Chapter 2- The Diving Environment The Diving Environment 61 must take the responsibility to see that it is not drastically altered. Conservation may be defined as the management of human usage of natural resources so they may yield the greatest sustainable benefit to present and future generations. For conservation to occur; knowledge, commitment, and action are required. There are many actions we can take to help preserve the underwater world. Man’s Effects on the Environment Man can have many direct effects on the environment. Disposal of toxic chemicals, sewage effluent, and trash can be both unsightly and harmful to aquatic life. If we dump pollutants into the waters, then the organisms that live there are going to either die, become poisonous to eat, or move away. Items that have caused particular problems include plastic six-pack rings that can snare many animals and plastic bags which turtles can mistake for their jellyfish prey. These items have been documented to cause death in many species. Dropping anchors on coral reefs causes severe damage, kills corals, and leads to reefs losing their beauty or even dying, once inroads are made that predators can attack. In areas of heavy diver activity, it is best to install permanent moorings for boats (figure 2-32). Marine Pollution Marine pollution may be defined as substances or energy introduced by man to the marine environment resulting in deleterious effects or harm to living resources, hazards to human health, or hindrance of marine activities, like fishing. Common substances include things like pesticides, plastic, oil, and toxic wastes. It is estimated that there are about 70,000 chemical compounds in daily use today. Thousands of new compounds are synthesized every year. Great quantities of many of these substances ultimately reach the oceans. A pollutant can be a human-made or natural substance. Human-made pollutants include such things as marine litter, pesticides, hydrocarbons, and paints. A contaminant is a naturally occurring substance that is found in concentrations above the natural background FIGURE 2-32. PERMANENT MOORING level for the area or particular organism. Contaminants include sediments, nutrients, organic matter, microorganisms, trace metals, and radioactivity. Pollution enters the ocean from a variety of sources. Point-source pollution is emitted from a discrete source like a sewage outfall. Non-point-source pollution comes from sources like runoff from storms, ground water seeps, offshore oil spills, dredge spoil disposal, offshore dumping of sewage, and industrial wastes. One of the difficulties helping prevent marine pollution is its measurement and quantification. Many of the techniques used to measure compounds have just recently been developed, so there is no good background data on natural levels of contaminants for comparison.
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