The cleanest sea in the world: myths and facts

By the beginning of the 21st century, so much has become known about the pollution of the world's oceans that it is not right to seek the cleanest sea in the world, but the clean sea in general. At the risk of not finding it ever! The barbarous attitude of man to nature is clearly seen in contrasting example. In the literal sense of the word, killing the Aral Sea in Eurasia in just a quarter of a century, around this time, people "gave" the Earth to a man-made "continent" - the Great Pacific garbage spot, which, according to some information, exceeds Australia and New Zealand, Taken ...
So are the cleanest seas in the world? It depends on what is meant by the concept of "purity". Colorful advertising brochures travel agencies do not count - it is clear that they will not say a word of truth. Everything is known, as always, on one's own bitter experience. Some resort areas on the sea coast, perhaps, deserve the title of the purest. But the sea itself - by no means.

The Black Sea was once famous for its clear water, rich fishing, and species diversity. In the 20th century, because of the USSR and Turkey, the world's most blue sea became one of the dirtiest in the world. The situation here does not improve because of the slow water exchange.

The Mediterranean that communicates with it seems to be better: its waters are refreshed every 70 years by the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar. But over the past half century, sewage, industry and the tourist boom, which has spread even to previously reserved remote islands, have turned the Mediterranean ecosystem into a sick one. The leading polluters are Spain, Italy and France.
If we continue our journey along the Suez Canal, we find ourselves in the Red Sea. In the warm, transparent water, there is an amazingly beautiful and diverse underwater world. It would seem, here it is, the cleanest sea in the world! Do not hurry. The Egyptian coast of the Red Sea is densely overgrown with piers at hotels, which are moored by boats and yachts. And here the tourist receives the whole "civilizational" set: fuel divorce, sewage after showering and dishwashing, and often fecal sewage. All this evaporates in the heat with a corresponding odor. Experienced travelers are advised to choose a beach that is remote from piers, has no gentle descent and immediately goes into the depths. So far, the Red Sea has enough strength to self-clean. And the full renewal, thanks to the Gulf of Aden, occurs "only" every 15 years.

Willy-nilly you will believe that the cleanest sea in the world is Dead, on the border of Israel and Jordan. In fact, its salinity reaches such a monstrous magnitude (300-350%) that it can not live any marine organisms except for some bacteria and fungi. Such sterilization is reinforced by the absence of large-scale industry on the sun-scorched earth. Nevertheless, unreasonable economic activity of a person even here prepares an ecological catastrophe: the level of groundwater is reduced, formation of failures in soil has begun.
Perhaps, for today the cleanest in the world sea - Weddell. Never heard of this? Still, because there are no crowded beaches, no luxury hotels. For most of the year this sea covers a two-meter thick drifting ice and numerous icebergs. And the conditions for navigation here are such that a rare captain in sound mind and sober memory will risk paving the course here. But German scientists in 1986 took a risk. And they found out: the transparency of the waters here is 79 meters. Compare with the theoretical transparency of distilled water (80 meters) and draw conclusions.

The second place in the rating "the cleanest sea in the world" is probably occupied by the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean: its transparency reaches 60 meters. But, given the proximity of the US and Canada, as well as major transatlantic shipping routes, it is very vulnerable. That eloquently confirmed by the presence in it of a large garbage dump from waste, mostly plastic.

In comparison with these two parts of the World Ocean, no other sea in its purity simply does not stand up to criticism. It remains to be hoped that in the 21st century a person will finally put in order the planet on which he lives.