Ocean Uses and Human Impacts

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Ocean Uses and Human Impacts
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Outline

• Marine Resources
• Minerals and gas
• Energy
• Biological
• Mariculture
• Drugs
• Marine pollution
• Invasive species
• Coastal development
• Climate Change

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Classes of Marine Resources

• Physical resources
• Mineral deposits, petroleum, natural gas,
  freshwater
• Biological resources
• Plants and animals, microbes
• Marine energy resources
• Energy from heat or motion of water
• Non-extractive resources
• Transportation, recreation, waste disposal

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Petroleum and Natural Gas

• Oil and gas are often found together beneath
  impermeable caprock. Drilling for oil offshore
  requires specialized equipment and is more costly
  than drilling on land.

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Salts and Minerals

• Magnesium
• Sodium chloride
• Manganese nodules
• Phosphorite
• Metallic sulfides and muds

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Fresh Water

• Only 0.071 of Earths water is liquid, fresh,
  and available at the surface for humans
• More than 1500 desalination plants worldwide
• 3.5 billion gallons/day
• Towing icebergs?

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Marine Energy Wave Motion

• Energy generated by waves and tides

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Ocean Energy Thermal Gradient
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Biological Resources

• Major types of commercially harvested fishes,
  crustaceans, and mollusks

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Biological Resources
World Commercial Catch of Marine Fishes, Crustaceans, and Mollusks, by Species Group, 1997 World Commercial Catch of Marine Fishes, Crustaceans, and Mollusks, by Species Group, 1997
Species Group Millions of Metric Tons
Herring, sardines, anchovies 21.5
Jacks, mullets, sauries 10.9
Mollusks 15.5
Cods, hakes, haddocks 10.2
Redfish, basses, conger eels 7.4
Crustaceans 6.8
Tunas, bonitos, billfishes 4.8
Mackerel, snooks, cutlass fishes 5.2
Flounders, halibuts, soles 1.0
Miscellaneous Marine Fishes 17.5
Total for all sources 100.8
Table from Garrison, 4ed
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Potential Harmful Impacts of Mariculture

• Escape of non-native species
• Herbicides
• Disease tolerance and spread
• Nutrient enrichment -gt eutrophication

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Drugs

• Researchers estimate that 10 of marine species
  may contain useful medical compounds
• Acyclovir, the first antiviral compound approved
  for humans, is derived from a Caribbean Sea
  sponge
• Pseudopterosins, a class of anti-inflammatory
  drugs, is derived from marine species
• Bone substitute for speeding regrowth of bone
  grafts is available from Corals. Coral skeletal
  structure is remarkably similar to human bone

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Marine Pollution

• Crude oil spills are usually larger in volume,
  and occur more frequently than spills of refined
  oil.
• Refined oil spills can be more disruptive for
  longer periods of time. Components added to oil
  in the refining process make it more deadly.

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Marine Pollution - DDT

• Levels of organic pollutants may be low, but
  biological amplification concentrates harmful
  toxins
• The concentration of DDT in the fatty tissues of
  organisms was amplified up to 10 million times in
  a food chain off the coast of New Jersey

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Marine Pollution
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Invasive Species

• Introduced species crowd out native species,
  alter habitats, and impose economic burdens on
  coastal communities.
• The rate of marine introductions has risen
  exponentially over the past 200 years and shows
  no sign of leveling off.
• More than 175 species of introduced marine
  invertebrates, fish, algae, and higher plants
  live in San Francisco Bay.
• http//www.invasivespecies.gov/

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Invasive Species Zebra Mussel
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Recent US Bioinvasions
http//www.pewoceans.org/reports/introduced_specie
s.pdf
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Coastal Development

• Sprawl development is consuming land at a rate of
  five or more times the rate of population growth
  in many coastal areas. Sprawl needlessly destroys
  wildlife habitat and degrades water quality.
• More than one-fourth of all the land converted
  from rural to suburban and urban uses since
  European settlement occurred during the 15-year
  period between 1982 and 1997 (the last year for
  which such figures are available) (NRI, 2000).
• Coastal marshes, which trap floodwaters, filter
  out pollutants, and serve as nurseries for
  wildlife, are disappearing at a rate of 20,000
  acres per year. Louisiana alone has lost half a
  million acres of wetlands since the 1950s.

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Coastal Development
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Coastal Development - Vehicle Miles
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Global Warming
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• A 1-mile-per-gallon improvement (in average
  vehicle fuel efficiency) would yield double the
  oil that could ever be extracted from the Arctic
  National Wildlife Refuge -- and would do it
  without destroying the countrys last great
  wilderness. A 2.6 mpg improvement would produce
  more oil than we import from Iraq and Kuwait
  combined. An 8-mpg increase would eliminate the
  need for all Persian Gulf imports.
• RF Kennedy, jr, in Crimes Against Nature

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Ice and climate
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Glaciers in retreat worldwide
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Great Aletsch Glacier (Switzerland)
1858
2001
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Antarctic Ice Sheet
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Antarctic Ice Sheet
EAIS
WAIS
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Both Greenland Ice Sheet and West Antarctic Ice
Sheet 6 m global sea level. 25 of U.S.
population lives within 10 m of sea level.
WAIS
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The Prez
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People at risk

• Country population annual incomeBangladesh 11
  5 million 160Egypt 55 million 710Indonesia
  185 million 450Maldives 0.2
  million 300Pakistan 110 million 350

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Challenge for Your Generation

• 1870-1900 Railroad system built
• 1940-1970 Interstate highway system
• 1960-1970 Apollo mission to the Moon
• 1950-1990 Cold War, nuclear threat
• 1960-1980 Green revolution, agriculture
• 1990-2010 Recognizing climate change

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Everyone Likes a Challenge

• 1990-2010 Recognizing climate change
• 2010-???? Mitigation and Adaptation