**Marine Environment and Public Health**

Jailson Fulgencio de Moura, Emily Moraes Roges, Roberta Laine de Souza, Salvatore Siciliano and Dalia dos Prazeres Rodrigues

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/48412

#### **1. Introduction**

The oceans represent a significant source of biological diversity, water, biomass, oxygen, and other important aspects to human health [1-3]. The quality of the ocean is essential for maintaining the planet, and thus to public health. However, the complex and fragile evolutionary stabilization of the ocean and coastal regions has been disrupted by human activities in a short time scale [4]. The vast majority of waste produced by human activities for centuries has reached the oceans, even over long distances and in inhospitable places [3, 5]. In recent decades there have been evident the vast scope of the changes of the marine environment caused by anthropogenic activities, as well as the many responses to these changes that tend to impact ecological processes, putting endangered species susceptible and producing various diseases in the human population [3, 6]. These changes are not restricted to oceanic scale, but are strongly associated with the continents, consequently, strong pressure on the health of terrestrial ecosystems, with impacts on socioeconomic and cultural activities and, finally, to public health. Recently, the trend has grown to incorporate the term health within the definitions of environmental health. The term health of the oceans, the second definition of the Panel on Health of the Oceans (HOTO/GOOS), refers to the condition of the marine environment from a perspective of adverse effects caused by anthropogenic activities, in particular: habitat destruction, changes in the proportion of sedimentation, mobilization of contaminants and climate changes [7, 8].

Indeed, the human utilization of ocean environment has negatively and extensively impacted the ecological system that people are connected. The human activities in coastal zones, such as agricultures, urban development, fisheries, coastal industries and aquacultures, have contributed to chemical, physical and ecological impacts that may be interconnected [8, 9]. For example, the human activities cited generate a significant input of chemical pollutants (e.g. metals, persistent organic pollutants, nanoparticles, radionuclides and nutrients) that is known to impact the biodiversity and the marine ecological system [3, 10].

© 2012 de Moura et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2012 de Moura et al., licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Marine microbiological pollution represents an expressive impact on biodiversity and human health. The microbiological activity in coastal environment can result in direct impact in human health, but can trigger the biodiversity loss, degradation of ecosystem function and impact in recreation, tourism and human wellbeing [1, 2, 6, 11, 12]. Marine pollution, such as nutrients input, runoffs, and regional and international navigation by ships can load new pathogens to the environment, and the climate change may exacerbate their effects and establishment in an area. For example, the oceans have been identified as the source of introduction of *Vibrio cholerae* that resulted in outbreaks in South America [11, 13]. Potential pathogens from the Family Vibrionaceae and Aeromonadaceae have been frequently identified in coastal humans and marine top predators. It is important to highlight that pathogens of these families are not associated with fecal contamination [1, 3].

Marine Environment and Public Health 265

temperature on disease vectors, such as the growing prevalence of malaria following El

**Figure 1.** Schematic illustration of the anthropogenic pressures impacts (A) of the marine environment (B) and the subsequent result of the marine biodiversity alterations (e.g. pathogens, HABs) (C) on

The oceans play an extreme important role in the climate by the storage and transportation of heat around the globe. The interaction of the ocean currents and atmospheric winds operate regulating the climate. The marine ecological processes are dependent of the variation of the temperature, as the availability of nutrients that is associated with this factor, and tend to maintain the ecologic stability [4]. An example of an extreme inter-annual

ENSO is a semi-periodic variability of the inter-annual climate cycle that occurs in intervals of 2-7 years as a result of the discontinuity of the up-welling system in the eastern Equatorial Pacific, forced by the change in wind pattern [20, 21]. The ENSO results in changes in the oceanic temperature and in the atmospheric pressure in the Pacific basin. However, the impacts of the ENSO are not limited to the Pacific Basin, but can influence many continental and marine regions around the globe by changing the atmospheric circulation that disturb temperature and precipitation pattern, resulting in extreme periods and intensity of drought

human health and biodiversity, wellbeing and socioeconomic relationships.

variability is the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

and heavy rains in different areas [20].

**2. Climate variations** 

Niño events also have been suggested [20].

The current scenario on the conservation of the oceans has been reflected in numerous human diseases related to marine life. The relationships of the oceans to human activities and public health is already consensus; however, its mechanisms are not well understood due to its complexity. These relationships include the focus on climate change, toxic algae poisoning and chemical and microbial contamination of marine waters and fish (Figure 1) [4, 14, 15].

The marine environment provides valuable benefits for human activities, including protein sources and economic activity through fisheries, aquaculture and navigation. Furthermore, there are the economic benefits from tourism, culture, biomedicine, recreation activities and renewable energy [4, 16]. The oceans represent a great source of biodiversity and play a vital role in water and biogeochemistry cycle. Other human benefits from the oceans are clear, and important for human wellbeing, such as artistic inspiration, increased physical activity and therefore fitness, reduced levels of stress and simply the harmony as a result of healthy oceans and their stable biodiversity [3].

The relationship between public health and the health of the oceans are also growing due to increasing number of people living in coastal areas, mainly in tropical and subtropical regions [1, 3, 4]. In these regions, increases vulnerability to social and environmental stability resulting from natural disasters that involve the ocean and health. It is estimated that world population has reached 6.6 billion in 2007, with a projected growth to 9.3 billion by 2050, developing countries are primarily responsible for this increase [17]. Approximately 65% of the human population lives within 159 km of shoreline with growth estimated at 75% for 2025. In coastal regions the oceans remain an important source of protein, quality of life, recreation, and are an integral part of economic activities in various localities [6, 18].

Coastal residents are highly vulnerable to climate variability and extreme events. As an example, the event of a tsunami in Indonesia has caused at least 175,000 deaths in 2005. In addition to the physical impacts on the health effects of these events, epidemics occur frequently due to the favorable conditions that follow extreme phenomena, and that end up being magnified by the conditions of social and environmental vulnerability of affected populations [4]. Various infectious agents found in marine hosts including bacterial, viral and protozoan result in infectious diseases in humans [19]. The effects of climate and temperature on disease vectors, such as the growing prevalence of malaria following El Niño events also have been suggested [20].

**Figure 1.** Schematic illustration of the anthropogenic pressures impacts (A) of the marine environment (B) and the subsequent result of the marine biodiversity alterations (e.g. pathogens, HABs) (C) on human health and biodiversity, wellbeing and socioeconomic relationships.
