Other activities
Pollution.
"In Patagonia, marine pollution can be produced by oil tankers,
fishing ships or effluents from coastal cities."
|
Oil
Pollution
Oil
tankers transport oil along the Patagonian coast and oil spills have
caused the death of thousands of marine birds, though this mortality
has decreased since 1990, this threaten continues. The reasons are:
 New drilling activities are being carried out in the Argentine Sea
(San Jorge gulf, Magellan Strait).
Existing oil wells have a low performance and so to reduce costs environmental
precautions are not taken. Usually ballast water, dirty with oil is
discharged in to the sea from the tanks producing the mortality of
300 to 400 marine birds per year.
To prevent these environmental problems the Argentine Coast Guard
Service has regulated the lane of oil tankers. So they will have to
move their transport routes 50 km far from the shoreline. |
|
Marine biodiversity is located on the slope, where the cold current
of Malvinas, with high quantities of nutrients flows. These nutrients
are used by marine species that reach the area to feed. But this
area is not properly protected.
Following you will find, as an example, a sequence of activities
to work on pollution issues beginning from a press article.
Read the article on an oil spill in the coast of Alaska:
|
Prevent or suffer.
Oil spill in the coast of Alaska.
|
Holy
Friday of 1989, a terrible oil spill was produced in Alaska,
specifically in Prince William bay. On March 24th, at the sunrise,
the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground the shallow waters of
a reef and with the impact, the oil started to drain through
the broken hull of the ship.
Almost 2.000 kilometers of the shoreline of Alaska were covered
with oil causing the death of birds, marine mammals and beaches.
Besides this tragedy, local people were affected by the temporary
loss of resources essential for their economical support and
survival.
From the first moment, the local community and other groups
of people and organizations gave a rapid response to rescue
and clean oiled marine birds and mammals. |
|
They discussed several strategies to recover the bay, using
cleaners, and powerful vacuum cleaners. However, the sea waves
and the storms resulted to be the most efficient way to clean
the bay.
At present, the recovery of water and some species has been
achieved. Contingency plans for accidents were not previously
prepared though the risk of oil tankers passing near the shoreline
is very high especially in sites with relevant biodiversity.
This terrible tragedy was the cost they had to pay to learn
the need of changing the oil tankers lane and preparing contingency
plans for future oil spills. |
|
Locate in
a map the affected region.
Read the information of the map and determine:
What is the weather like there?
How is the area like?
What species live there?
Read the Coastal Biodiversity Map and overlap it with a physical map.
Search for similarities and differences between both regions. |
|
(Alaska – Argentine
Patagonia).
Calculate length of our shoreline (In kilometers).
Compare with the kilometers affected by the Exxon tragedy.
Make a list with the consequences caused by the Exxon Valdes oil spill
and those probably caused by a similar spill in our coasts. (See chart). |
| Consequences |
In Alaska |
In our
coast |
| Aesthetic |
|
|
| Economic |
|
|
| Ecological |
|
|
| Future
opportunities |
|
|
|
|
Choice 3 species of marine fauna that might be affected in case of
an oil spill. Search:
What physical effects would a spill have on them?.
Could it cause the death of an individual? Why?.
Search if any oil spill has occurred in our coast.
Are there contingency plans in case of an
|
|
oil spill?
Who is responsible to prepare contingency plans?
Is there legislation on this issue?
The lanes of some oil tankers are printed on the Coastal Biodiversity
Map. Discuss on these routes. Search / Imagine the opinion of our
legislators and their statements. |
|
Issues
to be included:
Oil pollution of marine fauna.
Toxic waste in the marine environment. |
|
Organic waste dumped in to marine bottom.
Solid waste presence in the marine bottom (iron, plastics, etc.). |
|
Make
this experience:
How do we separate liquid elements?
In a big bowl with water pour a considerable quantity of oil for engines.
Try to split them using a different method each group.
Investigate on methods of separating substances. |
|
Read again the article on the oil spill. What cleaning methods are
mentioned? Make a research.
Comparing with the substances chosen to perform the classroom experience,
which method could you use to separate oil from sea water? |
Next
>> |
