What are common anthropogenic factors that harm ocean health?

The chosen answer accurately identifies key anthropogenic factors—human activities that negatively impact ocean health. Overfishing depletes fish populations, disrupts marine ecosystems, and can lead to the collapse of vital species. Pollution, including plastic waste and chemical runoff, damages marine life, contaminates habitats, and can lead to toxic environments for many organisms. Climate change, driven by human actions such as fossil fuel burning, results in ocean temperature rise, acidification, and shifts in marine biodiversity, all of which contribute to the degradation of ocean health.

In contrast, natural disasters and volcanic activity, while they can impact ocean environments, are not caused by human actions. Seasonal weather changes and tides are natural phenomena that do not directly stem from anthropogenic influences, nor do they inherently harm ocean health. Hence, they are irrelevant to the question of what human-induced factors affect the oceans.