A “living hell” vs A “never-never land”

 Earlier last May, the MV X-Press Pearl carrying chemicals caught fire off the western coast of Sri Lanka. It has been such an environmental disaster and this might be a difficult decade for marine life. Although the ship has already been sunken off and the thick dark smoke that could see from miles away has been stopped, the problems have only just begun. Most of them are; the highly dangerous chemicals have already leaked into the ocean and occurred a number of deaths of marine animals such as fishes, turtles and dolphins who had beached by turning into a greenish colour, suggesting contamination with chemicals and metals; Nitric acid, Copper and Lead, additionally tons of tiny plastic pellets have already been beached by increasing the number of deaths of fishes by stuck in their gills and dolphins by stuck in their stomachs. The most long- lasting impact is the chemical pollution, which make their way into the bellies of the local marine life. Small fish might be die quickly but the bigger ones are less likely to. When feeding on smaller fish the toxins will slowly build up in their bodies over time.

Not only this disaster but also the human impact on marine life has been the hugest problem for marine animals and habitats in this 21st century where humans are walking through a technologically and scientifically improved world by ignoring that the marine animals are the ancestors of them. Ocean pollution, overfishing and ocean acidification are the main impacts on the marine animals. Mainly, ocean pollution results from the wastes added through land-based activities like industrial, agricultural, and residential by plastic, polythene, fertilizers, oil, chemicals, dirt and gravel etc. These pollutants may degrade or destroy habitat for marine life by contaminating the untreated waste.

Over 300 million of plastic are produced every year, half of them are single-used. Sadly, at least 8 million tons of plastic enter the oceans every year and it is estimated that about 150 million metric tons of plastic exists in our oceans. Plastics are light, therefore much of these can be seen on the surface but plastic trash and particles are now found in marine habitats, including deep sea, coral reefs, beaches etc. This can bring seabirds, whales, fish and turtles to die of starvation with plastic filled stomachs and they can also be suffocated or entangled in these garbage.  

Untreated water is contained excess nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates by dumping of human sewage into water bodies which lead to stimulate algae growth. These algae then die, sink and is decomposed by bacteria in the water. This process consumes oxygen depleting the supply for other marine life and creating what is referred to as a “dead zone”. Dead zones are hypoxic therefore this kills off marine life or forces it to leave the area. This process can be occurred naturally, but human activity has turned this natural process into an environmental problem.

Overfishing is occurring in one third of world fish stocks and it has led to the habitat loss. Significant habitat loss is particularly occurring in seagrass meadows, mangrove forests and coral reefs. Coral reefs are among the more productive and diverse ecosystems on the planet, but one fifth of them have been lost. Seagrass meadows are the provisions of food and habitats for many marine animals but unfortunately seagrass meadows have lost 30,000 km2 during recent decades. One-fifth of the world’s mangrove forests have also been lost.

Ocean acidification is caused mainly by the uptake of CO₂ from the atmosphere doe to the burning of fossil fuels. When CO₂ dissolves in water it forms hydrogen and carbonate ions by increasing the acidity of sea water and makes harder for marine organisms mainly that depend on calcium carbonate to form their shells and causes coral bleaching.

Now we can comment on whether ocean has been either a living hell or a never-never land for marine animals. Of course it was a never-never land before the industrial revolution; no factories- no environment pollution. But it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t develop with the technology, with the development we should be able to overcome these issues. There are some proposed solutions for overfishing; make government regulations (fishing quotas, closed seasons, marine reserves etc.), removal of subsidies, minimizing fishing impact, aquaculture, consumer awareness, ocean pollution; only two ways either the human population is reduced or a way is found to reduce the ecological footprint left behind by the average human and ocean acidification; bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, direct air capture to remove CO₂ from ambient air, afforestation, reforestation and forest restoration, creating bio char (i.e. in biomass-fired thermal power plants, for mixing into the soil to create terrapreta [black soil]). If we are responsible with the rules and regulations and also with our behaviour, we would be able to make a never-never land definitely for our ancestors; marine life. 

Article by  –  H C Jayani N De Silva

References

1. Ranga Sirilal and Andreas Illmer, BBC News, updated on 10^th June 2021 for the details that caused an environmental disaster by the X-Press Pearl

2. UNESCO Natural Sciences, IOC Oceans (pdf), Ocean acidification

3. Patin, S.A. “Anthropogenic impact in the sea and marine pollution” retrieved 1^st February 2018

4. Raven, J.A. (2005). Ocean acidification due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Royal Society, London, UK

5. Warner, Robin (2009). Protecting the Oceans Beyond National Jurisdiction