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15

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