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Ship anchors are damaging the seabed! Recently,
some scientists have found another incredible thing in Antarctica
, but this time it’s bad news. They saw that ship anchors are worsening marine biodiversity in the Southern Ocean, thanks to an underwater footage filmed in Antarctica. Some scientists from Australia have taken part in this study and have seen how human contamination is damaging the marine ecosystems, which are already suffering from climate change, even though this harm is done unintentionally.
There are so many situations causing negative consequences to Antarctica and we are one of the main ones. So, let’s see what these ship anchors are doing to the seabed and what they are planning on doing.
Antarctica
It is a huge and frozen continent located in the Southern Hemisphere, surrounded by the
Southern Ocean
. Some animals live here, like penguins, sels, whales and many rare sea creatures on the seabed. This place is very important for science because it can help to understand climate change due to its huge amount of Earth’s freshwater and it holds marine ecosystems which are very sensitive.
What’s happening in Antarctica now? For the first time, an underwater footage caught on camera shows how ship anchors and chains are damaging the seabed. This is not a silly thing, around 4,000 types of different animals live mostly here and some parts are being destroyed because of ships anchors used to stop ships.
Underwater footage?
Yes, Matthew Mulrennan is a scientist who was trying to film the colossal squid in 2023 when he couldn’t believe what he was really filming. He realized deep marks and parts with no marine life on the seabed, where it was supposed to have a lot of animals.
It was very clear the difference between places of the seabed where the ship anchors crossed through because everything was destroyed. You might not believe it because this hasn’t been talked about as much as other causes of damaging the environment, but ship anchors are dangerous.
Ship anchors
We all know what ship anchors are, these are tools thrown at the seabed to stop ships, but do we really know how they can destroy all the marine ecosystems? Well, this is happening.
Ship anchors can be very heavy and huge, and this is the reason why they can squash every part the ships drop anchors. What’s more, ship chains are used to join ships with anchors and they also do a disservice to the seabed, since they are dragged through the floor of the ocean destroying everything they touch.
Tourism and other activities
Of course the main cause of the harm is ship anchors and chains, but they are attached to something… Ships! Scientists say ships used for research, fish and tourism are making the use of these anchors uncontrollable.
Tourism in Antarctica is increasing, more people want to go there and see penguins, seals and whales, that’s why it’s expected that by 2023 there will be more than 45,000 tourists per year visiting this place. Obviously, this will mean the damage will be increased too.
Possible solutions
Although the damage has already been done, scientists have some advice that could prevent the worsening of this situation and all of them have to do with ships and institutions.
Of course, using ship anchors as little as possible is the most recommended thing. However, institutions could create some ‘’parking areas’’ on the sea to damage the least areas on the seabed as possible.
These possible solutions don’t sound bad, do they? Every little help we can contribute to the environment is welcomed. So, there’s no time to waste, get informed and see if you can support some initiatives to improve our planet!
