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
Casitas NOAA Marine debris vessel Annual collection of 100 metric tons of debris July 5, 2005 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
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
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
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
Bits and pieces of plastic are collected at sea and deposited on the Laysan Lake shoreline
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
Biomagnification
PCBs DDT Bioaccumulation biomagnification Pesticides, Herbicides & other organochlorines
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
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.
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
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
Inquiry 1.Define bioaccumulation and biomagnification. 2.Discuss the process of managing an oil spill. 3.Distinguish between point source and nonpoint source pollution. 4.What may result when eutrophication occurs?