The North Sea is very important. Over 50 million people live close to its shores, and no other sea has as much industry operating around it.

It gives us sand, gravel for the building industry, cooling water for power stations and fish for food.

Coal, oil, and gas are extracted

Shipping routes criss-cross its waters

Recreation – to sail on, swim or to relax

It is also filthy due to dumping of waste in it. This waste includes

o Oil spillso Burning of waste at seao Atmospheric pollutiono Radioactive wasteo Dumping of sewage and industrial waste

Cleaning up is difficult – Little is known about the kind of waste that is

dumped It is difficult to stop people from dirtying it. Sewage can be cleaned up before it is dumped

into the sea, but storm water pipes cannot. Trying to control dumping through satellites Greenpeace trying to raise public awareness to

stop dumping.