Question: Hello, How quickly can a toxic waste barrel travel in the ocean in one hour and how many fish will it harm?

Anais Kahve answered on 13 Mar 2016:

This scenario would depend on many factors like the weather conditions, the sea conditions, whether the barrel has no lid and how toxic the waste is. Assuming the barrel is full of a very toxic material and has no lid, the waste would be diluted in the sea water. I cannot say how far the barrel would travel in an hour I’m afraid, but I would hazard a guess at a few kilometres. I would assume that the toxic waste would kill a few fish but I wouldn’t be able to tell you how many.