10 of the Dirtiest Seas in the World

Who doesn’t love a nice, chill vacation by the seaside? The clean,
blue water is so relaxing. But what if I told you that the “clean
blue water” that you see isn’t the full picture? What if I told
you that some of the world’s top tourist locations are actually the
coasts of some of the dirtiest seas in the world? Here are the 10
dirtiest seas in the world!

Black Sea

I mean, it was called the “Black Sea” well before we started
discovering how dirty it actually is, but the name fits. It’s far
from a serious ecological catastrophe, but it’s close! The sea
receives a lot of water from various rivers, and each “source” of
new water brings with it pollutants, plastics, and toxic waste from
all the cities that the rivers travel near. The coasts of Crimea and
Turkey might be prime tourist locations, but the sea itself, on the
whole, is extremely dirty.

Red Sea

The Red Sea is one of the warmest seas in the world. That’s great
for tourists who love to swim in the sea, but it’s also the cause
of tremendous amounts of water evaporation. So, with so much water
being regularly evaporated from the sea, the concentrations of toxins
and pollutants in the water keeps on growing. The amount of edible
fish in the sea has dropped 70%, but it seems like all the fish are
being replaced by tourists who are attracted to the comfortably warm
waters.

Sea of Japan (East Sea)

The East Sea is victim to the insane amounts of trading ships that
travel across it. Because of all the gasoline used (and expelled) by
these ships, the level of exhaust pollution in the Sea of Japan is 10
times more than the accepted norm.

Baltic Sea

Here’s the thing – over 500 tonnes of
chemical, nuclear, and other kinds of bombs are lost in the depths of
the Baltic Sea. As time goes on, the shells of these weapons tend to
erode and rust, and this results in the leaks of many toxic
chemicals. That’s why the Baltic Sea is one of the dirtiest seas in
the world.

Sea of Azov

The Sea of Azov is very shallow, which is terrible for the wildlife
that lives closer to the coasts. The shallow water heats up to an
extent where water-dwelling creatures simply don’t have enough
oxygen to survive. And if that wasn’t enough to make the sea a very
hostile environment for fish — over 0.05% of the sea’s
surface is covered with oil pollution.

South China Sea

The South China Sea is the dirtiest sea in the Southern Hemisphere
and is the 5th dirtiest sea in the world.
At this point, this sea is so dirty that humankind’s ability to
“restore” it and save it have all but gone. This is, of course,
the result of oil leaks and the many, many ships that traverse the
waters of the South China Sea.

Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is being suffocated by the oil production companies
that drill and extract oil from the depths of the sea floor. The
amount of carbon in the waters of the Caspian Sea has long been well
above the globally accepted norms, and yet it seems like the oil
production isn’t stopping any time soon.

Laccadive Sea

The sea located on India’s western coast suffers from all the
pollution caused by the nearby mega-cities. There are many ports
located on the coast, and because of this, the amount of carbon, oil,
and metal pollution in the waters of the Laccadive Sea is absolutely
insane.

Mediterranean Sea

You honestly wouldn’t suspect that the Mediterranean Sea is so
dirty looking at all the pictures from the coastal resorts in Italy,
Croatia, and Turkey. And yet, it definitely belongs on this list of
top 10 dirtiest seas in the world. According to the latest report
from the EU, the Mediterranean Sea is polluted by 650 tonnes of solid
waste every year, and an additional 230 tonnes of liquid waste. This
amount of waste being disposed into the sea is unsustainable, and
each year the problem with the sea’s pollution is likely only going
to get worse.

Gulf of Mexico

Although I’ve been listing the seas in no particular order, the Gulf of Mexico is by far the dirtiest in the world. Most of the pollution in the sea is chemical. All the rivers of Cuba, Mexico, and (most importantly) the United States bring in their water into the Gulf of Mexico. And all of the pollution that’s in those rivers makes it into the sea as well. And then, as if all of this wasn’t enough, no sea in the world suffers from oil spills as much as the Gulf of Mexico does. And so — the Gulf of Mexico is the dirtiest sea in the world.