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= Coral Mining = | = Coral Mining = | ||
== Purpose of Mining == | |||
Coral is mined throughout the world for many purposes. The most common use of coral is to turn it into limestone or a cement substitute for use as a building material. In many island nations – a notable example being the Maldives – this is the cheapest material to use to build their roads, houses, and seawalls. Coral can also be made into calcium supplements or burned to produce lime. This lime production happens often in Australia because their farmland is very acidic and lime is needed to add to fertilizer to counteract this and thus increase crop yields. The coral to use is readily available from the Great Barrier Reef and is fairly cheap since only a permit is required to harvest coral in a specific area. So people can easily collect and burn it to use to fertilize their fields. Coral and jewelry made from coral is a popular tourist souvenir for those who do not realize the impact this has on the reef. Coral is often mined by locals to fashion into jewelry to sell to visitors. Coral is also useful in the medical field for bone graph clinical trials. Finally, live coral is harvested to be used by the marine aquarium industry. | Coral is mined throughout the world for many purposes. The most common use of coral is to turn it into limestone or a cement substitute for use as a building material. In many island nations – a notable example being the Maldives – this is the cheapest material to use to build their roads, houses, and seawalls. Coral can also be made into calcium supplements or burned to produce lime. This lime production happens often in Australia because their farmland is very acidic and lime is needed to add to fertilizer to counteract this and thus increase crop yields. The coral to use is readily available from the Great Barrier Reef and is fairly cheap since only a permit is required to harvest coral in a specific area. So people can easily collect and burn it to use to fertilize their fields. Coral and jewelry made from coral is a popular tourist souvenir for those who do not realize the impact this has on the reef. Coral is often mined by locals to fashion into jewelry to sell to visitors. Coral is also useful in the medical field for bone graph clinical trials. Finally, live coral is harvested to be used by the marine aquarium industry. | ||
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(Dulvy et. al., Naseer, Abdulla, Coral Reef Alliance, Daley & Griggs) | (Dulvy et. al., Naseer, Abdulla, Coral Reef Alliance, Daley & Griggs) | ||
== Methods for Mining == | |||
Coral can be mined in one of two ways. Dynamite can be used to blast the coral into bits to be picked up. This negatively affects a large area of the reef. Or collectors can manually retrieve the coral and break up the larger corals using iron bars into more manageable pieces to carry inshore. | Coral can be mined in one of two ways. Dynamite can be used to blast the coral into bits to be picked up. This negatively affects a large area of the reef. Or collectors can manually retrieve the coral and break up the larger corals using iron bars into more manageable pieces to carry inshore. | ||
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(Dulvy et. al., Naseer, Abdulla, Coral Reef Alliance) | (Dulvy et. al., Naseer, Abdulla, Coral Reef Alliance) | ||
== Location of Mining == | |||
Coral mining can take place anywhere there is coral available in a convenient location such as off of cays in shallow water. Mining usually occurs at low tide when it is easier to gather the coral. Some prominent locations for mining activity include: the Great Barrier Reef, the Maldives, Panama, Indonesia, East Africa, and the general area of the South Pacific. | Coral mining can take place anywhere there is coral available in a convenient location such as off of cays in shallow water. Mining usually occurs at low tide when it is easier to gather the coral. Some prominent locations for mining activity include: the Great Barrier Reef, the Maldives, Panama, Indonesia, East Africa, and the general area of the South Pacific. | ||
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(Caras & Pasternak, Daley & Griggs, Shepherd et. al., Guzman et. al., and Clark & Edwards). | (Caras & Pasternak, Daley & Griggs, Shepherd et. al., Guzman et. al., and Clark & Edwards). | ||
== Impacts of Mining == | |||
One of the most significant effects of mining coral is that it causes a loss in biodiversity. By taking out chunks of coral and rock from the reef, substrate is lost. Therefore any coral polyps that come to the area cannot attach themselves to permanent structures, thus recruitment is decreased. The simple act of removing and breaking up coral causes disturbance to the sea floor and leaves remnants behind. This causes increased sedimentation and any coral that is left may not survive due to the lack of sunlight and lower temperatures. Coral reef also act as protection to the land just beyond it. When a reef is partially or completely removed, the shore becomes more vulnerable to storms and other natural disasters. This can cause the land to retreat and impact the safety of any remaining parts of the reef. Surprisingly, the harvesting of live corals for the aquarium industry do not have much of an impact of the reef when done in an environmentally friendly manner. This is because only ''pieces'' of coral are taken and much of the larger structure is left intact. The left over parts of the coral can regenerate, making harvesting somewhat sustainable, but only if sufficient time is left between harvests for the coral to regrow. However, some reefs that have been mined extensively and left untouched for 20 years even have still not recovered. This is mainly due to the aforementioned loss in substrate and thus, loss in biodiversity. Reefs have taken thousands of years to be built naturally, so it is not surprising that, at least in our lifetime, we have not seen them recover. | |||
*Many of the natives in Indonesia and miners almost a century ago did not regard coral as a living organism. To them, it was merely rock and it would do no harm to remove it because it had significant economic value | |||
*Many of the natives in Indonesia and miners almost a century ago did not regard coral as a living | |||
*economic loss of mining to local communities | *economic loss of mining to local communities | ||
**less tourism/ecotourism money coming into the community | **less tourism/ecotourism money coming into the community | ||
Revision as of 11:44, 17 April 2013
Coral Mining
Purpose of Mining
Coral is mined throughout the world for many purposes. The most common use of coral is to turn it into limestone or a cement substitute for use as a building material. In many island nations – a notable example being the Maldives – this is the cheapest material to use to build their roads, houses, and seawalls. Coral can also be made into calcium supplements or burned to produce lime. This lime production happens often in Australia because their farmland is very acidic and lime is needed to add to fertilizer to counteract this and thus increase crop yields. The coral to use is readily available from the Great Barrier Reef and is fairly cheap since only a permit is required to harvest coral in a specific area. So people can easily collect and burn it to use to fertilize their fields. Coral and jewelry made from coral is a popular tourist souvenir for those who do not realize the impact this has on the reef. Coral is often mined by locals to fashion into jewelry to sell to visitors. Coral is also useful in the medical field for bone graph clinical trials. Finally, live coral is harvested to be used by the marine aquarium industry.
(Dulvy et. al., Naseer, Abdulla, Coral Reef Alliance, Daley & Griggs)
Methods for Mining
Coral can be mined in one of two ways. Dynamite can be used to blast the coral into bits to be picked up. This negatively affects a large area of the reef. Or collectors can manually retrieve the coral and break up the larger corals using iron bars into more manageable pieces to carry inshore.
(Dulvy et. al., Naseer, Abdulla, Coral Reef Alliance)
Location of Mining
Coral mining can take place anywhere there is coral available in a convenient location such as off of cays in shallow water. Mining usually occurs at low tide when it is easier to gather the coral. Some prominent locations for mining activity include: the Great Barrier Reef, the Maldives, Panama, Indonesia, East Africa, and the general area of the South Pacific.
(Caras & Pasternak, Daley & Griggs, Shepherd et. al., Guzman et. al., and Clark & Edwards).
Impacts of Mining
One of the most significant effects of mining coral is that it causes a loss in biodiversity. By taking out chunks of coral and rock from the reef, substrate is lost. Therefore any coral polyps that come to the area cannot attach themselves to permanent structures, thus recruitment is decreased. The simple act of removing and breaking up coral causes disturbance to the sea floor and leaves remnants behind. This causes increased sedimentation and any coral that is left may not survive due to the lack of sunlight and lower temperatures. Coral reef also act as protection to the land just beyond it. When a reef is partially or completely removed, the shore becomes more vulnerable to storms and other natural disasters. This can cause the land to retreat and impact the safety of any remaining parts of the reef. Surprisingly, the harvesting of live corals for the aquarium industry do not have much of an impact of the reef when done in an environmentally friendly manner. This is because only pieces of coral are taken and much of the larger structure is left intact. The left over parts of the coral can regenerate, making harvesting somewhat sustainable, but only if sufficient time is left between harvests for the coral to regrow. However, some reefs that have been mined extensively and left untouched for 20 years even have still not recovered. This is mainly due to the aforementioned loss in substrate and thus, loss in biodiversity. Reefs have taken thousands of years to be built naturally, so it is not surprising that, at least in our lifetime, we have not seen them recover.
- Many of the natives in Indonesia and miners almost a century ago did not regard coral as a living organism. To them, it was merely rock and it would do no harm to remove it because it had significant economic value
- economic loss of mining to local communities
- less tourism/ecotourism money coming into the community
- the destruction/mismanagement of 1sq. km. of reef results in a loss of up to $6.6 million
- for every $10 is profit made from mining, the community loses $254 (from the fishery and tourism industries)
- economic value of mining to local communities
- the value of material taken from reefs is estimated at about $375 billion per year
(Caras & Pasternak, Daley & Griggs)
- http://www.dulvy.com/publications/pre_2000/Dulvy_etal_1995_AMBIO.pdf
- http://www.fao.org/docrep/X5623E/x5623e0o.htm
- http://www.coral.org/resources/issue_briefs/mining_and_harvesting
(not sure how to link to other sources)