Abiotic & Biotic Resources

Many of the natural resources (abiotic resources) found on land are also found in the ocean. It is often less expensive to remove resources from the land than from the ocean, so many of the ocean’s resources are not currently mined. However, as resources on land are used up and new technology makes ocean exploration and mining easier, ocean mining may increase.

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Resources include:

• ​Oil & Natural Gas

• Minerals

• Oil & natural gas are harvested via offshore drilling ​

• ​They are pumped out of every continental shelf except for Antarctica

• ​About 30% of the world's oil is exploited using this method

• Minerals such as phosphorite, iron, copper, lead, gold, tin are harvested via sea floor mining​

• Sediment deposited from rivers flowing into the sea contain these minerals

• ​Minerals clump together to form nodules

After millions of years, nodules can build up to be up to 1m across and can contain valuable manganese, iron and cobalt - used to make steel!

​BUT! Mining nodules is too expensive.

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​There is however another mineral that almost all humans consume...

​Aggregate mining: sand, gravel, limestone rock

​Positives

• ​Technological advancements has made oil drilling more precise, much safer and more efficient

• Boosts global economy

​Negatives

• ​Exhaustion of oil supply - forced to explore remote/untapped locations such as the Arctic. Geopolitical issues as countries begin to claim different parts of the Arctic that may not necessarily be theirs to claim

• ​Drilling = high risk of oil spills!

  • ​Negative impact on environment - contaminates coasts & harms marine biodiversity - thus affecting food security in parts of the world

  • ​Toxic effects on deep-sea corals

• Shipping industry is a huge cause of pollution from burning oil! More CO2 added to the atmosphere - may be responsible for deaths related to lung/chest diseases

Key Content​

​​Trends in biotic resource use (fish and mammals) and the viability of alternatives to overfishing, including aquaculture, conservation areas and quotas

​Fishery - a place where fish are raised or harvested for commercial production. Includes wild and farmed fisheries, both in freshwater bodies and the ocean.

Fish Stock "​usually refers to a particular fish population that is more or less isolated from other stocks of the same species. In a particular fishery, the fish stock may be one or several species."

Did you know?

• ​89% of the world's farmed seafood comes from Asia

​Types of fish stocks include (for example):

• ​salmon

• ​cod

• ​haddock

• ​trout

• ​tuna

​Many fish stocks have declined.

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​Cod is a very popular fish used for food that nearly went completely extinct due to overfishing. It was once common in the North Atlantic, but now Cod population is very low.

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​All of the world's fisheries are being overfished, or close to it

​​Cod is the traditional fish used for fish n chips!

is the removal of a species of fish from a body of water at a rate that the species cannot replenish in time, resulting in those species either becoming depleted or very underpopulated in that given area.

What methods are used in commercial fishing?

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​However, some commercial boat captains switch it off to not alert other [legal] vessels of profitable areas!!

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​Another option is a virtual watch room - where people can track vessels anywhere in the world - alerting ships when they enter prohibited waters and to slow down fishing speed.

​is breeding, raising, and harvesting fish, shellfish & aquatic plants. It is basically 'farming' in the water.

contributed almost 160 million tonnes of fish in 2012.

​...that's a value of over $215 billion.

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​Over 136 million tonnes were used for food for people.

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​Between 1960 - 2012, world food fish supply increased from 10 - 19kg per capita.

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​Overall, global capture fisheries production remains relatively stable, with the NW Pacific and Central W Pacific having the largest/still increasing catches.

Read pages 94 - 99.

​Make note of:

• ​Fish stocks

  • ​Explain their decline

  • ​Fishing grounds under threat

  • ​Possible strategies to conserve resources

• ​Illegal Fishing

  • Describe a method used to monitor illegal fishing

• ​Aquaculture

  • ​Name 3 species that are used in aquaculture production

    What are the advantages and disadvantages of aquaculture?

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