Coasts: Why are they valuable?

Question 1

How do people use coastal areas?

Answer 1

1. Fisheries and aquaculture
2. Housing and transportation
3. Tourism and recreation
4. Ports
5. Wind farming

Question 2

What is the difference between fisheries and aquaculture?

Answer 2

Fisheries–> areas where fish are bred and raised

Aquaculture–> farming of fish in cages/ponds close to coast, in rivers or converted wetlands

Question 3

What are the positive impacts of using coasts for fisheries and aquaculture?

Answer 3

Social:
- Source of food
Eg. 1/3 of world’s fish supply comes from fisheries and aquaculture

Economic:
- Exports of fishes–> economic growth
- Revenue used to invest in infrastructure and amenities in the country
- Provides a livelihood for fishermen
- Eg. Production of shrimp farms reached record high of US$800 million in 2010, Ca Mau, Vietnam

Question 4

What are the negative impacts of using coasts for fisheries and aquaculture?

Answer 4

Environmental:
- Destructive fishing methods
- Eg. Dynamite and small meshed nets)
- Destroyed seagrass beds and coral reefs
- Removal of mangroves–> disappearance of species that used to shelter amongst trees

Economic:
- Removal of natural protection against natural disasters–> funds to offset damage after
- Degradation and pollution–> affect quality of fishes–>** less **sales
- Eg. Kenya and Tanzania have 30-40% lower catches, lesser fish for sale

Question 5

What are the positive impacts of using coasts for housing and transportation?

Answer 5

Social:
- Sufficient houses to settle in
- Prevent congestion in certain areas
- Eg. Stilt houses in Kukup, Malaysia, built above water with stilts for movement around

Economic
- Increases accessibility, more trading and movement (tourism too)
- Drives economy
- Eg. Boats used by fishermen in Air Masin (Kukup) to facilitate fishing. Ferries scheduled to bring visitors in and out of Kukup, increasing income by tourism

Question 6

What are the negative effects of using coasts for housing and transportation?

Answer 6

Environmental:
- Beaches are formed by an ongoing** cycle of erosion and deposition**
- With H&T, this natural cycle is interrupted
- Sand banks become depleted, destroying beaches

Question 7

What are the positive effects of using coasts for tourism and recreation?

Answer 7

Economic:
- Tourism relies on coastal zones
- Eg. Sentosa, Singapore–> Resorts World–> use of coasts for hotel, museum, marine life park etc.
- Coastal tourism contributes significantly to local economies
- Large and increasing proportion of tourism earnings
- Eg. Singapore–> coastal developments attracted 19 million visitors in 2011–> fuelled more developments to meet demands (parking, transport, enhancement of beaches, attractions)

Question 8

What are the negative effects of using coasts for tourism and recreation?

Answer 8

Environmental
- Activities of tourists can affect the marine ecosystem directly through boat and anchor damage to coral reefs
- Affected indirectly by increasing demands for cleared land for development, collection of shells for development, seafood, and coral lime for construction
- Eg. Extraction of living corals baked in kilns to produce lime has contributed to coastal habitat degradation in Tanzania, Africa

Question 9

What are the positive effects of using coasts for ports?

Answer 9

Economic
- Allows for trading, movement of people and goods–> increase revenue of country
- Better economic growth
- Helps to develop country and improve the SoL and QoL
- Eg. Port of Shanghai in China, connected by Yangtze river serves the vast economically developed areas of Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang and moved 650 million tons of goods in 2010 to become the world’s busiest port

Question 10

What are the negative impacts of using coasts for ports?

Answer 10

Enviromental
- Dredging or deepening of channels to maintain their navigability involves removing sediment, rock and debris from the channel bottom
- Disturb channel bottom material and aquatic life
- Channel bottom may also be contaminated–> may further degrade environment by releasing these contaminants

Question 11

What are the positive effects of using coasts for wind farming?

Answer 11

Enviromental
- Harnessing power from wind is one of the cleanest and most sustainable ways to generate electricity
- No global warming emissions or toxic pollution
- Wind is abundant, inexhaustible and affordable
- Turbines increase fish populations by acting as artificial reefs

Question 12

What are the negative effects of using coasts for wind farming?

Answer 12

Economic
- Depending on location, wind farms may compete with other coastal related activities (aquaculture, housing, transportation, recreational activities and navigation)

Question 13

Why are coral reefs valuable?

Answer 13

• Serve as habitats and food for marine creatures
• Coastal protection–> absorbs wave energy to protect land from coastal erosion
• Supports natural ecosystems–> allows wide range of creatures to breed and grow–> supporting more than 25% of Earth’s marine fish species

Question 14

Why are mangroves valuable?

Answer 14

• Coastal protection–> dense network of roots absorb wave energy–> helps build up sediment–> protect from erosion by tides, storm waves and tsunamis
• Breeding ground and habitat for marine creatures
• Source of raw materials–> wood for fuel and construction