directly into coastal waters. Industrial wastes have been dumped in the oceans
of our world. They contain a mixture of chemicals, such lubricating oils, zinc,
copper, bleaching agents, and strong acids & alkalis. These chemicals are
extremely toxic to marine organisms.
There is strong need for international action to control marine
contamination and pollution. Pollution is now the subject of numerous regional
and international agreements. Conventions regulating the discarge of oil from
ships, and the development of emergency response systems to oil pollution
accidents have contributed to the decline of ship-based souces of oil pollution
over the last two decades. The moratorium on dumping of radioactive waste at
sea under the London Dumping Convention also represents another response to
concerns about the risks posed by such diposal. Some regions have concluded
agreement which ban dumping of any radioactive waste at sea. In the
Mediterranean and Red Sea, all discharge of oily wasted from ships is also
banned.
The differences between terrestial regions are well known. Less well
known are the features that distingush the Atlantic from the Pacific Ocean, or
the coast of South America from those of Southern Africa. Regardless of this,
the various regions of the world’s oceans are all affected by human activity,
with pollution and harvesting of resouces of resouces being common to all seas
and oceans. The various marine resources, as well as the extent of human
impacts on them, are examined region by region, illustrating hos stresses on the
marine environmet treatened the very resistance of some habitats and species.