Chapter 17: Marine Resources
Laws and regulation
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Mare Liberum
Territorial sea
1958 to 1982 UN Law of the Sea
Ratified in 1993
International law
Law of the sea
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Coastal jurisdiction 12 n. miles
EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone 200 n.
miles
Free passage
International Seabed Authority
Law of the Sea Tribunal
EEZ of world
EEZ of United States
Fig. 17-1
Fisheries
Fish caught commercially
 Five ecosystems
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Non-tropical shelves
 Tropical shelves
 Upwelling
 Coastal and coral systems
 Open ocean
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Fish recruitment
Fertilization of eggs
 Survival of fish larvae
 Survival of juvenile fish
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Mortality losses huge until fish
matures
Primary productivity and
fisheries
Relationship
to nitrogen
influx
Fig. 17-2
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More nitrogen at upwelling
Duration of upwelling
 Rates of upwelling
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Moderate
 Too slow
 Too fast
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World catch
Fish production
 Potential world fishery about
100 to 120 million metric tons
 Overfished areas
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Intended catch and bycatch
Bycatch
Caught incidentally
 Tuna and dolphins
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Marine Mammals Protection Act
Driftnets or gill nets
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Banned in 1989
Fisheries management
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Difficulties
Regulation of fishing vessels
 Catch limits
 Many countries
 Migrating fish
 Human activities in one area impact
another
 Economic concerns of fishers
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Mariculture
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37% of total world fishery
Fish
Crustaceans
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Bivalves
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Shrimp and prawn most successful
Also successful
Algae
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Mainly seaweed
Energy from oceans
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Advantages
Nonpolluting
 Huge
 Renewable
 Readily available along coasts
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Power from
Offshore winds
 Currents
 Waves
 Tides
 Thermal energy (OTEC)
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Mineral resources
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Petroleum
Offshore about 30% of total
world production
 Likely to increase in future
 Deeper ocean to be exploited
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Gas hydrates
 Sand and gravel
 Phosphorite
 Metal sulfides
 Manganese nodules and crusts
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Cobalt (strategic)
Divergent and convergent plates
and metallic sulfides
Chemical resources
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Freshwater from desalination
Distillation
 Solar humidification
 Electrolysis
 Reverse osmosis
 Freeze separation
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Reverse osmosis
Fig. 17-24
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Evaporative salts
Halite, common table salt
 Gypsum building material
 Chemical industrial uses
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Pharmaceutical drugs from the
sea
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Soft-bodied marine organisms
chemical “warfare”
Antibiotic
Anti-inflammatory
Anti-viral
Anti-tumor
Anti-cancer
End of Chapter 17: Marine
Resources