Are there really ‘continents’, or massive floating garbage patches residing in the pacific ocean? Apparently, there are and these unsightly patches are reportedly killing marine life and releasing poisons that enter the human food chain. One plastic patch is estimated to weigh over 3 million tons and covers an area twice the size of Texas!

American burger chain McDonalds intends to test Norwegian salmon on their fast food menu in Norway, and a global launch may result.

The overfishing of large shark species off the eastern seaboard of the United States has upset the balance of marine life, a team of Canadian and U.S. scientists says. "We're chopping off the top of the food chain. So many sharks have been killed, which means they can no longer perform their role of controlling middle predators"...

Breaking up is hard to do, y'all, especially when you're part of a rich ecosystem of plant and animals that thrive under the frozen surface of the Antarctic sea. Evidence shows that ice plays a major role in the marine ecology by reducing light penetration to the waters beneath.

It's now clear that ice plays a major role in the ecology of shallow Antarctic marine systems, by reducing light penetration to the waters beneath. “If global climate change results in more frequent ice-breakout and reduced ice-cover then these unique protected shallow-water invertebrate communities are likely to be out-competed by algae"

Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a toxic substance at a rate greater than that at which the substance is lost. Thus, the longer the biological half-life of the substance the greater the risk of chronic poisoning, even if environmental levels of the toxin are very low.This is one reason why chronic poisoning is a common aspect of environmental health in the workplace. As people spend so much time, for so many years in these environments, very low levels of toxins can be lethal over time.An example of poisoning in the workplace can be seen from the phrase "as mad as a hatter". The process for stiffening the felt used in making hats involved mercury, which forms organic species such as methylmercury, which is lipid soluble, and tends to accumulate in the brain resulting in mercury poisoning.Other lipid (fat) soluble poisons include tetra-ethyl lead compounds (the lead in leaded petrol), and DDT. These compounds are stored in the body's fat, and when the fatty tissues are used for energy, the compounds are released and cause acute poisoning.Strontium 90, part of the fallout from atomic bombs, is chemically similar enough to calcium that it is utilized in osteogenesis, where its radiation can cause damage for a long time.Naturally produced toxins can also bioaccumulate. The marine algal blooms known as "red tides" can result in local filter feeding organisms such as mussels and oysters becoming toxic; coral fish can be responsible for the poisoning known as ciguatera when they accumulate a toxin called ciguatoxin from reef algae.Some animal species exhibit bioaccumulation as a mode of defense; by consuming toxic plants or animal prey, a species may accumulate the toxin which then presents a deterrent to a potential predator. One example is the tobacco hornworm, which concentrates nicotine to a toxic level in its body as it consumes tobacco plants.Other compounds that are not normally considered toxic can be accumulated to toxic levels in organisms. The classic example is of Vitamin A, which becomes concentrated in carnivore livers of e.g. polar bears: as a pure carnivore that feeds on other carnivores (seals), they accumulate extremely large amounts of Vitamin A in their livers. It was known by the native peoples of the arctic that the livers should not be eaten, but arctic explorers have suffered Hypervitaminosis A from eating the bear livers (and there has been at least one example of similar poisoning of Antarctic explorers eating husky dog livers). See alsoList of environment topicsBiomagnification (magnification of toxins with increasing trophic level)