Marine Resources

Dr. Vijendra Kumar Pandey

UNIT - V

What is a resource?

―A resource is something which human society ascribes

value due to its usefulness.‖

Materials and attributes found in the ocean that are considered

to have some value are resource. That value can be intrinsic, or

monetary. They include a huge number of things: biological

diversity, fish and seafood, oil and gas, minerals, sand and gravel,

renewable energy resources, tourism potential and unique

ecosystems like coral reefs.

Marine Resources

• Marine resources are the things such as plants, animals and minerals

originate in the ocean which is significant for humans or have some

economic values.

• Most organisms that require marine resources for survival live inside the

marine ecosystem.

• Transportation and fishing have been the two most important economic

activities carried out on the oceans.

• Fishing still continues to be a major sources of food for the peoples.

• It provides food in the form of fish and shellfish—about 200 billion pounds

fish caught each year.

Classification of Marine Resources

Physical resources result from the deposition, precipitation, or accumulation of useful substances in the ocean or seabed. Most physical resources are mineral deposits, but petroleum and natural gas, mostly remnants of once-living organisms, are included in this category. Freshwater obtained from the ocean is also a physical resource.

Marine energy resources result from the extraction of energy directly from the heat or motion of ocean water.

Biological resources are living animals and plants collected for human use and animal feed.

Nonextractive resources are uses of the ocean in place. Transportation of people and commodities by sea, recreation, and waste disposal are examples.

Marine resources can be classified as either renewable or

non-renewable:

Renewable resources are naturally replaced by the

growth of marine organisms or by natural physical

processes.

Nonrenewable resources such as oil, gas, and solid

mineral deposits are present in the ocean in fixed

amounts and cannot be replenished over time spans as

short as human lifetimes.

Types of marine resources can be

concluded as:

1.Fresh water resource

2.Mineral resources

3.Energy resources

4.Food resources

Marine Energy

Ocean in motion. The energy is certainly there, but extracting it in useful form is not

easy.

Waves, Currents, and Tides can be Harnessed to Generate Power:

Waves are the most obvious manifestation of oceanic energy. Many devices have been

proposed to harness this Energy. One of these devices uses the rush of air trapped by

waves entering breakwater caissons to power a generator.

Ocean currents can also be harnessed. Huge, slowly turning turbines immersed in the

Sea that generates energy.

The world‘s largest tidal hydroelectric plant

built-in 2009 at Lake Sihwa on the South

Korean peninsula (260 megawatts).

Vizhinjam (Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala) wave energy plant was the world's first wave

power plant working on Oscillating Water Column (OWC) technology was started as

150 kW Pilot wave energy plant in 1991. India's wave power potential is around 40-

60GW.

Biological Resources

Seafood

Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including

fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve

molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussels and cephalopods such as octopus

and squid), crustaceans (e.g. shrimp, crabs, and lobster), and echinoderms (e.g. sea

cucumbers and sea urchins). Marine sources account for 16% of the total animal

protein consumed by humans. Fish, crustaceans, and molluscs contribute about

14.5% of the total; fish meal and byproducts included in the diets of animals

raised for food account for another 3.5%. About 85% of the annual catch of fish,

crustaceans, and molluscs comes from the ocean.

New Drugs and By-products of Oceanic Origin are being

Discovered

Medical researchers estimate that perhaps 10% of all marine organisms are

likely to yield clinically useful compounds. One such medicine is derived from

a Caribbean sponge and is already in use: Acyclovir, the first antiviral

compound approved for humans, has been fighting herpes infections of the

skin and nervous system since 1982.

Non-extractive Resources

Transportation and recreation are the main nonextractive resources the

oceans provide. People have been using the ocean for transportation for

thousands of years.

References and further readings

1. Tom S. Garrison - Essentials of Oceanography.

2. R.C Sharma & M Vatal - Oceanography for Geographers.

3. Savindra Singh – Physical Geography