[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/EW-06-17-14-Sunken-Shipping-Containers.mp3|titles=EW 06-17-14 Sunken Shipping Containers]
Shipping containers on cargo vessels – technically called intermodal containers – have been around since the 1950s. These large steel boxes, some of which are over fifty feet long, are used to carry thousands of goods around the world.
Each year an estimated 10,000 shipping containers fall into the sea; of these 10% are likely to contain chemicals toxic to marine life. Many of these containers eventually sink to the deep ocean floor. In 2004, scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium discovered one of these containers about 4,200 feet below the surface of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary.
Since that time, the researchers have studied the behavior of animal communities living on or near the container. They found that the container provided a surface for some animal colonies, blocked local bottom currents, and created a high spot that attracted predators. It is also a possible source of toxic materials.
The various types of coatings used on shipping containers influence the animals that can colonize them or safely exist near them. Long-term effects on the local ecosystem are difficult to determine, but the scientists observed distinct changes in the diversity of seafloor animals near this container.
Studying sea life in the vicinity of a single sunken cargo container seems at first to be only of academic interest. The overall impact is surely small. But given that thousands of these containers are lost each year in the world’s oceans, the effects of this problem on deep-sea ecosystems may ultimately be very significant.
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First-ever study describes deep-sea animal communities on and around a sunken shipping container
Photo, posted May 30, 2009, courtesy of Stan Rawrysz via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.