Sustainable Resources: the management of renewable resources to ensure they will be available to future generations Forests and Fish
Sustainable Forestry Sustainable forestry is simple and complex. The basic idea is simple. If we cut trees faster than they grow back, we will run out of trees. However, as the world's population increases so does the demand for forestry products and so does the demand for forestry land to be converted to housing, mining, and hydro-electricity projects.
In the past we have looked at the forest as an endless resource. Now we realize we must manage the forest for the forestry industry and many other things. Biodiversity, hunting, hiking, camping, habitat protection and many other things are all considerations.
If we look at sustainable forestry from a "Systems Model" perspective we can see that we have three options: Improve what we input into forestry (replanting & seedlings aka silviculture) Improve processes like: road construction harvesting techniques environmental protection actions reducing losses (use all of the tree) Reduce the need of output product recycle use of alternate building materials
Fisheries Management There are a number of issues related to the fishery that require management. Ocean pollution and conservation of fish stocks top the list. Major Sources of Ocean Pollution There are a number of ways to classify the greatest ocean pollution concerns. The Ocean Planet web site identifies 4 major sources of ocean pollution: Oil, Toxic Material, Dangerous Debris, and Deposits and Withdrawals.
1. Oil When it comes to mixing oil and water, oceans suffer from far more than an occasional devastating spill. Disasters make headlines, but hundreds of millions of gallons of oil quietly end up in the seas every year, mostly from nonaccidental sources.
The graph below, shows how many millions of gallons of oil each source puts into the oceans worldwide each year
2. Toxic Material Industrial, agricultural, household cleaning, gardening, and automotive products regularly end up in water. About 65,000 chemicals are used commercially in the U.S. today, with about 1,000 new ones added each year. Only about 300 have been extensively tested for toxicity. TBT, or tributyltin, is added to boat paints to kill or repel barnacles and other nuisance organisms that foul ships' hulls.
3. Dangerous Debris Our trash kills. When odds and ends of life on land-- particularly plastics--end up in the sea, they pose hazards to marine life. Animals drown or strangle from getting tangled in discarded or lost fishing gear, or suffer and even die from eating plastics and other garbage.
4. Deposits & Withdrawals For thousands of years humans have viewed oceans as vast dumps for domestic, municipal, and industrial garbage. The enormous deep-sea resources will undoubtedly attract more miners in the future, as easy-to-reach deposits on land are depleted.
Mining sand from the shores of Belize for landfills in Central America. Sand and gravel are in demand as fill, and as an ingredient of concrete.
Impact of New Catch Technology on the Environment Factory freezer Trawlers have likely had the most significant and negative impact. 1. Highly efficient at catching fish which greatly reduces the population & reproduction. Large diesel engines, echo sounding equipment, onboard freezers, and GPS navigation contribute to their efficiency.
2. Destruction of the ocean floor by trawls/draggers eliminates good spawning locations for fish. Furthermore it disperses eggs, making fertilization more difficult. 3. By-catch is often discarded. Some regulations require ships to return with low levels of by catch. 4. Traveling great distances and being able to stay at sea for long periods allows trawlers from all over the world to congregate in good fishing areas. This puts added pressure on the fish stock.
Declining Fish Resource & the Livelihood of Fishers The declining fish resources may have a variety of affects on fishers. Some of those include: 1. Fishers may concentrate more on conservation. 2. Fishers and the community they live in will have to diversify: develop aquaculture (the raising of marine life in a controlled environment) ex. Bay D'Espoir; golf course construction ex. Frenchman s cove sea weed aquaculture ex. Isle aux Morts eco-tourism (tourism to places having unspoiled natural resources, with minimal impact on the environment being a primary concern.) ex. Northern Peninsula catch underutilized species
During the last half of the 20th century, the traditional view that Earth s resources are inexhaustible has been increasingly called into question (cod fishery collapse). We must, therefore, develop ways of using resources and sustaining a fishing industry for future generations. To truly understand the potential issues surrounding a sustainable fishery, students are to read pages 209 to 212 and answer qns 14, 15, 16, 17 and 19 pg. 211-212.