Our Ocean a Garbage Can

I recently heard of a fact that was hard to believe. There is an island of garbage in the North Pacific Gyre twice the size of Texas. This garbage island is mainly made of plastics. Plastics are eaten by a lot of the marine life because it looks like food. This is creating a major impact on the marine ecosystems. But what about the other sources of pollution that we do not see because they do not float.

The major sources of pollution in the ocean mainly come from nonpoint sources. About 80 percent of the pollution comes from nonpoint sources that include land runoff, sewage, toxic chemical,etc.. The other part comes from dumping trash and littering.

Oil spills cause a lot of damage to the marine life. There are projects that are done to help save the marine life from oil spills but even with the help most of the marine life affected dies. It is better to prevent these events than later trying to repair the damage that has been done.

There are some zones in the ocean that are so polluted that become lifeless more commonly referred to as dead zones. This is due to eutrophication that occurs from land runoff.

How does this affect us?
Well in many ways. For one the ocean provides us with many resources that we need in our daily lives. From a relaxing day at the beach to the food in our table. All the chemicals and pollutants that find their way into the ocean get taken up by marine life. When we are eating seafood we are also eating the pollutants that biomagnified creating a chain-like event leading up to us. Pollution affects everyone.