General:

• What is important to us (humans) about having clean, unpolluted shorelines?
• Why are estuaries (e.g., bays and salt marshes) particularly susceptible to pollution?
  

Oil Pollution:

• What is the source of most oil that enters the ocean? (how does it get there)?
• How important are catastrophic events in polluting the oceans? 
  
• What do we mean by catastrophic events in this context?
• How persistent is the pollution from oil spills?
• How does oil spills effect animals at the surface of the ocean?
• What are the long-term impacts on animals? 
  
• What are the long-term impacts on alga (e.g., kelp)?  What about sea grass?
• How do we attempt to clean up from oil spills?
• Out at sea?
• When it gets on rocky beaches?
• How are we attempting to avoid oil spills

• What happens to life in an estuary (e.g., bays and salt marshes) when lots of nutrients are added to the water?
• What causes the lack of oxygen that kills aquatic animals in this situation?

• Name two sources of toxic metals for marine organisms?
• What happens to toxic metals when they get into the marine environment?
• What happens to toxic metals when they get into the marine food web?

• What examples do they give of improvements, (reductions) in pollution?
• What was required for this to happen?