Food Safety and Control System 12

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Environmentand

food safety

Our Food:Food Safety and Control System

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Environment

Two third of the earth is covered by oceans. They are a precious ecosystem.

The life on our planet started in the ocean. It is the part of the global envir-onment which has to be better protected against pollution because it is aprecious source of marine foods.

www.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm 2


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www.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm


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Environment

Half of plant production occurs in the oceans. Asoceans are open systems, they can be influencedby the import or export of organic matter, chemic-als and leftovers produced by human activity.

This happens by import of airborne materials,river-borne material,marine traffic, wars and seaexploration activities and to some extent by natureitself.

SeaweedCroccotylus truncatus



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Environment

As these inputs occur mainly at the periphery of the ocean, their contribution islargely restricted to continental-shelf waters .

Transported pollutants can however, degrade water quality and habitats far from

the sources of pollution due to sea streams and currents spreading it all over theworld.



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Northpacific stream

Kuroschio

current

Equatorial Counter Current

CaliforniaStream

Humbold stream

Antarctic Circumpolar Current Antarctic Circumpolar Current

Benguelacurrent

Agulhasstream

South EquatorialCurrent

GuineaCurrent Somali

Current

Gulf Stream

North AtlanticCurrent

Labrador Current

Irminer Sream

East Greenlandcurrent

Kuril current

Sea Current and Streams



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Environment The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the only current which does not meetany land barrier. It prevents any warmer water from reaching the Antarctic re-gion. This affects temperature and rainfall around the globe.

The Coriolis force is a force, which acts on all freely moving objects, resultingfrom the Earth's rotation. It causes ocean currents to move clockwise in the

Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere forming

distinctive currents which are called gyres.

Ocean gyres are nearly lifeless because in the center there is no movement andnutrients are not replaced The thermocline prevents any nutrients from deeper waters from coming up to the surface.



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Environment Smaller gyres are formed when cyclonic pressure systems pass over the ocean.The wind in these gyres is rotating in an anti-clockwise direction, against theCoriolis force and the water is forced away from the centre of the gyre, so deeper water, coming up, introduces more nutrients to the surface layer and these areasare known as ocean oases.

Nutrition upward transport in gyres

The diatom Rhizosolenia migrate as solitary cells or aggregations between deepnutrient pools below 100 m and the surface.


This migration produces an upward transportof nitrate in the oligotrophic gyres of the cent-

ral North Pacific Ocean. It reduces the effectsof low nutrition in these areas.

Rhizosolenia longiseta


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Pollution

Pollution, over-development of urban areas over-fishing and global warming aredepleting marine life in coastal waters. Widespread fishing methods such as bot-tom-scraping nets can damage the ocean ecosystems.

For centuries the oceans were thought to be beyond our ability to harm and to deplete. The rain forest of the Amazon region, continental Southeast Asia, Malaysiaand Indonesia were also told to be unchanging. Deforestation however, is progressing quickly.



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Agrar chemicals can get diretly from the field to the water and from there to the sea.www.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm 12


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Threats to the oceans

High population density: Today, more than half the population of the UnitedStates lives in coastal counties. Yet, these counties comprise just 17 percent of the nations land area. As a result, population density along the coasts is aboutfive times the national average.

Paved surfaces: Surfaces that are impervious to water, such as paved roads, parking lots, and rooftops, greatly exacerbate the problem of runoff.



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Threats to the oceansNonpoint source pollution: The oil running off our streets and driveways andultimately flowing into the oceans is equal to an Exxon Valdez oil spill everyeight months. The amount of nitrogen released into coastal waters along the Atlantic seaboardand the Gulf of Mexico human made sources has increased about fivefold sincethe preindustrial era.

Nonpoint pollutants include excess fertilizers and pesticides used in farming, oil

and grease from paved surfaces, bacteria and nutrients from livestock manure,and acidic or toxic drainage from abandoned mines.

Legal loopholes allow significant point sources of pollution. These includecruise ships, ballast-water discharge from ships, and concentrated animal feedingoperations. Animal feeding operations alone produce more than three times theamount of waste that people do.



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Threats to the oceansPoint source pollution

Animal feedlots produce about 500 million tons of manure each year, morethan three times the amount of sanitary waste produced by the human popula-tion .

In one week a 3000-passenger cruise ship generates a tremendous amount of sewage.


Th t t th


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Threats to the oceans Global aquaculture

Global aquaculture production isgrowing rapidly, becoming the mostimportant way to increase global fishsupplies.

The aquaculture industry in the

United States is dominated by fresh-water catfish production.

Marine aquaculture concentrates insalmon and clam production.

Catfish

Salmon



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Coastal developmentThe development of cities is consuming land at a rate of five or more times therate of population growth in many coastal areas.

Loss of marshes

Coastal marshes, wetlands which trap floodwaters, filter out pollutants, andserve as nurseries for wildlife, are disappearing.



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Threats to the oceansOverfishing

Excess fish-catching capacity is a result of the number of boats, their size, andtheir enhanced technology such as geographic information systems.

Overfishing often removes top predators.

Top carnivore species such as tuna, swordfish, salmon, and many sharks, are prime targets for fisheries.



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Threats to the oceansSerious depletion of top predators destabilize the entire ecosystems. This leads

to increased disease outbreaks and the proliferation of previously suppressed pests and weedy species.

Habitat alteration

Fishing gear that drags along or digs into the seafloor destroys habitat needed bymarine wildlife, including commercially fished species.

Some species like these will in future be seen only on pictures.



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Threats to the oceansBycatch

Bycatch is the incidental catching, discarding, or damaging of living marine re-sources when fishing for targeted species.

25 percent of the worlds catch is discarded as unwanted fish. Bycatch is a major factor in the decline of many marine mammal populations.

Dramatic declines of leatherback sea turtles, blue marlin, smalltoothsawfish,dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean and the barndoor skate arespeeded by the effects of bycatch.


h h


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Threats to the oceansClimate change: Global air temperature is expected to warm by 1.4C to 5.8Cin the 21st century, affecting seasurface temperatures and raising the global sealevel by 9 to 88 cm. Increasing seasurface temperatures (higher than 20 C) areassociated with the northern spread of a pathogen that attacks the eastern oyster.The pathogen, Perkinsus marinus, was introduced into the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts via aquaculture.Warming temperatures will influence reproduction, growth, and metabolism of many species in stressful or beneficial ways, depending on the species. Low oxy-

gen conditions may worsen as temperature rises.

Turtles: Rising water temperature may be the cause of fibropapillomatosis, adeadly virus disease that causes cauliflower-shaped tumors to develop on turtle

bodies.Corals: Symbiotic relationship with the algae (zooxanthellae) that inhabit thecoral becomes disturbed by elevated water temperatures.



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To counter climate change it is necessary to cut energy consumption and to in-creasing the use of renewable sources. This must be a global activity a nationalone cannot solve the problem.

The UK was responsible for about 2 % of the world's emissions.The US produced more than 20 % - having only 4% of the world's popu-lation.



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Threats to the oceansTwo lawsuits against greenhouse gas emissions

Tuvalu: Since 2002 the Pacific island state of Tuvalu wants to launch lawsuits atthe International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, against the UnitedStates and Australia.

Both have rejected the Kyoto protocol on climate change and are the biggest carbon dioxide emitters, saying its requirement to reduce emissions would hurt itseconomy.

City of Boulder: In 2002 the US city of Boulder, Colorado and two environ-mental groups launched a suit against US government finance agencies for bank-rolling fossil fuel projects overseas.



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Ozone holeOzone hole over the South Pole

Ozone forms a layer in the stratosphere, thinnest in the tropics (around the equat-or)~260 DU (Dobson Units) and denser towards the poles.

1 Dobson Unit (DU) is defined to be 0.01 mm thickness at STP (0 deg C and 1atmosphere pressure).

Dobson figures give thickness of a slab where all the ozone in this column iscompressed to standard temperature and pressure (STP) (0C and 1 atmosphere

pressure) and spread out evenly over the area.

The ozone hole is defined geographically as the area wherein the total ozone

amount is less than 220 Dobson Units.


Atmospheric ozone


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O2 + hv -> O + O O3 + hv -> O 2 + O

O + O 2 -> O 3

UV radiatio

UV radiation

Atmospheric ozone

Ozone is formed when ultraviolet radiation (sunlight), dissociates oxygen moleculesThe atomic oxygen with further oxygen molecules to form ozone (O 3).

UV radiation meeting the O 3 molecules, splits the ozone and he resulting atomic oxygen canreform ozone resulting in no net loss of ozone.

A balance between competing reac-tions.



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Ozone hole

The destruction of ozone gas in the atmosphere is triggered bychlorofluorocarbon,bromine compounds, other related halogen compounds and alsonitrogen oxides (No x). The hole refills with surrounding ozone-rich air as temperat-ures rise.

The lack of ozone can let ultraviolet rays at wavelengths between 240 and 320 nmcome down, causing skin cancer and cataracts.



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Ozone holeTemperatures below -80C lead to the formation of the polar vortex which isolatesthe air within it. Polar Stratospheric clouds are formed.

Polar stratospheric clouds first form as nitric acid trihydrate. As the temperaturegets colder however, larger droplets of water-ice with nitric acid dissolved in themcan form.

During winter under cold temperaturesHCl + ClONO 2 -> HNO 3 + Cl 2ClONO2 + H2O -> HNO3 + HOClHCl + HOCl -> H2O + Cl2

In Arctic spring when sunlight returns:Cl2+ hv-> Cl + Cl

Ozone hole2 x (Cl + O 3)->2 x (ClO + O 2)

continues as a catalytical reaction

Balancedreactions



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Ozone HoleThe ozone hole has reached the Falkland Islands, the cities of Ushuaia, Punta

Arenas Rio Gallegos, Puerto Santa Cruz, and Rio Grande affecting 350,000 people since the early 1990's. The protective level of ozone has dropped be-low 150 Dobson Units in some areas.

The first global agreement to restrict CFCs came with the signing of theMontreal Protocol in 1987.

The Ozone hole has reached the Falkland Islands, The cities of Ushaia, PuntaArenas Rio Gallegos, Puerto Santa Cruz, and Rio Grande affecting 350,000

people.since the early 1990's. ozone has dropped below 150 Dobson Units insome areas.



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Air traffic Present commercial aircraft fly at altitudes of 8-13 km. The emissions of suchair traffic can change the atmospheric composition directly by emitting carbondioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2), water vapor, hydrocar-

bons, soot, and sulfate particles.

Contrails lead to a net warming effect. Some contrails continue to exist and are

then not distinguishable from natural cirrus clouds at the upper troposphere.

Reactive sulfur gases, water vapor, soot aerosols, and metal particles areemitted from planes at high temperatures and H

2SO

4is formed from SO

3in the

presence of H2O, at temperatures below -40C.



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8 contrails leading to formation of cirrus cloudswww.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm 2


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Threats to the oceansRadioactive substances: Discarded nuclear submarine and military waste;

atmospheric fallout; also industrial wastes are hot spots of radio activity whichcan enter food chain, cause disease in marine life and concentrate in top pred-ators and shellfish, which are eaten by humans.

Thermal: Cooling water from power plants and industrial sites kill off coralsand other temperature sensitive sedentary species and displace other marinelife.

Dead zones: Probably the most harmful impact of development on marineand freshwater ecosystems is the degradation that results from polluted runoff.The results are low levels of dissolved oxygen. These hypoxic areas are known

as dead zoneswww.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm 31

Consequences of pollution


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Consequences of pollutionAlgae bloom in the Gulf of Mexico: Algae bloom into a green, light-obscuring soup thatconsume oxygen out of the water as it decays, killing off massive numbers of reef fish andsuffocating living coral.

The Mississippi watershed drains 41 percent of thecontinental U.S. into the Gulf. The watershed in-cludes 52 percent of U.S. farms that during the 1950sand '60s became increasingly dependent on syntheticchemicals

Nutritients and algal bloom: Nutritients can causemassive blooms of algae which can trigger a chain of events that deplete the ocean waters of oxygen, turn-ing vast areas into hypoxic areas.

1998: California sea lions deaths were caused by a bloom of Pseudo-nitzschia austral-is (diatom) which produced the neurotoxin domoic acid.



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Dominoic acidIn contrast to fish, blue mussels (Mytilus edulus) collected during a do-moic acid outbreak contained no DA or only trace amounts.



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Algal bloomwww.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm 34


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Killer Alga

One million menhaden were killed by Pfiestera piscicida during the Neuse River outbreak in North Carolina in 1991.

Pfiestera piscicida can emit a strong neurotoxin when in the presence of schoolsof fish. It feasts on the dead and dying fish, reproduces, and then settles back into the sediment.



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SedimentsErosion from mining, forestry, farming, and other land-use; coastal dredging andmining. Cloud water; impede photosynthesis below surface waters. Clog gills of fish. Smother and bury coastal ecosystems. Carry toxins and excess nutrients.

PathogensPathogens of sewage or livestock contaminate coastal swimming areas and sea-food, spreading cholera, typhoid and other diseases.



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Confined animal feeding operationsMost animal wastes from confined animalfeedings is rich in nitrogen and phosphorous.Storage in open lagoons can leach into wa-terways and overflow during rainstorms.

A global limit of confined animal breedingshould be controlled by UN.



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Coral reefs

Coastal pollution, and destructive fishing practices have led to the loss of 70 per-cent of the worlds coral reefs within 40 years.

Red Sea coral are dominated by filter-feeding sponges.

Sponges alone provided up to 60% of coelobite cover. Coelobite community fil-tration removed more than 60% of phytoplankton. Mineralization of organic ma-terial is a principal source of nutrients supporting coral and algal growth.


Menhaden oil


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Menhaden oil Menhaden oil: Menhaden oil is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. It is a refinedmarine oil sourced from the menhaden fish (Brevoortia species). The EPA and

DHA of which make together up to approximately 20 per cent by weight of theoil.

Menhaden oil is mixed with other fats in cooking oil, shortening and margarine,and, most recently, oil for dietary supplements

Atlantic Mehaden Brevoortia tyrannus

Menhaden absolutely need wetlands to ex-ist. Menhaden is a filter feeder swimmingclose to the surface, they ingest huge quant-ities of plankton and plant detritus, improv-ing water quality and holding down algae

growth.www.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm 40


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Consequences of pollutionLong chain Omega-3 EPA and DHA products

Beluga whales: Beluga whales carry the heaviest loads of organohalogens of allmarine mammals. The animals studied contained more than 50 parts per million(ppm) of PCBs.

Beluga whales of the St. Lawrence are stricken with ailments related to mercury,

lead, PCBs (polychlorobiphenyls), DDT and Mirex (pesticides, or organohalo-gen) contamination. All of these pollutants affect the immune system. They havealso been found to cause cancerous growths.

Offspring of beluga contain more than 50 parts per million (ppm) of PCBs as aresult of the direct transfer of toxic compounds through nursing.




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q pPollution of farmed salmonOver half the salmon sold globally are raised in Northern Europe, Chile and

North America.

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and other environmental toxins are present athigher levels in farm-raised salmon than in their wild counterparts.


FDA PCBs Mercury in SeafoodFDA US Food and Drug 2 parts per 1 ppm allowable level

Administration (Governing Billion PCB Of mercury in fishBody for food safety testing of Intake in foodCommercially-caught seafood) 1984

EPA US Environmental Protection 0,6 ppm EPA fish tissueAgency (Guidelines for RecommendedAdvisory warnings on sport- Guidelinescaught fish)

Great The Great Lakes Standards 0,5 ppm for Lake Sport-caughtRegion Fish



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Consequences of pollutionPCBs, dioxins, toxaphene and dieldrin were highest in farmed salmon from Scot-land and the Faroe Islands (Denmark) and lowest in farmed salmon from Chileand Washington state.

Levels of HCB and lindane were lower in farm-raised South American salmonthan in wild salmon species.Fishmeal, trimmings, bonemeal discarded meatmeal are the source of the pollu-

tion.

Findings that HCB and Lindane to be lower in farm-raised salmon indicates theenriching effect of the ocean on these pollutants.


Toxic watersOil Pollution Act


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The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of crude oil, persist in the mar-ine environment for years and are toxic to marine life. Chronic exposure toPAHs can affect many marine species.

Three toxic substances of particular concern:PAHs, PCBs (polycholorinated biphenyls), and heavy metals such as mercury.

Organochlorines include pesticides such as DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-tri-chloroethane) and lindane (g-HCH or gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

In Queensland agricultural industry menace the Great Barrier Reef withchlorpyrifos as insecticide and atrazine, diuron, 2,4-D, glyphosate and

paraquat as herbicides.


Toxic waters


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Toxic watersHeavy Metals

The industrialisation, releases unnatural quantities of heavy metals into theaquatic environment through agricultural, urban storm water and wastewater dis-charges.

Zinc and copper are used in small amounts as fertilizers in some soils deficient in

these elements, and arsenic, cadmium and mercury are constituents of some fun-gicides. Copper is also used as an algaecide and cadmium and zinc occur as con-taminants of phosphatic fertilizers.


Toxic waters


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Toxic watersMercury contamination

57 per cent of Inuit have blood mercury levels above acceptable limits set by theWorld Health Organization. In Greenland, 16 per cent of the population's bloodmercury levels exceed levels which could have toxic effects on people.

Nearly 80 per cent of the mercury in the marine environment arrives as air emis-sions from coal-fired power plants and other combustion sources, some of themoverseas.

Killer whales, walruses, and tuna are among those that are most contaminated.

Most Faroese children pre-natally exposed to mercury bore signs of some sort of

stunted neurological development related mainly to whale meat.


Toxic waters


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Toxic waters

Genetically engineered plants against mercury poisoning Researchers at the University of Georgia have genetically engineered plants that cantransform toxic mercury to a much weaker elemental mercury.

Some genes of soil bacteria break down mercury compounds in the less toxic metal-

ic form which remains trapped in the soil. This does not solve the problem of marine pollution.


Toxic waters


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Antifoulants

Antifoulants used on ships copper and tributyltin (TBT).

Copper is also used as an algaecide and cadmium and zinc occur ascontaminants of phosphatic fertilizers.

An action of Green Peace against TBT Paint of Queen Elisa- beth 2 as the ship came in to Hamburg harbour for paintingand repairs in 15.11.1999 stopped the use of TBT on this ship.


Toxic waters


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Cruise ships

In one week, a typical cruise ship generates 310 tons of black water (sewage),gray water (shower, sink, dishwashing water), of oily bilge water, more than 8tons of solid waste, thousand tons of ballast water containing potential invasivespecies, and toxic wastes from dry cleaning and photo processing laboratories.

Cruise ships are allowed to discharge untreated black water anywhere beyondthree miles from shore, and do not require any treatment of gray or ballast wa-ter.



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Cruise ships -sewage-www.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm 32

Invasive species


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Invasive species

Invasive species

Introduced marine aquaculture species crowd out native species, alter habitats,and impose economic burdens on coastal communities.

Ballast water is the primary vector for the release of invasive species into mar-ine waters. Every day, some 7,000 species are transported around the worldvia ballast water.

Aquaculture species such as Atlantic salmon, grown on the western coasts of

the U.S. and Canada, act as invasive species.www.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm 51

Invasive species


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Invasive species

Green mussel: The Asian green mussel (Perna viridis) for instance, has the potential to cause serious harm to other ecosystems. In many Asian countries itis a valuable aquaculture species. However, in the Caribbean Sea it has be-come a pest.

Chinese mitten crab: The Chinese mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis) as invasivespecies, represent one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. It spreads rapidlythroughout northern Europe.


Invasive species


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Invasive speciesA green alga Caulerpa taxifolia became popular as a decorative plant in salt-

water aquariums after a fastgrowing, cold-tolerant strain of the species wascultured. It is unpalatable to most fish.

In the early 1980s, C. taxifolia was introduced into the Mediterranean Sea. By2001, it had spread across more than 30,000 acres of the seafloor, displacingnative communities in its path.

An alien species of limu, or seaweed, was intentionally introduced to the is-lands of Hawaii in an attempt at aquaculture, but has now become a menacefor Hawaii's native reefs. It must be physically removed from the reef byhand.


Toxic chemicals and garbage


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Toxic chemicals and garbage

Atmospheric deposition: Atmospheric deposition of air pollution increases thedegradation of the oceans. Natural and anthropogenic sources of air pollution pro-duce oxides of nitrogen and sulfur gases and soot particles in form of dry or wetdeposition.

Garbage: Turtles ingest garbage taking it for food. In 1989, the United Statesrequired that offshore shrimpers have turtle excluder devices in their nets.


Oil spills


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Oil spills: The vast majority of oil spills are small (< 7 tons) and contribute relat-ively little to the total amount of spills each year. Accidental spills from tankerscontribute a relatively small proportion of the annual total volume of oil.

Natural seep: Natural seepage from the ocean bottom and eroding sedimentaryrocks releases oil.

Planktonic activities: Surfactants resulting from blooms of algae and other planktonic organism which release oils, are responsible for eddies near the coastof Norway and Lofoten Islands.The turbulence leads to convective motion in the water. This is important for the distribution and concentration of chlorophyll, algae and pollutants such as oilspills.


Oil spillage in last decades


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Decades Number of Number of Spillage inAccidents Accidents

7 700 > 700Tons Tons Tons

1970s 531 242 3 126 000

1980s 345 89 1 083 000

1990s 319 82 1 101 000

The highest incidence of oil accidents happened in the 1970s, reducing con-siderably in 1980s but staying unchanged since then. Global security regula-tions must be introduced and their observance controlled.

Pollution of Karachi harbor: Spills from oil-tankers, in and around Karachihave posed a threat to mangroves and marine life along the coast of Pakistan.

Pakistan's waters are considered very productive for fish and other marine-life.This is largely due to presence of mangrove forests in the Indus Delta region.www.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm 56

Oil spills


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Sea Star 115 .000 tons Gulf of Oman in1972.Urquiola 100.000 tons La Corua, Spain in 1976.Argo Merchant 29.000 tons Nautucket Island, Massachusetts in 1976.

Bouchard 12.000 tons BuzzardBay, Masachussets in1977Amoco Cadiz, 223.000 tons off Brittany, France in 1978.Ixto I P latform 555.000 tons Bahia de Compeche, Mexico in 1979. Atlantik Empress 287.000 tons Tobago, West Indies in 1979. Castillo de Bellver 252.000 tons off Saldanha Bay, South Africa in1983.Odyssey 132.000 tons off Nova Scotia, Canada in1988.

Exxon Valdez 37.000 tons on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska in 1989.Khark V 80.000 tons off Atlantic coast of Morocco in 1989.The Mega Borg , 15.000 tons Gulf of Mexico, off Texas in1990.Erika 20,000 tons in the Bay of Biscay in front of France, in 1999.Haven 144.000 tons Genova, Italy in 1991.ABT Summer 260.000 tons off Angola in 1991.Sea Empress 72.000 tons off South-West Wales in 1996.Aegean Sea 74.000 tons La Coruna, Spain in 1992.Prestige 77.000 tons of oil off the Spanish coast in 2002.

p


Marine hazards


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Flags of convenience: Ships bearing a flag of convenience are often charac-terized by their poor conditions, inadequately trained crews, and frequent col-lisions. Oil spills result from these cost saving tricks.

Noise pollution: Both belugas and narwhals are dependent upon sound tocommunicate, navigate and find food. Human-made noise can severely disruptthe vital functions of whales.


Arctic environment


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Mining in Greenland: The Maarmorilik mine in northwest Greenland wasclosed in 1990 after discharging lead and zinc cyanide and cadmium waste. Thesurrounding areas will remain contaminated for another hundred years.

Arctic storage of pollution: The Arctic stores the Earth's pollutants arriving byocean and air currents from as far away as India; its ice formations are repositories

for pollutants.

The people of the Arctic have been recorded carrying pollutant levels 10 to 20times higher than in most temperate regions


Arctic environment


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The highest levels of PCBs have been recorded in Arctic communities, reflectingthe Arctic people's diet of marine foods. Women of Northwest Greenland havePCB levels as high as 14.8 micrograms per liter of blood, and women from the

Nunavik area carry 10 micrograms per liter of blood.

Canadian Inuit women's breast milk contains more than five times the amount of

PCBs than in women in urban Quebec.One Inuit child out of every four has chronic hearing loss due to infections in theCanadian Arctic communities surveyed. Blubber from the narwhal was found to

be the main source of mothers' exposure.


Environment


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Beluga whales: Female beluga whales of the St. Lawrence are known to carry up

to 10 ppm of PCBs in fat contained in their nursing milk. Fat makes up 35 per centof the milk. Anything containing more than 2 ppm of PCBs is considered unsuit-able for human consumption.

DDT Contamination: Nordic countries banned DDT in the 1970s, but the pesti-cide is still used throughout much of the world.

DDT binds itself to sediments and marine organisms, which travel through thefood chain to whales and people where the DDT accumulates in fatty tissue


Sea ecosystem


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Nutrients: Elevated nutrient concentrations may cause phytoplankton growth,which in turn supports increased numbers of filter feeding organisms such astubeworms, sponges and bivalves that compete with coral for space.

Iron and plankton: Potentially limiting resources for phytoplankton are nitro-

gen, phosphorus, silicon, iron, light, inorganic carbon, and sometimes a fewtraces of metals or vitamins.

Changes in iron supply to oceanic plankton have a significant effect on concentra-tions of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The most of the atmospheric carbon dioxideis bound in the in phytoplankton of the sea and not in the rain forest.


Sea ecosystem


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An iron fertilization experiment in the polar Southern Ocean, has demonstratedthat an increased iron supply leads to elevated phytoplankton biomass and rates of

photosynthesis in surface waters.

Mixotrophic flagellates such a Ochromonas sp, capable of phagotrophy, are ableto assimilate iron in both particulate and dissolved forms in the ocean.

Phytoplankton of the sea is therefore extremely important to bind the atmospher-ic carbon dioxide. Protecting the ecosystem of the sea assures sustainability of the atmosphere.


Sea ecosystemSediments and Turbidity: Offshore coral reef environments are generally re-


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y g ygarded as being adapted to low turbidity and low-nutrient conditions.In contrast, nearshore and coastal reef systems have evolved in relatively turbidenvironments.

Salinity: Reef corals exist in seawater salinities ranging from 25 to 42 . At thelower end of the salinity tolerance range, following storm and flood events, coralscan be killed by freshwaters.Symptoms of coral stress caused by lowered salinities include excessive mucous

release and loss of zooxanthellae (bleaching).

Ultraviolet radiation: Ultraviolet light has a variety of destructive effects onmarine life.Zooplankton tend to migrate into deeper, darker waters by day. Zooplankton likeDaphnia sp. with varying amounts of protective melanin pigment show thatavoidance of UV radiation drives plankton deeper.


Global atmospheric changesOceanic absorption of CO 2 from fossil fuels may result in larger pH changes


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Oceanic absorption of CO 2 from fossil fuels may result in larger pH changesover the next several centuries than any inferred from the geological record of the past 300 million years. Increased carbon dioxide concentrations in seawater enhance the dissolution of calcium carbonate, which makes up the coral skelet-on.

The present rise in atmospheric CO 2 levels causes significant changes in surfaceocean pH and carbonate chemistry. Such changes have been shown to slow

down calcification in corals and coralline macroalgae ,, but the majority of mar-ine calcification occurs in planktonic organisms.Two dominant phytoplankton species, the coccolithophorids Emiliania huxleyiand Gephyrocapsa oceanica reduce calcite production at increased CO 2 concen-trations.The progressive increase in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations may slow

down the production of calcium carbonate in the surface ocean. www.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm 65


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Methane Cycle in the Wadden Sea


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Methane concentration in the Wadden Sea (East Frisian North Sea coast) is hundredtimes higher compared to the open ocean.

Microorganism that are involved in themethane cycle in the Wadden Sea are

methanogenic archaea, methanotrofic bac-teria and anaerobically methane-oxidizingconsortia type ANME 2 and sulfate-redu-cing bacteria Desulfosarcinales.


Methane Cycle in the Wadden Sea


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Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is an important biogeochemical pro-cesses influencing carbon turnover in continental margins, responsible for re-cycling ~90% of the oceanic methane production.

Parallel phylogenetic gene surveys and isotopic determination of lipid bio-markers in methane-rich sediments suggested that archaea related to the meth-anogenic order Methanosarcinales (ANME- 2 group), and sulfate-reducing

bacteria affiliated with the Desulfosarcinales , are involved in AOM


Air pollution


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Clean Air for Europe: The European Commission has adopted the "Clean Air for Europe" program, which will lead to an integrated strategy to effectively com-

bat air pollution by 2004/2005.

CAFE will co-operate with the United Nations to improve transboundary air pollution.

Acid rain: Acid rain causes slower growth, injury, or death of forests. In mostcases, in fact, the impacts of acid rain on trees occur due to the combined effectsof acid rain and these other environmental stressors.



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Acid rain


Global atmospheric changes


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Acidic water washes away nutrients

and helpful minerals in the soil releasessubstances that are toxic to trees and plants, such as aluminum, into the soil.

The combination of loss of soil nutri-ents and increase of toxic aluminummay be one way that acid rain harmstrees.

The substances which are released bythe acidic rain end up in the oceans .


Global atmospheric changes


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Sulfur dioxide (SO 2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are the primary causes of acidrain. About two-thirds of all SO 2 and one-fourth of all NOx comes from electric

power generation that relies on burning fossil fuels like coal.

They react with water, oxygen and other chemicals, forming sulfuric acid andnitric acid.


Radioactivity Nuclear waste: Nuclear waste is a byproduct from nuclear reactors, fuel pro-


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yp pcessing plants, and institutions such as hospitals and research facilities accidentslike Tschernobil and military activities.

Germany is the first country to shut down all nuclear power plants within 30years. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission separates wastes into two broad clas-sifications: high-level or low-level waste.

High-level wastes: High-level radioactive waste is uranium fuel that has beenused in a nuclear power reactor and is "spent" or is no longer efficient in generat-ing power to the reactor to produce electricity.

The basic fuel of a nuclear power reactor contains uranium-235, later fission products such as cesium-137 and strontium-90 build up together with transuranic

wastes which take thousand years to decay.www.ourfood.com Karl Heinz Wilm 73

Global atmospheric changesLow-level wastes: Low-level wastes, are commonly disposed of in near-surface


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Low level wastes: Low level wastes, are commonly disposed of in near surfacefacilities rather than in a geologic repository that is required for high-level wastes.

The approximately 40,000 metric tons of spent fuel discharged from U.S. com-mercial nuclear reactors through 1999 is currently stored at about 70 power plantsites around the nation. No permanent geologic repository exists.

Strontium-90 and cesium-137 have half-lives of about 30 years (that means thathalf the radioactivity of a given quantity of strontium-90, for example, will decayin 30 years). Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years.

Technetium-99 could be detected in samples of wild as well in farmed salmon of Northern Ireland and Scotland in concentration up to 0.130.03 becquerels per kilogram. Caesium-137 was found in 14 of the samples. Human kind must bemore careful with nuclear reactions to avoid further contamination of environment.



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Conclusion


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The crisis in our oceans is such that many marine populations and ecosystemsmay be reaching the point where even a small disturbance can cause a bigchange.

Addressing to the crisis of our seas will require a serious rethinking of oceanlaw, informed by a new ocean ethic.


Documents

Food Safety and Control System 12