Oceans and their Coastal Margins - CASE STUDIES
Case studies useful for Option B - Oceans and their Coastal Margins :)
- Created by: Meredith
- Created on: 07-03-13 13:13
Somali Waste
In 1991: Government collapsed leaving the country in chaos and 9 million people on edge of starvation
How did this lead to waste dumping?
- no formal government so European ships began dumping barrels of nuclear waste
- leaching lead, cadmium, mercury
- European hospitals + factories giving waste to Italian Mafia to dispose of cheaply
- Mainly dumped off the coast of South Somalia
GOVERNMENT DID NOTHING! No clean-up, prevention or compensation!
Impact on Somalis?
- Death - leaking onto shores - esp. after 2005 Tsunami
- Rashes, Nausea, Malformed babies
- European ships also taking seafood illegally - fisherman losing livelihood and starving
- Led to 'Pirates' - fishermen taking to speedboats to dissuade dumpers and wage a 'tax'
Exxon Valdez Disaster - OIL POLLUTION
1989 - Tanker carrying crude oil - Ran aground off coast of ALASKA, which was in economic slump
- 11 million barrels of oil
- affected 1,300 miles of coastline
Environmental Effects
- killed 250,000 seabirds
- 300 harbour seals
- 2,300 otters
- 24 killer whales
- Countless salmon + herring
Immediate impact: economic disaster as fishing industry (esp.herring) collapsed = bankrupcies and resultant acoholism, divorces + suicide
HOWEVER, Long-term: Created a new industry of 'cleaning-up'
Exxon spent 1 billion dollars - helped economy; other industries recovering
Christchurch Bay - Coastal Management
Between Hengistbury Head and Hurst Castle Spit
Very fast coastal recession! --> unresistant sands and gravels with underlying clay + high energy processes
Divided into three coastal zones:
- NAISH - managed retreat - soft defences such as shingle replenishment
- Low value land - mobile caravans
- Need for sediment to feed Barton and Hurst spit
- CENTRAL BARTON - Strong defences - water drainage, revetments, rock armour, rock +wooden groynes, regraded slopes, interlocking sheet piles
- High value property close to cliff edge - Heavily populated
- Land very prone to rotational slumps
- EAST BARTON - do nothing approach
- Low-value property inland
- Fast retreating cliffs, but so far only golf-course has lost land
The BEAUFORT SEA - Geopolitical Conflict
Beaufort sea = portion of Arctic Ocean - NW of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon & Alaska
Dispute between Canada + USA
- Canada wants EEZ boundary to lie along the 141st Meridian West
- USA wants border to be perpendicular to the coastline
This difference creates a wedge claimed by both nations
The wedge contains rich sources of PETROLEUM!
Both have put petroleum exploration rights up for bid in the section
JAPAN - Territorial Ocean Disputes
Claiming the land = rights over the EEZ! = more ocean + resources :D
Takeshima Islands
- 2 Islands
- Japan vs. South Korea
- Korea planted trees, built building and helicopter pad
- DISPUTE: Japanese tourists getting too close
- S.K. sending out patrol boats; often fights, fishermen have died
Okinotorishima Islands
- Very small islands
- Japan vs. China
- Japan spent $600million reinforcing them from erosion
- No land mass = No EEZ!
The GREAT PACIFIC DUMP - Plastic Waste
A gyre of plastic debris in the North Pacific Ocean
High concentrations of plastic + chemical sludge
Plastic waste in the ocean accumulated due to ocean currents
No definite size - estimated to be 2 x USA
Plastic doesn't biodegrade.....
- Birds dying - Bottle caps and plastic in stomachs mistaken for food
- Plastic rings caught around the necks of animals
- Fish consume small particles of plastic - contain chemicals
- no 'organic' fish
- Toxins accumulate in food chain
Tourism in St. Lucia- Coastal Conflict
Tourist development = CONFLICT with environmentalists, fisherman + locals
- Hotels on beachfront = clearing sand, causing slope instability, erosion + sedimentation of shallow offshore waters
- Overexploitation of sand = increased beach erosion, threatening turtle nests
- Some hotels replenishing - but it erodes quickly into sea causing problems for coral reefs which need clear water
- Over-abstraction of water = freshwater supplies reduced, sline water penetrates aquifers contamination supplies. Tourists consume alot of water which impacts water supply and quality for locals
- Building a cruise facility = wave and tide patterns changed = created stronger currents which increased erosion
- Wetlands destroyed to make way for building
Hurst Spit - Erosion and Management
Hurst spit = 2km Shingle spit off Hampshire Coast
Important:
- It protects Keyhaven and Lymington
- Salt marshes = wildlife reserve
- Hurst castle
- Protects fishing boat moorings at keyhaven
Made of pleistocene deposits carried by longshore drift from Christchurch cliffs - further West
Sea defences stopping supply so........
- Spit has to be replenished
- Lack of defensive sediment = erosion
- Castle walls begining to crumble
- Salt marshes behind affected - grasses declining
- Dredging is reducing deposits at Mudeford
Over-fishing: North Sea Cod
Cod stocks in North Sea < 10% of 1970 levels! --> Danger of collapse :(
EU solutions:
- Each country has 6 mile limit --> only its boats can fish
- Quota's set yearly for each country
- So far quotas cut 60% in UK
- Compensating fishermen not to fish
Problems:
People catching unwanted fish BYCATCH - throw overboard to make sure quota is most desirable fish
Catching more than quota leads to black market
Still not enough adult cod to respawn population
Over-fishing: Canadian Atlantic Fisheries
East Coast of Newfoundland - Mid 1950's factory trawlers introduced from other countries e.g. Germany, UK, Spain
Could legally fish up to 12 miles from coast
Problems:
- subjected fish to severe pressure - selective fishing - reduced spawning stocks
- physical destruction of spawning grounds
- declines in Cod, Hake and other groundfish
How did Canda Respond?
- Cod fishing banned! 1992
- Businesses closed --> 12,00 fishermen lost jobs
- Cod population collapsed: never recovered :(
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