Open+Ocean+Conservation

= Open Ocean Conservation Positive Human Impacts on the Open Ocean = ===Humans have impacted the Open Ocean immensely. Some impacts are positive, some impacts are negative. A positive impact humans have had on the Open Ocean is they established many laws preventing serious pollution and damage. One example of this is the Ocean Dumping Act. It was established in 1988 and first enforced in 1991 on December 31st. The act makes it unlawful for any person to dump, or transport for the purpose of dumping, sewage sludge or industrial waste into ocean waters. This really helped prevent a bad situation of pollution. At the same time the Shore Act was established. This made ocean dumping almost impossible. This act prohibits the transportation of municipal or commercial waste within coastal waters by a vessel without a permit and number or other marking. These are just two examples of good efforts to prevent pollution in the Open Ocean which saves many living organisms from toxication and harm. ===

Negitive Human Impacts on the Open Ocean
===Humans can also impact the Open Ocean negatively. even though humans have done many things to prevent pollution, it is still a major problem. Many different causes contribute to pollution such as chemicals, residential, industrial, and agricultural waste, particles, and the spread of invasive species. Much of pollution is land based and occurs unintentionally from agricultural runoff and debris blown by wind into the ocean. One example of pollution is pesticides. A farmer could fertilize his crops. When it rains the rainwater may pick up some pesticides that were in that fertilizer. Runoff could occur and once pesticides are in the ocean they will quickly become apart of the food web. Once in the food web, these pesticides can cause diseases and mutations, which could be harmful to both humans and the entire food web. ===

= Current issues in the Open Ocean- Acid rain﻿ = ===One current, unfortunate event that occurs every so often is acid rain. Acid rain deeply affects the life in oceans and their effect is dependent on some major factors such as the acidity of water, the chemical composition of water surface it strikes and the type of plant, fish or other marine animal that relies on the ocean water for its survival. The two main chemicals in acid rain are sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. They are both byproducts of industrial waste and the burning of fossil fuels. When it rains these chemicals in the air combine with the rain and the harmful water falls to the ground and into oceans. In order to prevent the harm to more marine animals, pollution has to be reduced. ===

﻿Current issues in the Open Ocean- BP Oil Spill
===Another huge problem that occurred in the Open Ocean very recently is the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP’s Deepwater Horizon well exploded sending oil gushing into the gulf for over three months. After grueling months of gathering some of the smartest people in the world and thinking of a solution for this disastrous problem, the well was finally capped. The oil started disappearing, but huge issues still remain. Over 206 million gallons were dumped into the gulf smothering coral formations, and infecting the extremely delicate food web. People have made huge efforts to help clean up this mess. Many volunteers put out booms to contain the oil, and went out on boats and scooped up as much oil they could. Volunteers also rescued many animals smothered in oil and helped clean them off. ===



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