Man Made Impacts to the Open Ocean

There are many kinds of impacts or threats to the open ocean. Some are natural, like storms, and some are man made, like pollution. The pictures below show some impacts of both kinds.

Man Made vs Natural

   Marine Debris  Trash,old fishing gear Noise Pollution  Motors, sonar Chemical Pollution  Oil spills, toxic waste    Storm Events  Storms can change currents and other habitats in the ocean Disease  Diseases may make ocean animals sick Algae Blooms  Algae can grow very fast into a bloom that is toxic Today we will concentrate on Marine Debris and Noise Pollution

Noise Pollution

Marine animals, particularly marine mammals and fish, use sound for reproduction, feeding, predator avoidance, and navigation (Popper 2003).

Marine life uses sound because sound travels 5 times the speed of sound in air. Vision is only useful for tens of meters underwater, yet sound can be heard for hundreds, even thousands of kilometers.

Noise pollution is any man made noise that might be louder than the natural sounds in the ocean!!!

Volume Levels of Sounds in the Ocean Natural Man Made       Wind and waves 85 dB Earthquake 95-135 dB Harp seal call 130 - 140 dB Bottlenose dolphin 150 dB Humpback whale moan 175 dB Gray whale moan 185 dB Sounds above 90 dB can damage the human ear http://scicom.ucsc.edu/SciNotes/9601/O ceanNoise/Sounds/Humpback.aiff

    Large tanker ships 177 dB  continuous noise on shipping pathways all over the world Icebreaker ships 183 dB  cycling noise primarily in Arctic Ocean, north of Canada, Alaska, and Russia Low frequency sonar 235 dB  Continuous pulses of sound used to find navy ships and submarines Seismic oil exploration 210 dB  Low pitched pulses of sound, used to find oil in ocean areas world-wide

What does too much noise pollution do???

Pilot whale stranding

What is Marine Debris???

   Floating garbage in the sea Litter on the beach Man-made rubbish that did not get put in a trash can!

Why should we care about Marine Debris

    Marine debris is the #1 killer of all ocean life. Millions of ocean animals die every year.

90% of marine debris is plastic Some plastics may take 450 years to biodegrade You can make a difference!

How does marine debris get into the ocean???

Trash may get washed off the land by rain or rivers, washed off the beach by waves, or dumped at sea by people!

What does marine debris do to the open ocean environment??

   Entangle Poison  Debris like food containers and cigarettes have toxic chemicals Get eaten  This is one of the worst ones for birds  Think about what plastic bags look like in the water

How did this albatross die?

Look at all the different kinds of trash! Think where your trash might end up

What YOU can do to help!!!

      Pick up litter Support ocean conservation Recycle Go to beach cleanups Eat less packaged food Use a reusable bag when you go to the store