Exploring oceans -- case studies
Deepwater Horrizon oil spill
4,000 oil rigs and 240,000 jobs are connected with the Gulf of Mexico oil industry.
Impacts
Lead to 4.9 million barrels of oil leaking into the ocean.
Fishing had stop due to fears of contamination.
Polution on the beaches made for bad publicity.
It is believed that the economic damage led to an increase in domestic voilence (social impacts caused be economic impacts).
It is said that a 1% increase in unemployment leads to 40,000 deaths.
Responces
Attempts to block the leak took a few attempts and only when topkill was used did the leak stop.
Surface oil was skimmed off the sea.
Surface oil was burnt.
BP paid for animla clean up sights.
Recovery
BP had to pay $300 million in compensation for lost wages and $8 billion in out of court settlements.
Ecosystem recovered quickly and due to the lack of fishing sharks returned to the Gulf of Mexico.
The question of where the oil went remains.
Whales
6 out of 13 great whale specis are endagered.
The Atlantic Right Whale has seen its population drop below 500.
The South Atlantic Humpback has seen a population recovery from 1,000 to 25,000.
Threats
Whale hunting
Whale meat consumption in Japan has droped from 2kg to 50g.
Since 2018 Japan legalised commerical whaling in its waters.
Japan's whaling quotas permit the catching of 900 Mink Whales (the quotas are so high they are pointless).
Pollution
Polycholrinated Biphenyls (PCBs) prevent whales from calfing (having children).
The Whale population hasn't had a calf in 20 years probally due to PCBs.
PCBs can't be removed from the oceans so the only way to limit their impact is to stop using them and dispose of them responsibly.
Protecting whales
Rescuing stranded whales
Education about the oceans through floating schools.
Whale watching
Enables communities to have an economic use to whales without killing them.
Reducing whale injuries
IWC are working to encrouge the use of sinking fishing nets that are safer for Whales.
Protecting ocean habitats
The UN has recently agreed a treaty to turn 30% of oceans into protected areas.
Maldives
28% unemployment.
Threats
Ocean acidification
Flooding
Impacts
Primary
Flooding could lead to contamination of aquifers.
50% of housing is within 100m of the coastline.
Secondary
Contamination of aquifers could reduce fresh drinking water by a 1/3.
Contamination of aquifers could prevent the water being used in irrigation -- 15% of the country work in agriculture and fishing, 3% of GDP comes from this sector.
Land flooding could damage tourism.
30% of GDP comes from tourism.
70% of people employed in the service sector.
99% of tourist acomadation is located within 100m of the coast.
Ocean acidification and coral bleaching could reduce tourism.
Adaptations
Short term
Building houses of stilits.
Improvements to weather montioring stations to increase knollwedge of what is happening.
Long term
Building a sea wall around the capital Mele.
Land reclimation in Hulhamale.
They have bought islands from Austrialia, Sri Lanka and India.
Arctic sea ice (melting)
Impacts
Indiginous populations
4 million people depend on Arctic Sea ice for hunting, fishing and cultural reasons.
Melting sea ice makes it harder and more dangerous to fish we can cause food insecurioty and could have a cultural impact.
Geopolitics
Lots of countries have contested claims over the region and as sea ice melts and resources become more accesable these tensiosn could grow.
Minerals
As sea ice melts it is revealling vast oil and natural gas reserves.
Although they can't be accessed yet high commidity prices and improving technology should make them more accessible.
Transport
The North West Passage and the Northern Sea Route have become navicable for certian months and this could reduce costs and feul.
By 2025 200 to 300 ships will pass through the Arctic.
Managing the Arctic
No treaty protects the Arctic from economic exploitation.
The Arctic Council (established 1996) is important to managing the Arctic.
Membership
USA
Russia
Norway
Denmark
Sweden
Finland
Iceland
Indignous people
12 observer states (including the UK and China).
The Arctic Council has facilitated three treaties between member states on the topics of:
Search and rescue.
Pollution responce cooperation.
Scientific cooperation.
Somalia (piracy)
Key facts about Somalia
HDI is 0.361.
GNI is $450 a year.
Life expectancy of 58.
One of the poorest countries on Earth
Many pirates used to be fishermen, but over fishing led to depleted stocks and many people couldn't survive.
Piracy costs $5 to $8 billion to shipping companies each year.
Solutions
Improve developement/economy
Reduction in poverty will lead to a reducation in the need for piracy.
Peackeeping to end the civil war.
30 year long civil war.
NATO launched a miltiary intervention in the area (Operation Ocean Sheild) to stop piracy, but this was only successful in the short term.
Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay
This is a planned 320 MW tidal power plant.
Should power 155,000.
Costs £1 billion
Advantages
Produces clean energy.
Working life of 120 years (double the working length of a nuclear power plant).
Will create local jobs.
Will create tourism opportunities along the plant.
Disadvantages
May impact sedimement movement.
Could impact the enviroment of Cornwall due to the need to quarry materials.
Must be subsidiesed by the government to be viable.
Shiwa Tidal
World's largest tidal power plant producing 8.2GW/h.
Origanly built in 1984 to provide water, flood mitagation and land recolmation to the nearby urban areas.
Pollution meant that the water become unusable and it was deciceded that a tidal power plant could improve water quality by 200%.
Power plant
Produces as much energy as 862,000 barrels of oil, this has meant that 315,000 tonnes of oil have not been pumped into the atmosphere.
Produces enough energy to support 500,000 people.
The seawall the power plant is built within attracts 1.5 million people anually.
Chagos Islands marine reserve
Importance of the Chagos Islands
Island is a refuge for many endagered species.
300 species of coral and 800 species of fish can be found in the waters around it.
Biodivesity is at similar levels to those of the Great Barrier Reef or the Galpigos Islands.
Home to the cleanist water in the world.
Corals rebound from bleaching very quickly.
Threats to the Chagos Islands
Illegal fishing.
Has impacts shark and tuna populations (the Indian Ocean shark population has droped by 90%).
Can be hard to stop as much of it is done by small fishing vessels, but modern tech is helping improve tracking.
Innvasive species such as rats.
Rats have decimated flora and fauna populations, in particular sea bird populations as the rats eat the birds eggs and chicks.
30 rat infested islands have almost no seabirds left.
Coral bleaching
Heat wave in 2015 killed 60% of hard corals.
However, due to the cleanlinest of the water corals recover very quickly.