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Ocean Pollutants Guide Toxic Threats to Human Health and Marine Life

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Ocean Pollutants Guide Toxic Threats to Human Health and Marine Life OCEAN POLLUTANTS GUIDE TOXIC THREATS TO HUMAN HEALTH AND MARINE LIFE PREPARED BY Mariann Lloyd-Smith, PhD Joanna Immig B.App.Sc October 2018 OCEAN POLLUTANTS GUIDE TOXIC THREATS TO HUMAN HEALTH AND MARINE LIFE October 2018 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to all those who commented and edited. Thank you to John Wickens for providing many of the photos in this guide. IPEN is a network of non-governmental organi- zations working in more than 100 countries to reduce and eliminate the harm to human health and the environment from toxic chemicals. www.ipen.org The National Toxics Network (NTN) is a com- munity based network working to ensure a toxic- free future for all. NTN was formed in 1993 and has grown as a regional network giving a voice to community and environmental organisations across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region. ntn.org.au IPEN gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the: • Government of Germany; • Government of Sweden; • Government of Switzerland; and • Other donors that made the production of this document possible. The expressed views and interpretations herein shall not necessarily be taken to reflect the official opinion of any of the institutions providing financial support. Responsibility for the content lies entirely with IPEN. This guide is an educational tool of the IPEN Toxics-Free Sustainable Development Goals Campaign. ii CONTENTS Executive Summary .................................4 Bivalves and Crustaceans .............................. 61 Chapter 1 Fish .................................................................. 61 Seabirds and Marine Mammals ...................62 Introduction to Ocean Pollutants ............9 Transfer of Contaminants via The Global Ocean ............................................ 9 Microplastics .............................................62 Ocean Pollution .............................................. 10 Chemical Contamination of the Marine Ocean Pollution Outlook ...............................11 Food that Humans Eat .............................64 Ocean Pollution Sources ............................... 12 Mercury in Fish ..............................................64 Sidebar: Ocean Gyres and POPs in Indigenous Peoples’ Diets ..............66 “Garbage Patches” .................................................14 Microplastic Pollution of the Human Microplastic Pollution ....................................15 Food Chain .................................................68 Sidebar: Fracking and Plastics ...............................16 Sidebar: Microplastic Contamination of drinking Climate Change and Ocean Pollutants ....... 16 Water......................................................................69 Chapter 2 Chapter 4 Identifying Ocean Pollutants ................. 19 Opportunities and Challenges in Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ................20 Tributyl Tin and Imposex ............................. 21 Addressing Ocean Pollutants .................70 Mercury – An Ubiquitous Political Will to Address Ocean Marine Pollutant .......................................22 Pollutants ....................................................71 Sidebar: High Mercury Levels in Global Programme of Action for the asia Pacific Communities .......................................23 Protection of the Marine Environment Global Toxic Pollutants: Persistent from Land-based Activities ......................71 Organic Pollutants ....................................24 UN Sustainable Development Goals ........... 72 Sidebar: Contamination of the arctic Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Food Web ................................................................25 Below Water............................................... 73 POPs in the Marine Environment ...............26 Community of Ocean Action ........................ 74 Current Use Pesticides as Marine Pollutants . High Level Political Will – G7 and 36 the G20 ....................................................... 74 Pesticides and the Great Barrier Reef .........39 International Instruments Addressing Waste Water and Pharmaceutical Marine Pollution ....................................... 75 Sidebar: The Circular economy ............................. 76 Pollution .....................................................40 Sidebar: Sunscreen Chemicals and UN Framework Convention on Climate Coral reefs ..............................................................41 Change ........................................................ 77 Oil Pollution ...................................................42 Strategic Approach to International Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons43 Chemicals Management (SAICM) .......... 77 Dredging and Ocean Pollutants ...................44 Chemical and Waste Conventions ............... 78 Mining Wastes and Ocean Mining ..............45 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Marine Plastics Contaminants ..................... 47 Organic Pollutants 2001 ......................... 78 Sidebar: POPs Chemicals ......................................79 Plastic Types and Additives .......................... 47 Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Basel Convention on the Control of Marine Plastic ...........................................50 Transboundary Movements of Plastic Degradation Products ........................51 Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal Sorption of Toxic Contaminants ...................51 1989 ........................................................... 81 Sidebar: international Pellet Watch .......................51 Minamata Convention on Plastic Nurdles ............................................... 52 Mercury 2013 ...........................................83 Sidebar: Toxic recycling: a Source of Voluntary Agreements ..................................83 Contaminants in Marine Plastic ..............................53 UN Environment Assembly .........................84 Non-Governmental Organizations ..............86 Chapter 3 Sidebar: iPeN Ocean Pollutants Platform ..............87 Impacts of Ocean Pollutants ..................54 Conclusion .............................................88 Ecological Impacts ......................................... 55 Marine Sentinel Species ................................59 End Notes ............................................. 90 Impacts of Microplastic Contamination ..... 59 Ocean Pollutants Guide (October 2018) iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Marine pollutants are impacting the health of our oceans, their inhab- itants and those dependent on oceans for food, culture and their very survival. Everyday an ever-increasing cocktail of intentional and uninten- tional chemical releases, as well as an unrelenting tidal wave of wastes, particularly plastic waste, enters our waterways and the marine environ- ment. Ocean pollutants include persistent organic pollutants (POPs), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), mercury and heavy metal compounds, pesti- cides, pharmaceuticals, oil, plastic wastes and their related chemicals (e.g., BPA, phthalates), personal care products and other industrial and agricul- tural emissions. We are only just becoming aware of the identity, volume and scope of many ocean pollutants. Their hazards and complex ecological interactions are still unknown. Many ocean pollutants do not have human health data or environmen- tal fate information, and our understanding of the long-term impacts of endocrine disrupting chemicals on the reproduction and behaviour of fish and other marine organisms is still in its infancy. Chemicals enter the marine environment via atmospheric transport, run- off into waterways or by direct disposal into the ocean. It is estimated that 80% of marine chemical pollution originates on land. The vast majority of the global land surface is connected to the marine environment via river 4 systems, so chemical and plastics pollution of rivers is inextricably linked with ocean pollution. Since the 1950s, de-oxygenated or “dead zones” in the ocean have quadru- pled as a direct result of climate change, pollution and warming waters. Dead zones now occupy an area the size of the European Union. Coastal sites with low oxygen, as a direct result of nutrient (nitrogen and phospho- rous), organic matter and sewage runoff, have multiplied tenfold. Coastal ecosystems have changed drastically from human activities in a short period of time and the ecological impacts are immense. The notion of a vast ocean with endless food supplies and a limitless ca- pacity to absorb and “dilute” pollution is a deeply embedded cultural myth in industrialised cultures. It is also the cornerstone of regulatory systems that permit discharges of “safe” levels of individual pollutants into the environment. In reality though, the marine environment is exposed to a cocktail of toxic chemicals that interact with each other in unknown ways. The “safe” level approach to pollution management also fails to protect oceans because there is a finite quantity of water on the planet and only so much pollution it can dilute, particularly if those pollutants are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substances. Much of the world’s waste, around 20 billion tonnes per year, ends up in the sea, often without any preliminary processing. With the world popu- lation projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, it is clear that the current levels of resource consumption and creation of waste and pollution cannot be sustained. Even some recycling is inadvertently recycling pollutants. Chemical production is also growing steadily, at around 4% per year. Some 5,000 of these substances
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