Recently, a spill had dumped hundreds of thousands liters of molasses into the Honolulu Harbor. This has been suffocating the marine life, and has cause the dying out of a drastic amount of fish and other inhabitants. All of those inhabitants need oxygen- rich water in order to survive, and this oxygen was displaced due to the accidental spill, which is why most of the fish died (their guilds were blocked) and also this is why most corals did not survive either. The Hawaii Department of Health was monitoring the spill and trying to control it, and trying to make it cause the least amount of damage. They are allowed to remove the dead fish and corals from the water, but have no way to extract the molasses causing the problem. The spill occurred when a ship's tank burst by accident, making the water filled with this thick substance that is suffocating the reef fish, and endangering the food chain. An underwater video shows a massive die- off of many marine creatures, and because of the thick nature of the molasses, it has sunk to the bottom of the harbor, ruining coral and other creatures that live there. It is also causing the multiplying of marine bacteria, that can be deadly to some types of fish. Lab workers have tested the oxygen and bacteria levels, and the good news is that the bacteria levels are slowly dropping, and the oxygen levels rising, but even with this positive change, there might be no time to regenerate the marine life that is still dying out, causing ruination of the food chain. A marine expert defined this situation very clearly- "It illustrates how fragile marine ecosystems can be, and how they can be impacted by our activities". In the future, people must be more aware of how quickly an accident can cause a dangerous ecological issue.
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