1. 80% of marine pollution comes from land-based sources.

2. In many developing countries 90% of waste water and 70% of industrial waste is discharged without treatment.

3. 6.5 million tons of litter enter the world’s Ocean each year. 50% is long-lasting plastic that will drift for hundreds of years before it is degraded.

4. More than 100,000 chemicals are produced commercially. They represent a threat for oceans through accidents or transport. They can also be emitted in the atmosphere, the soil or the water and reach the oceans.

5. In 2001, 77 ‘red tide’ events (toxic algal blooms) affected 15,000 km2 offshore waters of China. Major eutrophication (algal bloom linked to an important input of fertilizers) occurred also in estuaries and coastal areas of the Philippines and Thailand.

6. In the USA diffuse inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution have increased, causing eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, dead zones, coral reef destruction, loss of sea-grass and kelp beds, fish kills, shellfish poisoning and seabird and marine mammal deaths. Around 60 per cent of coastal rivers and bays are severely degraded.

7. There are 200 known ‘dead zones’, or areas deprived of oxygen and devoid of life (area between 1 and 70,000 km²) in the world ocean: this number has doubled every decade since 1960.

source link: https://www.worldoceannetwork.org/won-part-6/carem-wod-2014-4/thematic-resources-pollution/facts-figures-pollution/