Ocean Clean Up

Most of the ocean's pollution comes from humans, such as plastic, chemicals, and oil. These harmful substances can harm the animals in the ocean. In fact, an estimated 100 million animals die every year just from ocean pollution. 

Researcher Makayla Neldner did a study on how polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) would affect a grass shrimp. Grass shrimp are considered very important, any if they were to get damaged their entire ecosystem would hurt. Makayla exposed this shrimp to PFAS for 96 hours before putting it back in seawater and then inspected its growth. She soon found that the chemical which is found in firefighter foam, polishes, and cleaning products was gradually slowing down the shrimp's growth. This slowness would get worse and worse throughout the generations. 

Not only does the ocean affect animals, but it also deeply affects humans. The ocean affects our air quality with it taking 25% of the carbon emission in the air and making up around 50% of the oxygen we use. The ocean helps regulate temperatures too, it abounds around 90% of the heat in the climate. The ocean can not do this though if it is not healthy.

Ocean cleanup also takes up lots of money from people around $2.5 Trillion. Overall they had lost 1.5% percent of marine bio eco services. This equals about 500 million dollars per year. This shows all the damage due to ocean pollution and how it can affect the ecosystems.