Marine Environments Contaminates Because of Toxicants

The marine environment is often contaminated with various harmful substances. In most cases, the root cause of marine pollution is land. One of the harmful contaminants of marine sediment and water is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). PAH is an aromatic compound having two or more ring structures. They are mainly introduced into the marine environment through oil spills, surface runoff, wastewater and industrial products (Guo et al. 2013). They are widely found in the environment and have mutagenic and carcinogenic effects on humans (Ohkouchi et al.

Since energy is unintentionally stored in fat, the pollutants released into the marine environment accumulate in the marine mammalian body. Pollutants found in mammalian marine tissues include heavy metals such as mercury and lead, organic chlorides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and the like. For example, they have a devastating effect on the endocrine system, harm the reproductive system, lower the individual's immune system, and cause more death. Other pollutants such as oil, plastic pieces, sewage threaten the living of marine mammals

Last Friday, we celebrated the 1st anniversary of MV Maratatha oil spill on the coast of Vancouver. English Bay sea water collects 27 million liters of marine fuel and pollutes the marine environment. Toxic sludge gathered also on the beach which is several kilometers away from the accident scene. But the most shocking thing is that there is absolutely insufficient response to the incident. Cleaning staff has been reported to have been activated 3 hours after leakage occurred. Later comments confirmed that the misunderstanding and uncertainty of the role interferes with leakage management and timely purification efforts. Even now one year later, there is no regional response plan to deal with oil spills on the Seirish coast.