Marine Pollution 018

Petroleum hydrocarbons Plastics Pesticides Heavy metals Sewage Radioactive waste Thermal effluents Marine Pollutants

Pollutants Entering the Ocean Farm runoff 20%Air pollutants 20% Marine transportation 10% Offshore oil 10% Industrial wastewater 5% Litter 5%

Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge 100,000 gallons jet fuel spilled Petroleum Hydrocarbons

Pearl & Hermes Atoll Debris cleanup ship grounded 7/5/2005 has aboard 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel, 3,000 gallons of gasoline and 200 gallons of lubricating oil Petroleum Hydrocarbons Casitas

Exxon Valdez (1989)- Prince William Sound, Alaska 10 million gallons of oil spilled 400 miles of shore line affected $3 billion and 2 summers cleaning

The Prestige: a 26-year-old Bahamas-flagged single hulled vessel Sunk with 20 million gallons of viscous fuel oil Hundreds of miles of rugged coastline have been fouled by the stricken Prestige's cargo, destroying wildlife and wrecking the area's renowned fisheries and shellfish industry. Spain November 19, 2002 Lifeboat w/ dead bird sinking incident

Persian Gulf War (1991) 240 million gallons of oil spilled

BP offshore drilling rig (Deepwater Horizon) April 20, 2010; 50 miles off Louisiana Spilling 5,000 barrels/day = 200,000 gal/day Estimated 206 million gallons spilled

Containing oil spills: Floating booms- contain oil and then pump into other ship Burning oil off Chemical dispersants Bioremediation- bacteria

Containing oil spills: Hair Booms

Relative amts of petroleum in the ocean: River runoff31.1% Tanker operations21.8% Coastal facilities13.1% Atmospheric fallout 9.8% Natural seepage 9.8% Other transportation activities 9.8% Tanker accidents 3.3% Offshore petroleum production 1.3%

100,000 marine mammals & 2 million sea birds die each year after ingesting or being trapped in plastic debris WHOI 1987 survey off N.E. coast of U.S.: found 46,000 pieces of plastic floating on surface Plastics

“Great Pacific Garbage Patch” Estimate: 46,000 pieces of floating garbage/mi 2. North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

135° to 155°W and 35° to 42°N

North Pacific Subtropical Gyre Great Pacific Garbage Patch- Good Morning America

Marine pollution: nets and plastic debris

Large bird rookery and guano mining In 1857, reported 800,000 birds. hypersaline lake ( o / oo ) Laysan Island Marine pollution: nets and plastic debris

Sooty tern Laysan finch Marine pollution: nets and plastic debris Laysan albatross Laysan ducks

Laysan Island Marine pollution: nets and plastic debris

Bits and pieces of plastic are collected at sea and deposited on the Laysan Lake shoreline Marine pollution: nets and plastic debris

Albatross Chick

Barber’s Point

Japan Tsunami 2011 Prediction of Marine Debris Drifting Trajectories Hawaii

Nontoxic Chemical Spills Sept. 10, ,000 gallons molasses spilled (1400 tons) Matson Pier on the Sand Island side of Honolulu Harbor westward into Ke’ehi Lagoon 30,000 fish dead

Toxic Chemical Spills

PCBs DDT Bioaccumulation biomagnification Pesticides, Herbicides & other organochlorines

Biomagnification

Heavy metals resist biodegredation Natural occurrence- volcanoes Mercury (Hg) Copper (Cu) Lead (Pb) Cadmium (Cd) Toxic Metals

Minamata Disease ( )– Japan Mercury

Tributyl tin (antifouling paint for boats) Banned in U.S. 1980s Acts as an immunosuppressor Accumulations unusually high in small whales May be associated with strandings Copper

Leaded gasoline invented 1920’s Enters water from automobile exhaust, runoff and atmospheric fallout of industrial waste and landfills, mines, dumps Leaded gas banned in US in 1980’s has reduced pollution in ocean Bioaccumulation  biomagnification Lead

Coral Bleaching healthy coral: zooxanthellae in tissue of polyp dead coral: skeleton covered in algae bleached coral: zooxanthellae expelled from tissue (reversible)

Thermal Effluents and Coral Bleaching Coral Bleaching

Some causes of coral bleaching Unusually high or low temperatures Unusually high or low salinity High amounts of visible or ultraviolet light Sedimentation High levels of nutrients (sewage, etc.) High levels of toxins (pesticides, etc.)

Coral calcification rate reduced 15-20% No evidence of acclimation Skeletal density decreased, branches thinner No mortality Ocean Acidification

Sewage Causes disease outbreaks Contributes to eutrophication Point Source Pollution

6/13/2006 Raw sewage dump in Ala Wai. Beaches Close! 48 million gallons Why? 40 straight days of rain 42-inch pressurized underground pipe broke during heavy rains

Disease

Sewage Discharge and Agricultural Runoff nutrient enrichment of coastal waters physiological consequences on corals ecological consequences –phytoplankton bloom reduces light penetration –benthic seaweeds overgrow and smother corals

Nutrients and Algae Growth

Atomic Testing

Coral reef at Enewetak Atoll, former nuclear test site.

Nuclear Contamination SEVERE HIGH ELEVATED GUARDED LOW

Ocean Dumping total > 10 million Curies Three Mile Island (‘79) = 17 Curies Chernobyl (‘86) = 100 million Curies US Other Switzerland Great Britain USSR

Arctic Ocean Russia Soviet Union’s Atomic Dumping Ground Moscow

Why is it Important? Chernobyl: estimated 32,000 deaths Very, very long-term storage facility needed (where?) Cleanup (Hanford: $500 billion?) High-risk of contamination Many medical difficulties due to contamination

Thermal Effluents Power plants

Non-Point Source Pollution Ala Wai Constructed to reduce mosquitoes, but failed.

Sediment Runoff

Sediment Plume Entering the Ocean (Maui)

Corals Smothered in Sediment

Pflueger at Pila’a, Kauai $7.5 million for Clean Water Act violations

Types of Non-Point Source Pollution sediments from coastal urban and agricultural development nutrients from detergents, fertilizers, leaky septic tanks, and domesticated animals pesticides (home use, agricultural, & golf courses)

Types of Non-Point Source Pollution automobile wastes such as combusted motor oil, tire rubber, brake pad dust, coolant, etc. waste water from swimming pools and aquaculture ponds

Other Wastes

1989

Net Damage

French Frigate Shoals (2001) Kure Atoll

Sept. 28, 2007 Kamilo Beach Big Island

Munitions Dumping Millions of pounds of mustard gas canisters were jettisoned into the Atlantic Ocean off New Jersey (1964) and elsewhere. (Photo: The U.S. Army)

Munitions Dumping 1940’s to 1972 off west coast of Oahu

1.Define bioaccumulation and biomagnification. 2.Discuss the process of managing an oil spill. 3.Which event was the largest oil spill in history? 4.Distinguish between point source and nonpoint source pollution. 5.What may result when eutrophication occurs? Inquiry