The sea abused
Although oil tanker wrecks regularly make headline news, oil pollution is far from being the most serious threat to the marine environment. Other forms of pollution, overfishing, and
destructive fishing methods are actually far more disturbing.
Commercial fishermen often net other fish and animals by accident. In the eastern Pacific, dolphins get trapped in tuna nets and fishermen in Southeast Asia haul rare dugongs and turtles in with their fish catches.
Fishermen frequently throw unwanted plastic nets back into the sea. Animals get caught in these: some drown immediately, others swim on until they are so entangled that they can no longer move.
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In some parts of the world, fishermen are forced to use harmful methods to boost their meagre incomes. Dynamite fishing, for example, destroys coral reefs, which are also damaged by mining and dredging. In the Bahamas, reefs and sea grass beds suffer when dredgers disturb the sea bottom, stirring up sediment which smothers reefs and ultimately kills them. Tin mining off the west coast of Thailand has the same effect, destroying the reefs that attract tourists to the region.
Oil poisons sea creatures. It also removes their insulation and buoyancy, so they die of hypothermia or drown. Oil tankers deliberately discharge some of their cargo into the oceans.
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The search for oil often involves the use of explosives which devastate local environments. Rig construction disturbs the sea bed, and while oil is being extracted, toxic chemicals pour into the sea.
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