One Ocean Episode 2: Footprints in the Sand
Global Geography 12
Question Sheet For Students
Bluefin Tuna in the Mediterranean Sea
1. How much has the Spanish almadraba
fishery declined in the past two
decades?
2. Describe the modern technology used
to catch tuna.
3. How has globalization affected the bluefin tuna fishing industry?
Lagoons on the Nile Delta
4. What form of water pollution is affecting the lagoons?
The Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
5. (This should be review!)Summarize the process that creates the dead zone.
6. Is the Gulf of Mexico the only area affected by a persistent dead zone?
7. Why does settlement along coastlines increase the dead zone problem?
Coastal Ecosystems
8.
Why are coastal ecosystems significant?
Coral Reefs Zanzibar
9. How has population affected the number of fishers in Zanzibar?
10. What other global issue plays a part in reducing the productivity of reefs?
11. Why is the participation of local families so important in conservation?
Goat Island Marine Reserve in New Zealand
12. What is protected with marine reserves?
13. Which of the Four Laws of Ecology most relate to letting marine reserves remain or
become more natural? Explain.
“If you were asking how little can we feed our children, people would worry about you.
Why do you wish to know how little we can do? Isn’t it more important to make sure we
do enough?” Dr. Bill Ballantine
Overhead (Answer Key)
One Ocean
1. The Spanish almadraba fishery declined 80% in the past two
decades.
2. RADAR, SONAR or illegal spotter planes are used to identify the
location of schools of bluefin tuna. Purse seine boats surround
the school with a net, catching up to 3000 at a time.
3. Japan consumes most of the world’s bluefin catch. The wealth
of this MDC allows an unsustainable global demand. ¾ of the
breeding population has been fished out in the last halfcentury, despite 40 years of international management of the
fishery.
4. Agricultural runoff is responsible for declining oxygen levels in
the lagoons.
5. Agricultural runoff (fertilizers) and sewage from 32 states provide
the nutrients to create a massive algal bloom. The
decomposition of the algae is the process that removes oxygen
from the water.
6. The Gulf of Mexico dead zone was first discovered in the 1970’s
and has measured up to 22 000 km2. There are over 400 coastal
dead zones worldwide, doubling every ten years since the
1960s. The worst dead zone is found in the Baltic Sea.
7. Coastal development compounds the problem because
wetlands, which absorb nutrients, are lost to housing
development and industry.
8. Although coastal ecosystems make up only a small fraction of
the oceans, they are some of the most important parts
ecologically because they provide food and shelter. 90% of
marine species rely on them at some point in their lives.
9. One quarter of the islanders fish for a living: 7000 were fishing in
1980, but 26 000 are fishers there today.
10.
Climate change is the pervasive global issue that affects
everything and appears everywhere. Seriously. Even in
Zanzibar, people. (I didn’t believe that was a real place before
today.)
11.
Local management of resources is at the heart of
conservation. A no-take zone provides a nursery for shellfish to
reproduce and measurement by local women ensures that the
success of the strategy is understood. If scientists did all of the
management, there would be less cooperation and
understanding.
12.
Marine reserves are recognized as a crucial way to
protect biodiversity and habitat in the ocean.
13.
Nature Knows Best – Over fishing of snapper and spiny rock
lobster allowed sea urchin populations to explode and damage
the reef. Allowing the over fished populations to recover
controlled the sea urchin populations, so the reef and kelp
could regenerate and become more productive. Female
snappers in the 5km reserve are larger and produce as many
eggs as in 90km of unprotected coastline.