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Marine pollution includes a range of threats including from land-
based sources, oil spills, untreated sewage, heavy siltation, eutrophi-
cation (nutrient enrichment), invasive species, persistent organic pol-
lutants (POP’s), heavy metals from mine tailings and other sources,
acidification, radioactive substances, marine litter, overfishing and
destruction of coastal and marine habitats (McCook 1999, Nyström
et al
. 2000, Bellwood
et al
. 2004). Overall, good progress has been
made on reducing Persistent organic pollutants (POP’s), with the ex-
ception of the Arctic. Oil discharges and spills to the Seas has been
reduced by 63% compared to the mid-1980’ies, and tanker accidents
have gone down by 75%, from tanker operations by 90% and from
industrial discharges by some 90%, partly as a result of the shift to
double-hulled tankers (UNEP, 2006; Brown
et al
., 2006). Some prog-
ress on reducing emissions of heavy metals is reported in some re-
WHAT IS MARINE POLLUTION AND HOW
DOES IT AFFECT MARINE LIFE