We observe the World Ocean Day on June 18. Ocean is the source of water, which occupies two thirds areas of the globe. Similarly, the ocean has physical no boundaries.
There is only one ocean in the globe, but man has divided the same into five parts like the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Antarctic.
The entire body of water is divided politically by man into several oceans, seas, bays, gulf and straits. For example, the Indian Ocean covers the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea, Gulf of Kutch, Gulf of Khambhat and Palk Straits and so on. When the India Ocean covers the eastern, western and southern boundaries of India, the Bay of Bengal covers the eastern, northern and southern boundaries of Odisha. In other ocean, the currents flow in the same direction throughout the year, where as in Northern Indian Ocean, the currents flow towards India in the summer and towards Africa in the winter.
India gets profuse rain during rains triggered by monsoon. Two greatest rivers like Brahmaputra and Ganga which have originated from the Himalayas discharge greatest amount of water and silt into the Indian Ocean for which the water of the Bay of Bengal is less saline than the Arabian Sea, although both the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea are parts of the Indian Ocean. The maximum amount of fresh water discharge into the Bay of Bengal balances the salinity content of the ocean. Similarly, from Odisha, the Bay of Bengal gets the largest amount of fresh water discharge through the Mahanadi, Brahmani and Baitarani rivers. With the Himalayan rivers, small or big, discharging great amount of fresh water and silt into the Bay of Bengal, the Sundarvans, spread over 10,000 sqkm, the largest land deposit in Asian continent with Mangrove forests, has been formed. It gives substantial economic support to Bangladesh and West Bengal. The Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea occupy three per cent of the total oceanic areas of the world. Asia is the largest continent among other six continents of the globe, whose area is 4.36 crore sq km.
The Indian Ocean is more polluted as compared to other oceans as largest deposits of oil are found in Asia, which are the source of major pollution of the ocean. large amount of crude oil is exported every day from the Gulf countries of Asia through the Arabian ocean.
The ocean is treated as bottomless dust of the world communities. All the garbage and waste products are thrown into the sea. The most shocking thing is that every country whether rich or poor, wants to join the atomic race. All the atomic experiments are conducted in the sea and ocean. The ballistic missiles do large damages to the oceanic lives through pollutions like radiation, vibration of light, sound and waves. All the human activities in the sea or ocean cause enormous damages to the animal and plant kingdoms within the sea and ocean.
There are innumerable hills and mountains within the ocean. If erosions start within these geographical structures due to actions of man, think, what will be its repercussion on the oceanic ecology.
Therefore, a detailed survey of members of oceanic plant as well as animals should be done by advance nations to know their vividness and take steps for their protection.
There are cut-throat competitions among the economically advanced countries for grabbing the maximum mineral resources and oil deposits of the world. Exploration and transport of mineral oil and gases does irreparable damages to the oceanic lives. Without considerations of ecological sensitivities of the sea-coast, several ports are proposed to be established, which invite a hazard to the marine ecology at a grand scale.
The estuarine as well the coastal vegetations are already under stress. The soil profile is getting damaged. look, the entire sea coast of Odisha has now been subjected to constant erosion. The places like Astarang, Gopalpur, Paradip, Digha and Puri-Konark beach etc are more affected because excessive human activities. The oceans, seas, bays, gulfs and straits are now becoming the major voyage roots for transportation of various materials as import and export products. The leakages of the cargoes during transit cause enormous pollution of sea water.
Yet, with limitless exploitation of the oceanic resources, the ocean’s reaction is still to be felt at a grand scale. Storm, Tsunami, landslide, erosion and the like, what we have seen happening in the different parts of the world, are just too little of the threats. If we do not moderate our attitude, the whole civilization may be annihilated by the sea, once it gets violently reactive.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist)