UNDERSTANDING
The Importance of
Protecting the Marine
Environment:
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To report a pollution
incident involving your
vessel, you should contact the
National Response Center.
The National Response
Center (NRC) is the sole
federal point of contact
for reporting oil and
chemical spills.
To report a spill, contact the
NRC via their toll-free number
+1 800-424-8802 or
complete an online spill-report
form at http://www.nrc.uscg.mil. The NRC website contains
additional information on reporting requirements and procedures.
For those without 800 access, please contact them at
+1 202-267-2675. The NRC operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
365 days a year.
These materials produced in cooperation with the National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
Illustrations: Lisa Lavoie
Brochure design: BlissDesign.com
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The Center for Seafarers’ Rights at the Seamen’s Church
Institute (SCI) publishes this and other resources on
environmental issues to equip you with information on your
rights while employed and to help you inform other seafarers.
We encourage questions, comments and suggestions
from readers.
Water:
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The world’s water plays a very important role in all aspects of
our lives, providing food, employment and other benefits.
Over two-thirds of the world’s population lives within 400 km
of the sea, and just over half of the world’s population lives in
a coastal strip 120 miles wide. As many as half a billion people
draw their livelihoods from the sea in one way or another—
processors, packers, shippers, ship builders and others.
Ocean ecosystems provide goods and services valued at
at least several trillion dollars per year, and millions of people
earn their living directly from the sea.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF
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PROTECTING THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT
What Is the Marine Environment?
Oceans, covering over 70% of our planet (i.e. 139 million
square miles, or 360 million square kilometers):
● Contain 97% of the earth’s water
● Marine ecosystems hold 80% of all life on the planet
Why Is the Marine Environment
Important?
● Most of the earth’s oxygen is a product of photosynthesis in ocean
organisms
● The fresh water on the earth’s surface comes from the oceans
● The ocean moderates the earth’s climate and affects the weather
What Benefits Does the Marine
Environment Provide Humankind?
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Food (Every year, about 75 million tons of fish are caught.)
Jobs
Medicines
Minerals
Coastline protection
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THE IMPORTANCE OF
What Impact Do Humans Have
on the Marine Environment?
Human activity can alter the oceans with:
● Natural resource development (e.g., offshore drilling)
● Aquaculture (e.g., farm-raised fish)
● Shipping
—Pollution (e.g., oil, chemicals, trash, sewage)
—Exotic species introduction
(i.e. ships moving from place to place bring organisms with them
to places where they don’t belong, disrupting the local marine
environment)
● Fishing
—Overfishing
—Practices that damage the environment
(e.g., bottom trawling, drift nets, bycatch)
● Recreation
With the rise in the world’s population, the use of the ocean
and its resources has increased, as has the devastation
that results from the accumulation of pollutants in the
marine environment.
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Pollution has an effect on:
● Entire marine ecosystems
● Public health
● Our marine resources
PROTECTING THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT
(fisheries, tourism and shipping costs)
To ensure the ocean’s survival for
future generations, we all must do
our part to protect it.
What is
marine pollution?
Marine pollution occurs when hazardous materials enter
the ocean. These materials can come from:
● Marine transportation
● Marine dumping
● Offshore facilities
Because of the vastness and complexity of marine ecosystems,
we may not always know the extent of marine pollution’s
effects.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF
Marine pollution can take
many forms, such as:
Garbage
● Plastics thrown into the sea can stay
there for many years and harm marine life. A huge number of marine
animals die every year from either ingesting or becoming
entangled in plastic trash.
● Garbage can also threaten ships and raise costs when it becomes trapped
on propellers and in seawater intakes.
Sewage
● Sewage contains chemicals that alter the marine environment, causing
some marine life to die and other marine life to flourish. This throws off the
natural balance of marine ecosystems.
● Sewage can also deprive marine environments of oxygen,
killing off entire populations in affected areas.
Products with potentially harmful effects
● When released into the oceans, chemicals used in the shipping industry
(sometimes referred to as chemical runoff) can cause harm to marine life
as well as to maritime workers.
● Oil poisons marine life, and oil slicks keep sunlight from penetrating the
ocean’s water, killing plants and damaging the entire marine ecosystem.
● Noise from a ship’s sonar can have devastating effects on marine animals
like whales and dolphins that use sound to communicate with one another.
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PROTECTING THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT
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THE IMPORTANCE OF
How
Does
Shipping
Pollution
Impact the Marine Environment?
Ocean currents take pollutants far from the site of the initial
contamination.
Shipping pollution can have devastating effects on the marine
environment. These effects include:
● Mechanical effects on marine life, which damage the organisms’
functions
● Eutrophic effects, which cause some forms of bacteria to flourish at the
cost of other forms of ocean life
● Saprogenic effects, which cause oxygen deficiency and kill ocean
organisms
● Toxic effects, which damage reproduction, feeding and respiration
● Mutagenic effects, which cause cancer and wound marine organisms
● Effects from oil spills can quickly devastate the marine environment
(Ten minutes after a spill of one ton of oil, it can spread to a radius of
50 meters, forming an oil slick 10 millimeters thick.)
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PROTECTING THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT
Conclusion
H
umans depend on the marine environment for
many things, and we have a very large impact on
it. If we want to continue to depend on the marine
environment, we have to do a better job of controlling our
use of it.
Seafarers play a critical role, as they earn their living from
the sea and can set an example for each other and for the rest
of the world.
We hope this is a helpful general guide for you
and your shipmates to protect the environment
while promoting a safe and efficient workplace.
Remember, the actions of you and
your fellow crew members can have
a lasting impact—it’s critical that
communication on board is clear
and constant.
To contact the Center for Seafarers’ Rights,
please email us at
csr@seamenschurch.org
or call +1 973-589-5828.
Douglas B. Stevenson, Director
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©2011 The Seamen’s Church Institute of New York and New Jersey
seamenschurch.org
To view this pamphlet online, visit http://seamenschurch.org/environmental-guide
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