Marine Environment Protection Paper Example

Introduction

The marine environment is a significant element of the life-support scheme. Life in the planet earth is reliant on the oceans, seas and other major water bodies, which act as a constant source of opportunities and wealth. Waters cover the highest percentage approximately seventy-one percent of the earth's surface of which oceans and seas cover about ninety-six percent of all earth's waters (Schlacke, Maier & Markus, 2016, p. 2). Consequently, due to limitations of land in size as compared to oceans, humans, and animals have turned to earth's waters for food, energy, and water. In fact, the marine ecosystem has been supporting and sustainable the livelihood of millions of people across the world. Likewise, seas and oceans have been acting as the main stabilizer of the world's climate and the primary channel of transportation linking different parts of the world. However, increased human activities continue to affect the water bodies negatively, which have turned out to be a growing global concern. Despite deprivation of the water bodies, the oceans are more likely to survive but the greatest worry remains whether humans will manage to preserve marine environment in a condition that ensures continuity of animals and humans' survival and well-being. Therefore, this paper will discuss marine environment and protection measures against the degradation of this ecosystem.

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Marine Ecosystem

Marine ecosystems are the primary constituent of the earth's environment. The marine environment includes features such as deep seas, sea floors, oceans, lagoons, mangroves, estuaries and coral reefs among other major water bodies. The ecosystem also involves the interaction between living organisms in the ocean and with the atmosphere. Within the oceans lives a wide variety of organisms that have grown in response to different features and structures of their environs. For instance, some regions in the ocean are shallow while others are extremely deep. Mariana Trench and Tonga Trench in the western part of Pacific Ocean are some of the deepest regions in the ocean and act as a habitat to a number of aquatic animals (Schlacke, Maier & Markus, 2016, p. 4). Therefore, the distribution of marine organism is not even and depends on various factors such as availability of light, proximity to land, water depth, and topographic complexity.

Classification of Marine Environment

The marine environment can be classified into benthic and pelagic divisions. Benthic ecology is a diverse class that explores the manner in which organisms living on the ocean floor influence and interact with the abiotic and biotic environment. Initially, benthos was thought to be a dead region due to its lack of oxygen and light. Nevertheless, the sediments of benthos have been found to be reached in nutrients enough to support the survival of organism such as bacteria, worms, and fish among other aquatic organisms (Visbeck et.al, 2014, p8). The ocean floors have exceptional niches known as hydrothermal vents essential in creating hot springs of water and supporting a diverse community of bacteria that can withstand high temperatures that are key in sustaining aquatic lives.

On the other hand, the pelagic zone includes the water columns of the open ocean. However, pelagic zone excludes areas that are near the shores and those that are at the bottom of the ocean. Contrary to other regions of the ocean, the deep sea and offshores have varying properties from either benthic or pelagic segments. The pelagic region is characterized by numerous species although the number decreases with increase in depth. The region also comprises of the food base of all marine animals, which include microscopic organisms inhabiting only the sunlit uppermost oceanic layer. Likewise, most of the aquatic animals including fish are dominant in this zone but their survival depends on the abundance of nutrients, oxygen, sunlight, water temperature, pressure and salinity of pelagic waters. Pelagic is usually the main oceanic zone that is widely affected by pollution and marine environment degradation.

Causes of Marine Environment Pollution

Over the past few decades, excess human activities have caused a devastating impact on the marine environment. Marine pollution entails widespread toxic substances such as chemicals, plastics, oil, and waste products into oceans. The following are some of the major causes of marine environment pollution

Sewage Pollution Creating Raising Toxicity Levels in the Oceans and Water Bodies

Urban poor sewage and drainage systems have been one of the primary causes of water pollution. For instance, eighty percent of the urban waste end up into the Mediterranean Sea (Jeftic, Matte-Baker & Schomaker, 2016, p. 11). In this case, as the number of people moves to the urban center's tons of damaging chemicals are released into water bodies. The sewer breaks down and the chemicals start to decompose reducing oxygen levels of the water. As a result, aquatic plants and living organisms die affecting the food chain in the ecosystem.

Industrial Chemicals

Industrialization has had its own advantages and disadvantage in all spheres of the economy. For instance, the twenty-first century has brought about advanced technologies helpful in studying both the pelagic and benthic zones of the ocean. Likewise, the rate of pollution from water transportation has also been reduced (Visbeck et.al, 2014, p18). However, they are those companies that have continuously dumped their byproducts into water bodies causing massive pollution. Most of these chemicals are hazardous and threatens the health of plants and animals alike.

Land Runoffs

Land runoffs refer to the erosion due to heavy rainfalls and melting of ice. In most cases, soils from such events contain harmful chemicals including pesticides, fertilizers, and petroleum products that end up into water runways and eventually into the oceans. For instance, fertilizers have been supporting eutrophication and growth of algae that despite acting as a source of food to some animals have also depleted oxygen levels in most parts of the earth's waters bodies.

Ocean Mining

In some regions, oceans have been a constant source of mineral jewelry such as copper, silver, zinc, and gold. However, the mining activities release deposits of harmful compounds including the sulfides. Mining in deep seas also damages the base and lowest levels of the ocean increasing their levels of toxicity. In fact, damage from ocean mining is permanent and causes other forms of pollution such as oil spills and corrosion.

Oil Spillage

Significant quantities of oils derived from human activities including transportation find their way into the marine environment. Some of the oils easily decompose but others may last for years in the water column or sediments. The main pathways for contamination include sewage treatment plant, transport industry, urban and industrial runoffs, and accidental discharge from refining or storage facilities. Once an animal swims into waters contaminated with oil, they suffocate to death. Likewise, the lower segments of the ocean receive a limited amount of oxygen to support aquatic life.

Littering

Unfortunately, to a considerable number of people this might seem to be a minor issue but in contemporary society, it has turned to be one of the major causes of water pollution. Almost one and a half billion pounds of garbage find their way into the ocean every year (Jeftic, Matte-Baker & Schomaker, 2016, p. 12). The debris may be in the form of dust, plastics, or trash blew by wind or directly disposed of in the waterways or seas. The most common debris is plastic bottles and bags that take long to decompose and animals confuse them for food. In other cases, they trap some animals causing death.

Effects of Marine Environment Pollution

The effects of marine environment pollution can be devastating despite the ongoing research on means of reducing pollution and protecting the ecosystem. The chemicals finding their ways into the ocean have been found to cause cancer in marine life, declines the ability of animals to reproduce, alters behaviors of some animals and may cause death (Visbeck et.al, 2014, p12). On the other hand, oil spillage affects the breathing systems and the swimming abilities of fish suffocating most of the affected animals and subjecting others to their predictors. Whenever fish and other consumable animals take in chemicals disposed of in seas and water runways the same substances circulate in the food chain and may affect people in a negative way.

Marine pollution also affects coral reef preventing oxygen and sunlight from penetrating into other segments of the ocean. As a result, the ability of marine plants to perform photosynthesis is affected, plants die leaving animals vulnerable to starvation and lack of shelter. De-oxygenation has also affected species such as whales, dolphins, sharks, and turtles among other animals. In fact, some of this species are becoming extinct with only a few of them being traced in the oceans. The reproduction of marine animals is another area that constant pollution of oceans has affected.

Principles and Measures for Controlling Marine Environment Protection

The protection and preservation of the marine environment are driven by several principles that yield normative prescriptions to guide involved activities. Some of the predominant principles include sustainable development, precautions, polluter pays, and pollution prevention.

Sustainable Development

The model involves developing strategies that would ensure sustainable use of living marine resources and their environment within the existing framework of rights and responsibilities for different maritime resources and areas. According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), sustainable development entails management and conservation of natural resources, and orientation of institutional and technological changes with an aim of ensuring attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations (Visbeck et.al, 2014, p18). Environmental sustainability for the ocean is a global initiative that calls for international cooperation. In this case, international and regional environmental policies and the government should ensure that neither pollution nor extraction and harvesting of inanimate or animate resources impairs the basic functions of the marine ecosystem.

Pollution Prevention

Marine pollution has a long history and it is until the twentieth century that different organizations and governments began to enact laws to curb the issue. Originally, people believed that the oceans were so large and had the ability to dilute any form of contamination. However, air and land pollution have proven to be destructive and toxic to marine life and its habitats. The effects of marine pollution have been demanding prompt actions to control the menace (Schiffman, 2013, p 22). Pollution prevention measures are mainly the multiple laws, policies, and treaties that have been put into place and are continuing to be formulated to prevent people and industries from engaging in activities that would result to the deprivation of oceans and major water bodies.

Precaution Measures

Humans have been exercising power over the ocean in such a way that their activities ought to be regulated to ensure that the marine environment remains intact and productive. With pollution of oceans, continuing to worsen there has been a need for urgent action. Advocating for sustainable development and pollution prevention measures may yield positive results in protecting the marine environment but have a precautious approach to the menace would make the two more effective (Sage-Fuller, 2013, p. 6). Preca...