Chapter 15Marine Resources

Resource Classification• Renewable vs. Nonrenewable-Renewable: those that growing organisms, sunlight, or other processes naturally replace-Nonrenewable: natural processes don’t replace, or that do so at such a slow rate that they’re not replenished in a human lifespan.• Physical vs. Biological-Biological: are those that involve bioreproductivity, such as fisheries and kelp harvesting.-Physical: do not involve biological processes; include: minerals, energy production, and recreation (oil and natural gas nonrenewable physical resources)

Many marine biological resources…renewable or not?•While most marine biological resources

are potentially renewable, most are nonrenewable.• This happens when a fishery takes a

species from the ocean faster than it can reproduce to maintain its population.•Whaling and commercial fishing are two

of many examples

NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES

Energy: Petroleum & Natural Gas• About 1/3 of the world’s crude oil and about a quarter of the

natural gas come from offshore sources.• Crude oil is a complex mix of thousands of different compounds;

most important are hydrocarbons: consist of carbon and hydrogen chains

• Geologists find petroleum and natural gas in marine and terrestrial sediments; form from the remains of marine, benthic organisms

• After these animals die, they compile in depressions with little water movement, low oxygen, and few scavenging organisms; same process for methane and petroleum

• Physical characteristics of the rock surrounding oil and natural gas are important b/c they determine where the oil and natural gas collects

• Oil companies extract oil and natural gas by drilling through the sediment and rock into the reserve

Platform Mars

• One of the newest deep-water platforms • 1996: Shell Oil Company found a large oil

field in the Gulf of Mexico in about 815 meters of water• Estimated 700 million barrels of oil, the

Mars reserve is the largest found in the US in more than 30 years, yet only represents about 10% of the oil the US consumes annually!

Energy: Methane Hydrates• These are ice crystals that contain methane found on the continental

slope (may not be familiar with these)• Nonrenewable marine energy source• Made of frozen water molecules that create a cage within the

sediment;• Each “cage” holds a single methane gas molecule• When you bring methane hydrates to the surface, the ice melts,

releasing the methane • Light and match and ignite the methane • Thought to come from a multi-step process that includes both

aerobic and anaerobic bacteria• Not currently used as an energy source bc: its expensive to recover

them, technology still being developed, greenhouse effect sudden inc. in temp.

Salts and Minerals• Ferromanganese Nodules: form around shark teeth and

volcanic fragments; very abundant in the Pacific Ocean; these are rich in copper, nickel, and cobalt making them very valuable; for example: cobalt metal used in military and industrial applications, jet engines, etc.

Salts and Minerals Cont’:

• Magnesium Compound: strong, light weight metal essential for aerospace construction and other structural applications• Salts: Evaporites are the salts left behind when

seawater evaporates; use these evaporites in the production of fertilizers, medicines, building materials, and table salt.• Phosphorite: (phosphate rock) remains of marine

organisms that live in areas with extensive upwellings; important for all life and important in fertilizers that are used for agriculture.

Gravel and Sand

• These are important marine resources that are second only to gas and oil in their annual economic value.• To meet the demand for these resources, each

year industry mines more than one billion metric tons of sand and gravel from offshore deposits• 99% comes from terrestrial sources; offshore

sources account for significantly more in other nations that have better access to marine sources than terrestrial sources

RENEWABLE RESOURCES

Energy• Capture wave energy to spin turbines in order to

generate electricity;• Can also produce electricity by attaching a series

of buoys by vertical rods to the sides of a wheel; buoys rise and fall, turning the wheel, producing electricity• Tidal changes can be used to produce energy as

well• Tidal power seems to be the most practical, but

can cause ecological damage by massive dams, changes in flow of nutrients

Freshwater• May seem odd that freshwater would be a marine resource,

but it is….• Single most important factor that determines how many

people can live in a given area is the availability of freshwater.

• Extracting freshwater from seawater involves desalinization: the removal of dissolved salts; many plants aid in this process

• Distillation is the process of evaporating seawater and capturing the water vapor to leave the salts behind.

• About ¼ of desalinization processes reverse osmosis: which pumps the seawater through a semi permeable membrane under pressure and against the normal osmosis gradient

• There is still technology being developed to help decrease the cost of the desalinization processes.

Nonextractive Resources

• These are those resources that we obtain from the sea without removing anything from the sea….. Huh??• These are renewable resources because

there is nothing that needs renewing….• Examples: sea transport shipping,

recreation

Sea Transport Shipping• Blockades: closing access to the sea for shipping;

important strategy for war• Nearly ½ of the world’s crude oil travels in tanker

ships• About 25 % of the world’s shipping involves

carrying iron, coal, and grain• After World War II, the invention of cargo

containers revolutionized the sea transport shipping; quicker to load and unload containers;• Modern container ships can hold more than

4,000 containers that can be loaded or unloaded in only a day or two

Recreation• Many more recreation pursuits today than the past due

to a rise in standards of living and technologies• Activities include: sport fishing, snorkeling, scuba diving,

sailing and boating, water skiing, parasailing, surfing, and more. • Marine recreation has become an important contributor

to the fastest growing industry on Earth: TOURISM• Nature-based tourism, or ecotourism, is now a major

component of the international tourism industry. • Ecotourism focuses on visiting and experiencing wildlife

and natural environments; much of it is on or near the sea. • Will touch more on ecotourism later…..

BIOLOGICAL RESOURCESMarine Mammals

Whales• Whaling dates back at least two thousand years• While the Japanese killed the whales for the

meat, the Europeans were primarily interested in blubber: protective fat layer that insulates whales• Blubber was rendered into whale oil, which was

important as fuel; before petroleum reserves were discovered, whale oil lit the world at night• International whaling has been so successful

that whale populations plunged at one point. Today, the estimated population of whales is around 1 million (was 4.4 million)

Seals and Sea Lions• Historically, seals and sea lions have been

biological resources exploited for their fur and for food.• Up to half a million of these marine mammals

die for their fur annually• The most famous fur hunt is the harp seal hunt,

which takes place on the Canadian coast • Worldwide opposition continues to pressure

Canada to ban this practice, with efforts going so far as to also pressure the US White House to take the matter up with Canada.

BIOLOGICAL RESOURCESAlgae, Aquaculture, and Medicine

Algae•Marine algae also used as a food source;

Seaweeds and algae make up 10% of the Japanese diet• Algin: comes from mucus in kelp and algae

has a complex molecular structure that is useful in food processing; Use it in salad dressing, ice cream, and to clarify beer and wine• Use nearly $250 million worth of algin

annually

Farming the Sea• Aquaculture: comparable to terrestrial farming and ranching. It

uses farming techniques to grow and harvest aquatic organisms• Growth in aquaculture is steeply upward:• 1999: produced more than 35 million tons of fish, seafood, and

other biological resources ($30 million)• Currently, it is growing 3 times faster than livestock production on

land and may well exceed terrestrial livestock production in the next decade

• 25% to 30% of the world’s seafood comes from aquaculture• Problems: Keeping animals in close areas spreads disease rapidly;

pens release waste in the form of nitrites; consumption of wild resources; raising non indigenous species throw ecological balance off

• Continue to grow despite these problems

New Medicines from the Ocean• About half of the drugs available to modern

medicine come from nature• Barely scratched the surface when it comes to

identifying organisms with potential pharmacological importance• Bioprospecting: the search for organisms with

pharmacological or other chemical benefits • This can only continue with a healthy sea…• We could accidentally cause the extinction of the

organism that holds the cure for a certain disease

WHO OWNS THE SEA???Origin of territorial waters

The origin of territorial waters• If you find something in the sea, what country has claim to it?• Who, for that matter, owns the sea? How far from the coast does

a country’s territory extend?• These have been issues between nations for almost as long as

there have been ships• 1493: Pope Alexander VI divided the oceans between Spain and

Portugal (two major sea powers of the day)….didnt last…• About 1000 yrs later: Mare Liberum: defended the concept of

free ocean- access to the high sea by every nation• By early 18th century Mare Liberum was internationally

recognized • From shore out 5 kilometers belong to that country; beyond 5

kilometers was considered high sea and belonged to no one

The Truman Proclamation• With the end of WWII came the first major change in

the traditional definition of territorial waters• To protect US interests, Truman issued the Truman

Proclamation of 1945: “the US regards the natural resources of the subsoil and sea bed of the continental shelf beneath the high seas…..”• This gave the US an important legal framework “with

respect to the natural resources of the subsoil and sea bed of the continental shelf.”• Very quickly, other nations followed• The proclamation changed the concept of

international waters by widening the concept of territorial waters

Exclusive Economic Zones• UNCLOS: established the concept of the Exclusive

Economic Zones (EEZ)• A nations EEZ extends 370 km (200 miles) from the

shoreline• Within the EEZ, a nation has complete control of all

resources, economic activity, and environmental protection.• Areas beyond the EEZs are the high seas (international

waters) which belong to no nation. The UN deemed them property to be shared by all citizens of the world.• The establishment of the EEZs is a milestone in

international law• Major step toward maintaining the ocean and its

resources for generations to come

BIODIVERSITY AND THE FUTURE

The Ultimate Resource• Biodiversity: concept that the preservation of the Earth and its

ecosystems relies on the broad genetic diversity of all the organisms on Earth

• Think of the biosphere with all its organisms as an airplane in flight. Imagine that each organism is a rivet holding the plane together. Now think of a species going extinct as removing a rivet…..plane will continue to fly along.

• But…if it loses too many rivets…the structure fails and the plane crashes.• Some rivets are more important than others: losing just one, if its an

important one, can crash the plane just as easily as losing several• However, biologists don’t know when losing one more species is losing

too many and bring down our “plane”• The importance of biodiversity: EVERY ORGANISM IS A BIOLOGICAL

RESOURCE.• The ultimate resource we get from the sea is life itself: without a

functional ocean, only a few organisms would survive on Earth. We would not be one of them!