Required for : Elective

Typical Semester : Spring

Typically Taught By : Rick Burroughs

 Examines sources, impacts, and regulation of marine pollution. MAF 415.  Marine pollution policy.  The scientific background of risks related to marine pollutants forms a basis for evaluating contemporary domestic government programs to manage them.  Topics include mercury poisoning, plastics, organic chemicals, sewage, stormwater, oil, and radionuclides.  In recent years students have completed a final project on a marine Superfund site to learn how pollution control policies are actually implemented. 
Successful completion of this course will enable you to:
-connect human activities on land or at sea to observed pollution of marine waters
-identify the severity of the impacts from pollutants by consideration of dose-response relationships
-characterize pollutants and identify their inputs, fates, and effects
-explain how steps in the policy process apply to marine pollution control
-critique the strengths and weaknesses of domestic law and regulatory structures for pollutants
-assess whether selected pollution controls as implemented are fair
-create possible solutions to remedy or avoid marine pollution
-communicate the effects of marine pollution on the environment and on human well-being.