Nature

The sea and nature

The sea provides many people living along the coast who depend on it with a way of earning their livelihood, which is directly or indirectly linked to the marine ecosystem.For a great many other people, the sea has become a place of leisure and recreational activity.In short, a large part of the population is concentrated along the coastal strip either permanently or at least periodically, interacting with the sea and the coast in many different ways; from those who work in a canning industry to those who bathe in the sea or fish for enjoyment.

Over the past few years, the concept of sustainable development has emerged as a model for the management of natural resources.This idea is based on the fact that the world’s resources are not endless and their capacity for regeneration is limited. We must therefore respect this limitation if we want to continue using its resources in the future.

This is especially evident in the case of professional fishing. Technological resources have advanced so much over the past fiveor six decades, that the capacity to catch fish is enormous in modern fishing fleets, and far in excess of what the ecosystem is able to produce.For this reason some method of controlling this activity must be found, so that only fish exceeding certain limits in terms of quantity are caught, respecting minimum population for the purpose of regenerating what has been caught. Thus most species sold are regulated by quotas that are set by the authorities, which receive advice from scientists.

This pressure arising from human activity can sometimes be so intense and constant during several decades, that the ecosystem is unable to absorb the enormous impact of this, such as the estuary of river Nervión or the port of Pasajes. In that case, a permanent situation of imbalance exists, in which both the physical and chemical characteristics of the environment (currents, content in pollutants, conditions of the sea bed, clearness of the water, etc.) and natural colonies of microorganisms, plants and animals inhabiting it become altered, in most cases, irreversibly.

This is due to the fact that the physical, chemical and biological elements forming the marine ecosystem are so many in number and the relations between them so complex that any alteration may provoke a chain reaction that is difficult to halt.Toobserve this in a simpler way, it is like removing a card from a card house.It is thought that the proliferation of jellyfish along the coast during the summer is due to an alteration of this type.

Furthermore, as the sea is a continuous medium with no barriers, the effects of man’s activities on it are not limited to a specific confined area, but the consequences thereof may be observed at a distance of many kilometres away.For example, the case of oil tanker spillages.

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Udalarrantz - Red de municipios pesqueros del País Vasco