Report on the World’s Oceans

1,02
MB

156
stron

3890
ID Greenpeace International

1997
rok

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction 4

1.1 The Oceans and Ecological Services 4

1.2 Ecological Services and Nominal Values 4

1.3 Sustainability and Precaution 5

2. The Precautionary Approach 7

2.1 The Need for a Precautionary Approach 7

2.2 A Precautionary Approach Defined 8

3. Inputs of Polluting Substances . 9

3.1 The Nature of Pollutants and their Sources 9

3.2 Trace Metal Pollution . 11

3.3 Organic Chemical Pollution 14

a) Sources of organic pollutants 14

b) Chemical complexity . 15

c) Organochlorine pollutants 16

i) PCBs 16

ii) The chlorinated dioxins and dibenzofurans. 17

iii) Other Organochlorine Chemicals . 19

d) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons 22

e) Mechanisms of Action of Organic Pollutants 22

3.4 Nutrient pollution . 23

a) Introduction . 23

b) Contribution of anthropogenic activities to marine nutrient budgets 24

c) Sources . 25

d) Consequences of enhanced nutrient loading 26

i) Changes in ambient nutrient concentrations and availability 26

iii) Impacts of eutrophication. 28

a) Anoxia . 29

b) Shifts in phytoplankton composition 29

c) Toxic algal blooms . 31

d) Potential impacts on higher trophic levels. 31

e) Extent of the impacts . 32

f) Existing Measures . 33

g) Overview 33

3.5 Biological pollution .34

a) Sewage disposal into the marine environment 34

3.6 Radioactive Pollution 35

a) Illegal Dumping and Accidental losses . 37

b) Discharges from Reprocessing . 37

c) Environmental Behaviour of Artificial Radionuclides 39

d) Accumulation and Persistence of Radionuclides . 40

e) Natural Radionuclides 41

3.7 Pollution, Regulations, Controls and Progress 42

4. Marine Capture Fisheries 43

4.1 Current Fishing Activity 43

4.2 Fisheries Modelling 46

4.3 Fisheries Management 49

a) The North Sea Fish Stocks . 51

b) Canadian Cod Stocks . 53

c) Southern Bluefin Tuna . 55

d) Orange Roughy 60

4.4 Ecosystem Impacts . 60

a) Ecosystem Interactions. 61

b) Physical Habitat Degradation . 63

c) Bycatch of Fish and Other Species . 64

i) Cetaceans 64

ii) Turtles . 65

iii) Birds. 66

iv) Fish and Discarded Bycatch. 68

e) Potential Impacts of Pollution on Fish Populations 69

4.5 Alternative Management: The Precautionary Approach to Fisheries. 75

5. Aquaculture 76

5.1 The development of aquaculture 76

5.2 Habitat loss and consequences for biodiversity 78

5.3 Eutrophication – Organic and Nutrient Enrichment 79

5.4 Energy and Water Consumption 81

5.5 Use of Chemicals for Disease Control . 82

a) Antibiotics 82

b) Pesticides. 84

c) Other Chemicals . 85

5.6 Impacts of Cultured Organisms on Wild Populations . 85

5.7 Genetically Modified Organisms. 86

5.8 Overview. 87

6. Whales and Whaling .87

7. Impacts of Shipping 90

a) Operational and Illegal Discharges . 90

b) Packaged Goods 91

c) Energy Use and Atmospheric Emissions. 92

d) Antifouling Paint and TBT. 92

e) Marine Litter and Debris 94

7.2 Introduction of Alien Species. . 96

a) The Nature of Biological Invasions 96

i) Vectors for Alien Species 97

ii) The Consequences of Biological Invasions 97

a) Ecosystem effects 97

b) Human health effects. 98

b) Understanding biological invasions 98

c) Methods of Control 99

i) Pre-Invasion Control 99

a) The Use of an International Inventory 99

b) Shipboard methods 99

c) Changing ballast at sea 99

d) Other Shipboard Control Methods 100

ii) Post-Invasion Control100

a) Eradication or control of introduced species100

d) Overview101

8. Operational Discharges from the Offshore Industry 102

8.1 Introduction 102

8.2 Discharge of drill cuttings 102

8.3 Discharge of produced water103

8.4 Use and discharge of production chemicals 103

8.5 Regulation of the offshore industry.103

9. Global Changes . 104

9.1 Greenhouse Gases104

a) Impacts upon Ocean Ecosystems .106

b) Coral Bleaching and Climate Change 108

c) El-Niño Southern Oscillation.109

d) Sea Level Rise 111

e) Polar Systems112

i) Sea Ice and Glaciers 112

ii) Atmospheric temperatures.114

f) Arctic Systems & Thermohaline Circulation 115

g) Mitigation of Potential Impacts 119

i) The Carbon Logic .119

ii) Ocean Fertilisation 119

iii) Carbon Dioxide Dumping .120

a) Aquifer Injection120

b) Direct Ocean Disposal .120

9.2 Stratospheric Ozone Depletion .121

a) Effects of UV-B Radiation on Planktonic Organisms .123

i) Bacterioplankton .123

ii) Phytoplankton .123

iii) Zooplankton and Vertebrates.124

iv) Higher organisms .124

b) Trophic Level Interactions and Ecosystem Impacts.124

c) Impacts on Biogeochemical Cycles.125

d) Overview125

10. References 126