How have humans had an impact on marine life?

1 Answer
Jan 26, 2015

Humans have had many impacts on marine life, mostly negative.

Humans tend to affect marine life in many negative ways. This includes, but is not limited to; overfishing, oil drilling, waste dumping, and pollution.

By overfishing, humans are causing the fish populations to drop dramatically in numbers, and in some severe cases, even causing extinction.

When humans drill for oil, the threat of an oil spill is very prevalent. We hear of many instances in the news today of animals drowning, starving, and generally dying due to oil on the waters surface. When waterfowl accumulate oil on their wings, they are unable to fly, and eventually starve. Many marine mammals can’t breath when they surface for water if there is oil on the water, and therefor drown.

Humans tend to drop tons of pollution into the ocean every year. Just because you can’t necessarily see where your waste goes, doesn’t mean its gone. Trash and waste kill millions of fish and marine mammals alike each year. Whether it be getting tangled or deformed, waste causes tons of problems for marine life.