The deep ocean is the planet's largest biome and holds a wealth of potential natural assets. This book gives a comprehensive account of its geological and physical processes, ecology and biology, exploitation, management, and conservation.
The deep ocean is by far the planet's largest biome and holds a wealth of potential natural assets. Human exploitation of the deep ocean is rapidly increasing whilst becoming more visible to many through the popular media, particularly film and television. The scientific literature of deep-sea exploitation and its effects has also rapidly expanded as a direct function of this increased national and global interest in exploitation of deep-sea resources, both biological (e.g. fisheries, genetic resources) and non-biological (e.g. minerals, oil, gas, methane hydrate). At the same time there is a growing interest in deep-sea contamination (including plastics), with many such studies featured in high profile scientific journals and covered by global media outlets. However, there is currently no comprehensive integration of this information in any form and these topics are only superficially covered in classic textbooks on deep-sea biology. This concise and accessible work provides an understanding of the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, both at the seafloor and in the water column, and how these might be affected as a result of human interaction, exploitation and, ultimately, environmental change. It follows a logical progression from geological and physical processes, ecology, biology, and biogeography, to exploitation, management, and conservation. Natural Capital and Exploitation of the Deep Ocean is aimed at marine biologists and ecologists, oceanographers, fisheries scientists and managers, fish biologists, environmental scientists, and conservation biologists. It will also be of relevance and use to a multi-disciplinary audience of fish and wildlife agencies, NGOs, and government departments involved in deep-sea conservation and management.
This volume discusses environmental issues associated with deep-sea mining, with an emphasis on potential impacts, their consequences and the policy perspectives. The book describes the methods and technologies to assess, monitor and mitigate mining impacts on marine environments, and also suggests various approaches for environmental management when conducting deep-sea mining. The volume brings together information and data for researchers, contractors, mining companies, regulators, and NGOs working in the field of deep-sea mining. Section 1 highlights the various environmental issues and discusses methods and approaches that can help in developing environmentally sustainable deep-sea mining. Section 2 details the results and outcomes of studies related to impact assessment of deep-sea mining, and proposes methods for monitoring. Section 3 discusses the need and means for developing data standards and their application to deep-sea mining. Section 4 discusses the policies, approaches, and practices related to deep-sea mining, suggests formats for developing environmental impact statements (EIS) and environmental management plans (EMP), and describes national and international regulations for environmental management. Section 5 concludes the text by putting deep-sea economic activities into an environmental context and conducting techno-economic analyses of deep-sea mining and processing.
In the last decade, the concept of a Blue Economy has ignited a deep theoretical debate. Ranging from the integration of the triple bottom line of sustainability to the optimization of profit from ocean exploitation, the meaning of the term blue economy differs considerably between epistemic communities and even more so among national and regional policies. There is a general sense of the opportunity to realise enhanced social and economic benefits from the sustainable utilisation of their ocean and coastal resources under the umbrella framework of blue economy. Blue economy is gaining traction already as a significant component of national policies, even in spite of a clear conceptualization of the term. Many countries are now preparing national policies towards realising their blue economy ambitions, utilizing the concept as they see fit. Likewise, multilateral and regional organisations are developing guidelines, and providing investment in new research, technologies, and financing tools that promote blue economy. Critical challenges abound, in particular in less privileged countries. These include the gap in research capabilities, governments prioritizing social wellbeing and economic profit in contrast to environmental protection, the identification of new and emerging areas of ocean economic activity that are both socially and ecologically sustainable and holds viable business models that can attract private investment.
This comprehensive book contains contributions from specialists who provide a complete status update along with outstanding issues encompassing different topics related to deep-sea mining. Interest in exploration and exploitation of deep-sea minerals is seeing a revival due to diminishing grades and increasing costs of processing of terrestrial minerals as well as availability of several strategic metals in seabed mineral resources; it therefore becomes imperative to take stock of various issues related to deep-sea mining. The authors are experienced scientists and engineers from around the globe developing advanced technologies for mining and metallurgical extraction as well as performing deep sea exploration for several decades. They invite readers to learn about the resource potential of different deep-sea minerals, design considerations and development of mining systems, and the potential environmental impacts of mining in international waters.
This report explores the growth prospects for the ocean economy, its capacity for future employment creation and innovation, and its role in addressing global challenges. Special attention is devoted to the emerging ocean-based industries.
The Atlas of Ocean Wealth is the largest collection to date of information about the economic, social and cultural values of coastal and marine habitats from all over the world. It is a synthesis of innovative science, led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), with many partners around the world. Through these efforts, we've gathered vast new datasets from both traditional and less likely sources.
What keeps capitalism afloat? The global ocean has through the centuries served as a trade route, strategic space, fish bank and supply chain for the modern capitalist economy. While sea beds are drilled for their fossil fuels and minerals, and coastlines developed for real estate and leisure, the oceans continue to absorb the toxic discharges of our carbon civilization - warming, expanding, and acidifying the blue water part of the planet in ways that will bring unpredictable but irreversible consequences for the rest of the biosphere. In this bold and radical new book, Campling and Colás analyze these and other sea-related phenomena through a historical and geographical lens. In successive chapters dealing with the political economy, ecology and geopolitics of the sea, the authors argue that the earth's geographical separation into land and sea has significant consequences for capitalist development. The distinctive features of this mode of production continuously seek to transcend the land-sea binary in an incessant quest for profit, engendering new alignments of sovereignty, exploitation and appropriation in the capture and coding of maritime spaces and resources.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of human-induced climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the observed and projected changes to the ocean and cryosphere and their associated impacts and risks, with a focus on resilience, risk management response options, and adaptation measures, considering both their potential and limitations. It brings together knowledge on physical and biogeochemical changes, the interplay with ecosystem changes, and the implications for human communities. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
The “Blue Economy” is used to describe all of the economic activities related to the sea, with a special emphasis on sustainability. Traditional activities such as fisheries, but also undersea mining, tourism, and scientific research are included, as well as the phenomenal growth of aquaculture during the past decade. All of these activities, and the irresistible prospect of another new frontier, has led to enthusiastic and, most likely, overenthusiastic assessments of the possibilities to exploit the sea to feed the world, provide low-cost energy, become a new source of minerals, and other future miracles. This book makes sense of these trends and of the future of the blue economy by following our remote ancestors who gradually discovered the sea and its resources, describing the so-called fisherman’s curse – or why fishermen have always been poor, explaining why humans tend to destroy the resources on which we depend, and assessing the realistic expectations for extracting resources from the sea. Although the sea is not so badly overexploited as the land, our demands on ecosystem services are already above the oceans’ sustainability limits. Some new ideas, including “fishing down” for untapped resources such as plankton, could lead to the collapse of the entire marine ecosystem. How Neanderthals crossed the sea in canoes, how it was possible for five men on a small boat to kill a giant whale, what kind of oil the virgins of the Gospel put into their lamps, how a professor of mathematics, Vito Volterra, discovered the “equations of fishing,” why it has become so easy to be stung by a jellyfish while swimming in the sea, and how to play “Moby Dick,” a simple board game that simulates the overexploitation of natural resources are just some of the questions that you will be able to answer after reading this engaging and insightful book about the rapidly expanding relationship between humanity and the sea.