Life in the Ocean

Life in the Ocean

Question 1 : Parts of Chesapeake Bay were affected by unexpected blooms of a toxic dinoflagellate , Pfisteria piscicida , in 1997 . Research those occurrences in the internet , and discuss the blooms and their effects on the local economy . Was it sensationalist press coverage , or a real danger to humans

Ans

During the summer of 1997 , the Chesapeake Bay was reported to have an unexpected bloom of the plankton , Pfisteria piscicida . Experts believed that it was caused by too much pollution from the surrounding districts of Delaware , Maryland , New

York , Pennsylvania , Virginia , West Virginia and the District of Columbia . Farms , factories , and towns contribute to the pollution . According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation , 318 million pounds of nitrogen and 19 million pounds of phosphorus are deposited into the Bay as the result of development , run-off , and air pollutants Agriculture and poultry operations constitute a large part of the causes of pollution of the Bay . The presence of these pollutants at high concentrations triggered the pfisteria bloom , the result of which was devastating . Thousands of fishes were killed rendering massive losses in the local economy , i .e . seafood sales drop . Maryland alone had lost 43 million in sales . Many people were sick due to the toxins taken from the Bay products which increased expenditure in healthcare and medicine

Pfisteria bloom in the Chesapeake Bay posed a threat to humans as well as other organisms . In Maryland , environmentalists are making some steps to minimize pollution of the Bay . The US government had spent millions of dollars in trying to eradicate the cause of such phenomena

Question 2 : Whale watching is considered as a worthwhile environmental activity . Some tour guide operations even allow `whale petting` , as in the Pacific Gray whale nursing grounds in Baja California . `Swim with the Dolphins` operators are popular in Florida , Hawaii , and the Caribbean . Discuss the potential deleterious effects that these interactions with humans may have on these marine mammals

Ans

Human activities have substantial effects to the marine environment especially the marine mammals . Activities like that cause loud underwater noise , deep-water gillnetting and driftnet fishing pollution , whaling , large-scale industrial fishing , vessel traffic as well as activities like whale-watching , whale-petting , or simply interacting with the marine mammals have deleterious effects to them The immediate effect of these interactions to the marine mammals is disturbance . Whale-watchers observed that whales are becoming more difficult to search in the open seas because of changes of areas and modes of operation as the result of these disturbances . Visual and acoustic surveys proved that whales are susceptible to acoustic changes i .e . sound of the vessel engine , as it is there primary mode of communication . Whales and other marine mammals use echolocation in searching for food and other activities (i .e . mating , social contact Noise from tour boats disrupts the sound signals transmitted and received thereby affecting their senses . This resulted to decline in whale population and other marine mammals . Research also showed that the presence of tour boats in their surroundings...