Climate change, rising levels of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, excess nutrients, and pollution in many forms are altering global oceanic geochemistry. Rates of change for some aspects greatly exceed those in the historical and recent geological record. Major trends include an increasing acidity, reduced subsurface oxygen in both near-shore and pelagic waters, rising coastal nitrogen levels, and widespread increases in mercury and persistent organic pollutants. Most of these perturbations are tied either directly or indirectly to human fossil fuel combustion, fertilizer, and industrial activity. Concentrations are projected to grow in coming decades, with negative impacts on ocean biota and other marine resources.
One of the most striking features of this is ocean acidification, resulting from increased CO uptake of the oceans related to higher atmospheric concentration of CO and higher temperatures, because it severely affects coral reefs, mollusks, echinoderms and crustaceans (see coral bleaching).
Seawater is a means of transportation throughout the world. Everyday plenty of ships cross the ocean to deliver goods to various locations around the world. Seawater is a tool for countries to efficiently participate in international commercial trade and transportation, but each ship exhausts emissions that can harm marine life, air quality of coastal areas. Seawater transportation is one of the fastest growing human generated greenhouse gas emissions. The emissions released from ships pose significant risks to human health in nearing areas as the oil and gas released from the operation of merchant ships decreases the air quality and causes more pollution both in the seawater and surrounding areas.
Another human use of seawater that has been considered is the use of seawater for agricultural purposes. In areas with higher regions of sand dunes, such as Israel, the use of seawater for irrigation of plants would eliminate substantial costs associated with fresh water when it is not easily accessible. Although it is not typical to use salt water as a means to grow plants as the salt gathers and ruins the surrounding soil, it has been proven to be successful in sand and gravel soils. Large-scale desalination of seawater is another factor that would contribute to the success of agriculture farming in dry, desert environments. One of the most successful plants in salt water agriculture is the halophyte. The halophyte is a salt tolerant plant whose cells are resistant to the typically detrimental effects of salt in soil. The endodermis forces a higher level of salt filtration throughout the plant as it allows for the circulation of more water through the cells. The cultivation of halophytes irrigated with salt water were used to grow animal feed for livestock; however, the animals that were fed these plants consumed more water than those that did not. Although agriculture from use of saltwater is still not recognized and used on a large scale, initial research has shown that there could be an opportunity to provide more crops in regions where agricultural farming is not usually feasible.