Pollution doesn’t always have to be people’s rubbish, it can be oil too. These are some of the oil spills and their catastrophic effects on the ocean’s creatures:
- Oil spills:
- Exxon Valdez Disaster: In 1989, the oil tanker called the Exxon Valdez ran aground, killing 250,000 Sea birds, 2800 Sea Otters and 302 harbour seals. When it ran aground, it damaged 1770km of Alaskan coastline.
- 2005: Hurricane Katrina caused an oil spill near New Orleans, Louisiana. It wrecked pipelines, storage tanks and caused oil plants to leak about 26 million litres of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, hurting and possibly killing marine wildlife.
- 2006: An oil tanker that carried 2 million litres of oil sank near the coast of Guimaras Island in the Philippines, no oil got out, but it was too deep to reach.
- 2007: A barge (a flat bottomed boat) came loose from its tug-boat and made a big gash in the Hebei Spirit oil tanker close to South Korea, which spilled 10 million litres of crude oil.
- 2010: An explosion on a BP platform offshore, drilling for oil, killed 11 workers and spilled millions of Litres of oil, which killed creatures like sea birds and turtles. It also affected the Sea food industry.
Scientists from the United Kingdom found a new way to monitor the pollution. It’s robot fish. These robots can swim around natural habitats of the sea and measure the amount of pollution. If the level is high, the scientists are planning on making a difference.