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Radioactive Waste
The high point of nuclear waste dumping was in 1954, but this nuclear waste only accounts for 1% of the total TBq that has been dumped in the ocean. The concentration of radioactive waste in the concrete drums varies as does the danger to marine life and humans. -
Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The basis of the CWA was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, but the Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972. "Clean Water Act" became the Act's common name with amendments in 1972. -
Industrial Waste
In the 1980's, 8 million tons were dumped including acids, alkaline waste, scrap metals, waste from fish processing, flue desulphurization, sludge, and coal ash. -
UN Fish Stocks Agreement
The treaty was soon supplemented by the 1994 implementation of Part XI of UNCLOS, which governs deep seabed mining of nonliving resources (through the International Seabed Authority), and the 1995 UN fish stocks agreement, which depends on 10 regional fisheries management organizations, known as RFMOs, to implement its sustainability guidelines -
Ocean Dumpings
After thorough evaluation, it was determined in 1989 that incineration is not a viable method of reducing the amount of waste dumped into the ocean because of the smoke released, and therefore, almost all the waste burning vessels were grounded. The Protocol of 1996 banned burning waste at sea altogether. -
Sewage, Animal Waste, Fertilizers
Sewage, Animal Waste, and Fertilizers got into sewage ruining the lives of animals. Groups of people gathered to clean the ocean. -
Polar Progam
In 2010, Kristina Gjerde, the high seas policy adviser for the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Global Marine and Polar Program, helped set up the Sargasso Sea Alliance to protect this vulnerable ecosystem. Gjerde and her colleagues made the scientific case for recognizing the Sargasso as an important ecological area that warrants protection to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity. -
Oil Spills
5 million barrels of spilled into US waters in the Gulf of Mexico killing billions of animals -
Protection is Made
Delegates at the 2012 UN biodiversity talks agreed that the Sargasso meets the criteria for protection. But the authority to manage marine protected areas beyond national jurisdiction lies with the intergovernmental sectoral organizations that share a stake in the area. So the Sargasso team had to appeal to each in turn. -
Current Pollution
The currents concentrate pollution, plastic, and other debris. Scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute suspect these pressures may have contributed to significant declines in biodiversity since the 1970s, which they reported in a 2014 Marine Biology paper
