The Impact of Oil Spills on Marine Life

By Han Eun-ji, The Alice Smith International School

Oil spills happen every day when ships and cruises pass by the ocean. It so happens that these oils are never removed from our beautiful coast. Oil spillages not only ruin the color or smell of the ocean, they also harm the marine life within the ocean. Today in this essay, I will be writing about the impact of oil spills on marine life.

Firstly, the chemicals inside the oil are toxic to marine animals. If the oil happens to get in the animal’s mouth, it can end up being extremely irritating, leading to loss of sight. This could impact the food chain, causing extinctions and overpopulation of specific species of animals. For instance, a large number of plankton are eaten by their predators. If there was an oil spill near their shelter, it would cause them to migrate, getting even more of them exposed to their predators. It was shown by marine biologists that if a large proportion of a marine animal’s body is covered in oil, it will lead to the animal drowning and dying.

Secondly, oil spillages impact the marine animal’s shelter. After the oil has been spilled in the ocean, a group of people go out to clean and remove the oil. Seagrass is pulled out during the process, and this ruins the homes of marine animals such as shrimps and other small crustaceans, which then die due to exposure to predators and fishermen. The oil also mixes in with fresh seawater, taking a large percentage of the cleanliness and freshness, killing all the seagrass and habitats of the animals due to the toxic water. The oil also releases exothermic energy, increasing the temperature overall, making it difficult for the plants to survive.

Lastly, oil spillages reduce reproduction. As mentioned previously, predators increase due to oil spillages, and this also forces their prey to migrate where they are exposed to predators and become easy prey. Due to these sprees, the total number of these prey decreases while the number of their predators increases. This could ruin the food chain, overpopulating one species while the other goes nearly extinct due to the reduced reproduction of their species. Oil spillages could also have a big impact on eggs, making the eggs hard to survive due to the increasing temperature.

In conclusion, oil spills have affected marine life for the past several decades. With marine animals consuming the toxic chemicals, they ruin food chains and impact the marine animal’s shelter. Overall, oil spillages are ruining our precious marine animals, and we have to take action against them quickly.