Of course, tar ball and oil-stained sands are now a common sight on almost every beachfront in the world. In India, the Coast Guard has been entrusted with the task of handling spills and pollution, but the service is hopelessly under-funded and is, further more, stretched to its capacity in trying to controls, smuggling, terrorism and poaching. This leaves them with little time for the vital task of environmental protection. Another major threat to the ecology of the oceans today comes from algae, which grow profusely on the nitrogen and phosphorous compounds in our sewage and from fertilisers and industrial wastes. Algal blooms spread like oil slicks across the oceans in clusters which can be as much as ten metres thick.
Algal blooms reduce the photosynthetic ability of sea plants.
Poisons from to algae also contaminate seafood. Shellfish poisoning, for instance, has been seen to cause paralytic attacks, neurological, cardiovascular and gastro-intestinal symptoms. Perhaps the most infamous instance of marine pollution came from Japan in the 1950s when mercury from a local factory killed over 400 people. To date over 2,900 people have been formally registered as suffering brain damage as a result of mercury poisoning, leading to international limits being set for acceptable levels of mercury in food. In the Thane Creek, Bombay, mercury had been recorded at a depth of 57mm in the ooze, yet industrial activity was stepped up, not reduced.