Ocean pollution
Oil pollution is a very large threat to the ocean and it's inhabitants. Roughly about 706 millions of oil pollute ocean waters worldwide each year. Some of the main cause's include oil spills, oil in runoff, air pollution, and even natural seeping of oil into the ocean.In 1987, more than 3.5 million tons of oil were released into the oceans around the world. Out of that only 28 percent of the spillage was accidental; the remaining 72 percent was deliberate, illegal actions. A lot of the illegal pollution is caused by cleaning of oil tanks at sea. After they are cleaned the tankers then dump the polluted water, mixed with all the oil residue, back into the ocean. Blowouts occurring at oil well heads release huge amounts of oil and gas into the ocean. The drilling vessel IXTOTI released more than 400,000 tons of oil into the Gulf of mexico over a period of 9 months after its well exploded in 1978. The most publicized of the oil spills are those caused by tanker
Most of the worst oil pollution is caused by the cleaning of ships oil storage tanks at sea. We can help and reduce oil pollution by returning used motor oil for recycling rather than pouring it down the drain or burying it in the yard. In these conditions the oil must be burned. If they had stricter policies dealing with this activity this may be avoided. These chemicals break down the oil into tiny particles, which than get broken down by bacteria which feed on some of the hydrocarbons in the oil. The clean-up cost alone is enormous, and the amount of damages can be into the millions of dollars. An area that is rich in wildlife is Alaska's Prince William Sound. When the oil coats their fur, otters can't swim or maintain there body temperature, they either freeze to death, or drown. When a marine animal dies it is usually eaten by other species and then those species get poisoned too. As in the Artic it is freezing and the process of evaporation is slow because of the low temperature. There have been hundreds of accidents involving the spilling of million of tons of oil. Big oil spills, no matter what way they occur, reflect on the oil industry badly. Yet the residue will eventually end up on the beaches.
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