Knowra Marine pollution Marine pollution Marine pollution is the introduction of harmful substances or waste into ocean and coastal environments, where it can damage organisms, habitats, and human uses of the sea.
Plastic pollution : The accumulation of plastic materials in the environment, including oceans and coastal waters. Discarded plastics persist at sea, fragment into smaller pieces, and entangle or are eaten by wildlife.
Agricultural runoff : Water flowing from farmland that carries soil, nutrients, pesticides, or animal waste. Runoff transports fertilizers and chemicals from fields into rivers and coastal waters.
Ocean acidification : The decline in ocean pH caused mainly by seawater absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide pollution changes seawater chemistry, although this process differs from waste contamination.
Marine litter : Human-created solid waste present in the marine and coastal environment. Litter is a visible subset of pollution, unlike dissolved chemicals and excess nutrients.
Oil spill : The release of petroleum into the environment, often during extraction, transport, or use. Oil spreads across water and shorelines, exposing marine organisms to toxic compounds and physical coating.
Wastewater : Water containing human or industrial wastes that requires treatment before release or reuse. Insufficiently treated discharges can carry pathogens, nutrients, and chemicals into marine environments.
Hypoxia (environmental) : A condition in which dissolved oxygen in water is too low to sustain many organisms. Nutrient pollution can drive oxygen loss that creates marine dead zones.
Invasive species : Non-native organisms that spread and cause ecological, economic, or human-health harm. Biological invasions can share ship-based pathways with pollution but are not themselves harmful substances or waste.
Eutrophication : Excess nutrient enrichment of water that can cause algal blooms and oxygen depletion. Nutrients carried from land can trigger blooms whose decay creates low-oxygen coastal waters.
Ballast water : Water carried in ships to maintain stability and discharged at another location. Discharge can introduce pollutants and transport organisms between marine ecosystems.
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