Mangalore seas more polluted, warns NIO

Mangalore seas more polluted, warns NIO

Mangalore Today News

Mangalore, Dec 23: Scientific reports from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), based in Goa, have revealed the shocking fact that the seas of Mangalore are more polluted than ever. 

NIO Researcher P V Shirodkar said that the cadmium and phenol levels in the Mangalore seas have gone up. He said that these are very toxic substances and that their level in the seas has increased because of industrial effluents, untreated sewage, and artificial factors. 

Simultaneously he said that this was no cause for alarm. This is just a warning that precautions have to be taken immediately to prevent further pollution. 

Shirodkar also said that the cadmium and phenol level in the sea was not high enough to have an adverse effect on marine life. However, the toxins could enter the bodies of fish and make fish-eating people sick. 

At a 2-day seminar on sustainable development of fisheries, he had said that the only way to protect marine life from going extinct because of pollution was to treat industrial effluents. The petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) level has also gone up in the waters around ports along the coast of Karnataka and Maharashtra, he said.