9 - managing marine environments ✅ Flashcards
how has the importance of the oceans changed over time
- Covering 70% of Earth’s surface, oceans are a key global resource.
- Once only used for transport and fishing, technology has allowed the energy potential of oceans to be developed in the last 50 years.
- This includes oil, gas, offshore wind, tidal and wave power.
- Oceans have become a major pollution sink for carbon dioxide, organic waste and garbage.
what are global commons
- Much of the ocean is part of the global commons.
- The commons are large resource pools which are not owned by nations and are used by everyone.
- The atmosphere, oceans, polar regions (Antarctica and much of the Arctic Ocean) and outer space are examples.
what are the risks of lack of ownership
- Lack of ownership risks lack of management because no one is directly responsible if commons become degraded or polluted.
what seas do countries have legal rights to own
- Nations do own and control some parts of the oceans.
- Territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles from a coastline.
- These waters are sovereign territory.
- The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extends up 200 nautical miles from a coast.
- This can be extended if the ocean is shallow i.e. a continental shelf
- A nation has sole rights to the ocean and seabed resources in its EEZ e.g. fish, oil and gas reserves
what are the laws of the sea
- The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the international treaty that governs EEZs.
- Most, but not all, countries have ratified UNCLOS and abide by its rules.
UNCLOS is under increasing pressure. - There are numerous disputes over EEZ limits especially in the South and East China Seas.
- As technology allows resources to be exploited in ever deeper waters, the size of a nation’s EEZ becomes ever more important
what is occurring in fish stocks
- Lack of successful management of global fisheries has created a crisis in fish stocks.
- Both EEZ fishing and fishing in international waters is unsustainable in many cases.
- Many fisheries have collapsed or are close to this point due to over-fishing.
- Some open-ocean fish such as Atlantic Bluefin tuna are now endangered.
- Attempts to add this fish to the CITES list failed in 2010.
- Monitoring and policing fishing in international waters is costly and difficult, even when agreements on management and quotas have been reached.
what is the IWC
- One relative success is the IWC - international whaling commission
- Since 1982 there has been a global ban on whaling.
- About ten countries continue to catch whales, but the number caught is small.
- Norway and Japan have commercial whaling.
- In Canada, Russia and the USA a small number of whales are caught annually by indigenous people such as the Inuit.
- In 1994 the IWC established a Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary although Japan continues to hunt whales there.
how is the southern ocean managed
- The Southern Ocean is managed through the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
- This agreement is part of the Antarctic Treaty System.
- It attempts to manage fishing around Antarctica, especially the fishing of krill which is important to the whole marine food-web.
- More recently the sustainability of the Patagonian Toothfish fishery has been called into question.
- Preventing illegal and unsustainable fishing in the harsh, isolated Southern Ocean is a major challenge.
what is an example of a global agreement
- MARPOL, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, has been in force since 1973.
- This bans dumping of waste and release of pollution from ships at sea.
- Since 2005 it has included regulating air pollution from ships.
- Some groups of countries, such as the EU, have supra-national fisheries policies but these are not widespread or always effective.
- The International Seabed Authority manages ocean-floor mining.
what are the future threats to oceans
- Increasing amounts of land-derived garbage in the oceans, especially plastics.
- Widespread and continued over-fishing
- Acidification from increased carbon dioxide absorbed by the oceans.
- Increased use of the oceans for cruising and tourism, raising the risks of pollution incidents.
- Disagreements over the extent of EEZs, leading to inter-state conflict
- An expansion of oil and gas drilling, and ocean-floor mining for minerals, as deep-sea technology improves.
why does the growth of emerging economies make it harder to tackle the issue of overfishing
- Rising affluence in NEE nations puts pressures on the global commons such as the fishing stocks in marine ecosystems
- There is a positive correlation between increased fish and meat consumption and wealth so it becomes harder to manage depleted fish stock sustainably when the market continues to grow. - These countries have yet to reach the latter stages of the Environmental Kuzents curve so do not impose the same levels of conservational and preservation as post industrial HIC such as EU nations
what is overfishing
The practice of commercial and non-commercial fishing which depletes a fishery by catching so many adult fish that not enough remain to breed and replenish the population.
Overfishing exceeds the carrying capacity of a fishery.
what is a quota
A dedicated portion of a species-specific total
allowable catch allocated
to a country, fishing-group
or an individual fishermen.
what is bottom trawling
(Benthic Trawling) A fishing method that drags trawl nets along the sea floor. Non-selective destructive fishing method with a large amount of bycatch.
what is IUU fishing
Illegal, unreported
and unregulated fishing
respecting neither national boundaries nor international
attempts to manage
high seas resources.
