SC - Re: Wannabe

[Luanne Cupp Bartholomew]

Ras declared:
> I can understand the concern with the medical waste, however, the drop in the 
> population of sea creatures in directly attributable to the fact that garbage 
> and waste no longer enter the sea in the quantities it did before this 
> century. 

Documentation to back this up, please. That is a pretty strongly worded
blanket statement. I suspect that modern dumping of garbage, especially
plastic litter, has had a much more detrimental effect upon marine
populations than any positive effect.

I think the drop in oceanic populations, except perhaps in particular
cases, 
can be shown to be more caused by ecological disruption and simple 
overharvesting than by any reduction in waste dumping by human civilization.
This is particularly true in species such as Cod which were thought at
one time to be inexhaustible and are now commercially exhausted in many
areas. Had this drop been due to the drop in garbage being dumped into
the oceans, the populations would have dropped to levels approximating
the levels prior to heavy dumping of garbage into the sea and not to
near-extinction levels.

Of course, I'm willing to listen to any evidence that refutes my
comments, especially from oceanic specialists.

- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
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