218
The Last Resource
again man is the rst to suffer, either from soiled beaches or, less
frequently, hazards to health. It is when we come to biologically
‘indigestible’ materials such as the so—called hard detergents, some
pesticides, and metallic and industrial wastes that very real dangers
of destroying marine life arise. Dr Pieter Korringa, an eminent
Dutch sheries expert, has described the kind of thing that can
happen. In March 196 5 dead sh were found littering the shore at
Noordwijk, north of the Hague. An alert chemist spotted blue
copper sulphate crystals on the beach and he analysed the sea water
in the locality: the copper content proved to be 500 times higher
than normal. Someone had apparently dumped the copper off—shore
expecting it to be carried away, but instead a mass of copper—
enriched water had accumulated. Two weeks later, the toxic water
was still around, this time 60 kilometres to the north at the entrance
to the Wadden Sea with its rich mussel beds. Finally, north winds
drove the water away from the coast and it presumably dispersed.
Further evidence of the effects of industrial pollution on marine
life is being amassed by Dr David Bellamy of Durham University,
helped by keen amateur divers. He has shown, for example, that in
unpolluted areas of North—east England 92 species of seaweed can
be found growing in the coastal fringe compared with only 31
species in neighbouring polluted areas. This reduction of plant
growth reects in turn the curtailment of total biological pro—
ductivity. Bellamy’s studies show that such destruction of life in
the coastal waters is accelerating, if anything, and presumably it
reach further aeld if the pollution continues unabated.
Theoretically, the amounts of pollutants which nd their way
into the oceans are minuscule compared with the total volume of the
water. Indeed, to obtain some idea of the dilution one need look no
further than the theoretical fate of material dumped in the North
Sea. According to the gures, 5,400 tons of any substance dumped
in the North Sea with its 1,140 cubic miles of sea water would lead
to an increase of only one—millionth of a gramme per litre of its
content in the water. The present rates of discharge of most pol—
lutants should therefore not lead to anything like toxic levels. And
yet, as we have seen, a small quantity of copper salts thrown into
the North Sea close to the Dutch coast had serious repercussions.
To add further to the paradox, persistent insecticides such as DDT
have managed to attain a phenomenal dispersal over the oceans. It
is likely that some of the insecticide found in the Antarctic penguins
The Last Resource
again man is the rst to suffer, either from soiled beaches or, less
frequently, hazards to health. It is when we come to biologically
‘indigestible’ materials such as the so—called hard detergents, some
pesticides, and metallic and industrial wastes that very real dangers
of destroying marine life arise. Dr Pieter Korringa, an eminent
Dutch sheries expert, has described the kind of thing that can
happen. In March 196 5 dead sh were found littering the shore at
Noordwijk, north of the Hague. An alert chemist spotted blue
copper sulphate crystals on the beach and he analysed the sea water
in the locality: the copper content proved to be 500 times higher
than normal. Someone had apparently dumped the copper off—shore
expecting it to be carried away, but instead a mass of copper—
enriched water had accumulated. Two weeks later, the toxic water
was still around, this time 60 kilometres to the north at the entrance
to the Wadden Sea with its rich mussel beds. Finally, north winds
drove the water away from the coast and it presumably dispersed.
Further evidence of the effects of industrial pollution on marine
life is being amassed by Dr David Bellamy of Durham University,
helped by keen amateur divers. He has shown, for example, that in
unpolluted areas of North—east England 92 species of seaweed can
be found growing in the coastal fringe compared with only 31
species in neighbouring polluted areas. This reduction of plant
growth reects in turn the curtailment of total biological pro—
ductivity. Bellamy’s studies show that such destruction of life in
the coastal waters is accelerating, if anything, and presumably it
reach further aeld if the pollution continues unabated.
Theoretically, the amounts of pollutants which nd their way
into the oceans are minuscule compared with the total volume of the
water. Indeed, to obtain some idea of the dilution one need look no
further than the theoretical fate of material dumped in the North
Sea. According to the gures, 5,400 tons of any substance dumped
in the North Sea with its 1,140 cubic miles of sea water would lead
to an increase of only one—millionth of a gramme per litre of its
content in the water. The present rates of discharge of most pol—
lutants should therefore not lead to anything like toxic levels. And
yet, as we have seen, a small quantity of copper salts thrown into
the North Sea close to the Dutch coast had serious repercussions.
To add further to the paradox, persistent insecticides such as DDT
have managed to attain a phenomenal dispersal over the oceans. It
is likely that some of the insecticide found in the Antarctic penguins