Anthropogenic Impact on Marine Ecosystems and Living Resources: Sources, Effects, Problems

Abstract

The present environmental situation in the World Ocean is characterized by the diversity and unevenness of human impact on marine ecosystems and living resources. An alarming trait of this global picture is the concurrence of highly bioproductive areas with regions of the heaviest anthropogenic impact. The most of the offshore and coastal human activities is accompanied by pollution of marine environment. The probable decrease of the overall biological productivity in coastal ecosystems due to chronic pollution is about 10%, as compared with the optimum production in a "pure" World Ocean. Potential risk of ecological catastrophes at the regional level is associated mainly with oil spills, eutrophication of coastal waters, and invasion of alien species. Relatively new factors of large-scale anthropogenic impact include appearance of small particles of plastics in the open ocean and "noise pollution" of water masses. Up to now, the generally accepted methodology of quantitative assessment of anthropogenic impact on marine ecosystems and living resources does not exist.