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SOME ASPECTS OF MARINE POLLUTION
OF CONCERN TO HEALTH AUTHORITIES
By A.H. Marshall, F.A.P.H.I., Master Mariner,
Chief Port Health Inspector, Port of London Health Authority
SECTION I - INTRODUCTION
Public Health Law covers approximately ten per cent of the current water pollution control
legislation. However, Section 135 of the Water Resources Act, 1963, defines "inland waters" as
"so much of any river, stream, whether tidal or not, and so much of any lake, pond, reservoir or
dock and any channel, creek, bay, estuary or arm of the sea as is within any of the river authority
areas". The connection of this definition to ships and the sea permits the word "marine" to be
included in the title of this paper and the discussion therein of matters which are of general
interest to health authorities and port health authorities, although to a large degree these
authorities are not responsible for the exercise of the relevant functions.
"The amount of water in the seas and oceans of the world is almost unbelievably great and
its potentialities for dilution and rendering harmless the wastes of mankind are almost infinite.
Unfortunately these potentialities are not fully available everywhere because the oceans do not
mix rapidly and in some places are hardly available at all. Disposal of wastes at these places
(chiefly sewage, but also toxic industrial wastes together, of course, with waste oil) has at
times given rise to objectionable conditions and has tainted fish and even made them poisonous
to mankind. This has given rise to concern, both popular and scientific, and sea disposal of
wastes has come in for a good deal of criticism." (Technical Committee on the Disposal of
Toxic Solid Wastes).
These observations portray most vividly the situation by which enlightened governments and
people have come to recognise that marine pollution is one of the major problems facing mankind
in the 1970's. The oceans cover approximately two thirds of the earth's surface and although their
capacity to degrade and dilute is enormous, it is not infinite, and there is increasing evidence
that the oceans of the world can no longer be considered a timeless dustbin. "Pollution'", a
subject of last year's European Conservation Year, is definitely an "IN" subject and has rapidly
moved up the list of priorities. It is now freely discussed on television, radio and in the press.
SECTION II - GLOBAL PROBLEM
The renowned French underwater explorer, Commandant Cousteau, reported to the Council
of Europe (1) the results of his repeated obersvations during the last two decades. In all seas
of the world marine life has, in his opinion, diminished by more than thirty and by less than fifty
per cent over the last twenty years. He has reported a reduction in the Red Sea coral reefs, dying
reefs in the Mozambique Channel, those south of Madagascar and those off the Chagos Archipeligo
and the Seychelles. He has also noted deterioration in the Mediterranean, the Indian
Ocean, North and South Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean.
American deep sea divers using the submarine "Deep Star" off Long Beach, California, found
no life at all below a depth of 416 fathoms (2,500 ft.) and on the ocean bed just north of Cataline
Island they found a layer of fine brown flocculated material covering the normal ocean sediment.
The same divers when operating off San Lucas Cape, Lower California, again found an underwater
desert and the ocean bed included mounds of industrial waste deposited by passing ships.
Studies carried out on the sludge dumping grounds off New York have shown that the effects
on benthic communities can be quite drastic. The bottom water was found to be very low in
oxygen content and marine life was largely absent from the central areas of the dumping grounds.
The sad story of Lake Erie is perhaps the greatest object lesson of our time. As a resultthe
word "EUTROPHICATION" has been introduced into the vocabulary. Eutrophication is the enrichment
of water in watercourses and lakes by chemical substances, especially compounds of
nitrogen and phosphorus. It can greatly accelerate the growth of algae and higher forms of plant
life. In 1929 Lake Erie had a high degree of oxygen saturation, but by 1964 some 2,600 square
miles (approximately one quarter of the total area) was found to have an extremely low oxygen
level. The Federal Water Pollution Control Administration in its Lake Erie Report 1968, stated
that:
"the total mass of organic waste that reaches Lake Erie each year requires for its
conversion to inorganic substances the consumption of about 540 million pounds of
oxygen."