’s case this

could possibly lead to plastic getting into the food chain. A study has shown that 60 percent of

seabird species have consumed a piece of plastic and that this percentage is only going to grow,

even to 99 percent, by the year 2050 (Reedy). Packing bands is one of the most common

entangling materials and has caused injury and even death to the Steller sea lion, an endangered

species (Ocean Plastics). Even one of the largest creatures within the sea, the whale can be

brought down by these terrible plastics. A sperm whale was found stranded with over 13 pounds

of plastic in its stomach (Pelon). Oil spills impact marine life as well. For example, sea otters,

who unlike other marine animals are not able to rid themselves of oil, could cause their fur to

mat if they get in contact with the petroleum. This could prevent the otters from properly

insulating themselves leading to freezing and hypothermia. If they ingest the oil chemicals while

cleaning, their fur can cause failure in the liver and kidney and potentially damage their eyes and

lungs (Watson). The list goes on and on about how the marine ecosystem is affected, changed,

and damaged due to mankind polluting the oceans.

Unfortunately, there is a lot more pollution in the oceans than most realize. Between

plastic pollution, oil spills, ocean acidification, and noise, there are a great deal of things that are

disrupting the nature of the blue seas. Ocean cruises may soon add a “Plastic Island” stop to their

Caribbean tours. The effects of these pollutants are quite large and are harming all marine life in

one aspect or another. How much more waste can the oceans handle? How many more takeout

bags from socially distant meals will be thrown into the ocean before change is made?

Works Cited
 Ott 5

Andre Thompson, FAQ: The Science and History of Oil Spills

https://www.livescience.com/9885-faq-science-history-oil-spills.html#:~:text=According%20to

%20the%20U.S.%20Department,pipelines%20in%20a%20typical%20year.

Dave Ford, COVID-19 Has Worsened the Ocean Plastic Pollution Problem,

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-19-has-worsened-the-ocean-plastic-pollution-

problem/

Emily Watson, Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling: Risks to the Sea Otter,

https://www.fractracker.org/2015/06/sea-otter/

Great Pacific Garbage Patch, https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-

garbage-patch/

Katie Pelon, How Does Ocean Plastic Affect Whales?,

https://www.blueoceansociety.org/blog/how-does-ocean-plastic-affect-whales/#:~:text=Plastic

%20may%20be%20ingested%20by,bags%20and%20flip%2Dflops4.

Melissa Denchak, Ocean Pollution: The Dirty Facts, https://www.nrdc.org/stories/ocean-

pollution-dirty-facts

Morgan Stanley, Marine Pollution, https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/marine-

pollution/#:~:text=Marine%20pollution%20is%20a%20growing,of%20pollution%3A

%20chemicals%20and%20trash.&text=This%20type%20of%20pollution%20occurs,ultimately

%20flow%20into%20the%20ocean

Ocean Conservancy, https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/plastics-in-the-

ocean/#:~:text=Every%20year%2C%208%20million%20metric,currently%20circulate%20our

%20marine%20environments.

Ocean Plastics Pollution, https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/

Simon Reddy, Plastic Pollution Affects Sea Life Throughout the Ocean,

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2018/09/24/plastic-pollution-affects-

sea-life-throughout-the-ocean#:~:text=Fish%2C%20seabirds%2C%20sea%20turtles

%2C,suffocation%2C%20starvation%2C%20and%20drowning.&text=On%20many%20beaches

%2C%20plastic%20pollution,the%20sand%20where%20incubation%20occurs