Tatsuo Fukagawa

tailings in the deep ocean and their biological impacts is a signifi cant cause for concern.” The material can smother ecosystems at the disposal site, and if toxic metal ions are released into the water they may end up in the food web. The EU is currently producing new guidelines for best practice in the marine disposal of mining waste. On top of these legally permitted assaults on the oceans, there are the irregular and illegal waste disposals which are very diffi cult to police on the oceans, along with the accidental pollution from shipwrecks and accidents on drilling platforms. Large numbers of ships rest on the sea fl oor, where the more modern ones may be slowly leaking their fuel and toxic materials. Until the case of the Shell platform Brent Spar made headlines around the world in 1995, it was also deemed acceptable to dump such vast structures instead of towing them back for recycling on land. Finally, the swelling tide of plastic waste washed out to sea and broken down to microscopic particles that may enter the food web has become a considerable concern over recent years (Curr. Biol. (2015) 25, R93–R96). Overall, the oceans, including the deeper waters, are already exposed to large amounts of anthropogenic pollution, and much more research will be needed to establish how this will affect the ecology of the oceans.