Already by the beginning of the 21st century, so much was known about the pollution of the World Ocean that it was just right not to look for the cleanest sea in the world, but a clean sea in general. At the risk of never finding him! The barbaric attitude of man to nature is clearly seen in a contrasting example. In the literal sense of the word, having killed the Aral Sea in Eurasia in only a quarter of a century, about the same time, people "gave" the Earth a man-made "continent" - a large Pacific garbage spot, which, according to some estimates, surpasses Australia and New Zealand in area, taken ...
So are there the cleanest seas in the world? It depends on what is meant by purity. Colorful brochures of travel agencies do not count - it is clear that they will not say a word of truth. Everything is known, as always, from my own bitter experience. Separate resort areas on the coast, perhaps, deserve the title of the cleanest. But the sea itself is by no means.
After all, the Black Sea was once famous for its clean water, rich fishing, and species diversity. In the 20th century, because of the USSR and Turkey, the world's bluest sea became one of the dirtiest in the world. The situation here is not improving due to slow water exchange.
The Mediterranean Sea in contact with him seems to be doing better: its waters are renewed every 70 years by the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar. But over the past half century,
wastewater, industry, and a tourist boom that has spread even to the previously reserved remote islands have turned the Mediterranean ecosystem into a sick one. The pollution leaders are Spain, Italy and France.
If we continue the journey along the
Suez Canal, we find ourselves in the Red Sea. A strikingly beautiful and diverse underwater world is spread in warm clear water. It would seem that here it is, the cleanest sea in the world! Do not hurry. The Egyptian Red Sea coast is densely overgrown with piers at hotels, to which boats and yachts moor. And here the tourist gets the whole "civilizational" set: fuel stains, wastewater after showering and washing dishes, and often fecal effluents. All this evaporates in the heat with the corresponding smell. Experienced travelers are advised to choose a beach that is remote from the piers, has no gentle descent and immediately goes into the depths. So far, the Red Sea has the strength to self-clean. Yes, and a complete update, thanks to the
Gulf of Aden, occurs "only" once every 15 years.
Involuntarily you will believe that the cleanest sea in the world is the Dead, on the border of Israel and Jordan. In fact, its salinity reaches such a monstrous value (300-350%) that no marine organisms can live in it except for some bacteria and fungi. Such sterilization is reinforced by the absence of large-scale industry on the sun-scorched earth. Nevertheless, the unreasonable economic activity of man even here is preparing an
environmental disaster: the level of groundwater is reduced, the formation of dips in the soil has begun.
Perhaps the cleanest sea in the world today is Weddell. Never heard of this before? Indeed, there are no crowded beaches, no luxury hotels. For most of the year, this sea is covered by two-meter-thick drifting ices and numerous icebergs. And the conditions for shipping here are such that a rare captain in his right mind and sober memory will risk taking a course here. But German scientists in 1986 took a chance. And they found out: the transparency of the local waters is 79 meters. Compare with the theoretical transparency of distilled water (80 meters) and draw conclusions.
The second place in the ranking of "the cleanest sea in the world", perhaps, is 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 the main transatlantic shipping lanes, it is very vulnerable. Which is eloquently confirmed by the presence in it of a large garbage stain from waste, mainly plastic.
Compared with these two parts of the oceans, no other sea in its purity simply does not stand up to criticism. It is hoped that in the XXI century a person will finally tidy up the planet on which he lives.