| Off-shore Activities and Sources of Pollution |
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| Marine-based pollution |
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| Oil and chemical spills and the deliberate discharge of oily ballast water by ships pose a potential, but poorly documented, threat to marine and coastal habitats. This threat, though important, is thought to be less significant than land-based sources of pollution. |
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| Oil or chemical spills can smother habitats and associated organisms. Studies of the impact of oil discharges into the Arabian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq and Gulf Wars indicate that spills are associated with short-term declines in many fish and other species. In 1986, a major spill off the mouth of the Panama Canal was linked to significant losses in diversity of corals and losses to the extent of coral cover in affected areas. |
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| The discharge of ballast water from ships may pose a more significant threat to some marine habitats as a primary vector in the transport of invasive alien species, rather than as a result of the direct threat created by its chemical contents. |
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