Negative Human Impacts

SOME NEGATIVE HUMAN IMPACTS...

...On Fishing

• "Overfishing"- When a certain species of wild ocean life is caught to extremes that exceed the rate at which that certain species can effectively and successfully replenish it's population.

• There is fishing on an industrial scale in the Gulf of Alaska. The trawlers (fish catching boats) in the gulf continue to harvest untargeted species, some of which are not recovering from Overfishing. 

SOURCE: http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153188/

• Pollock are carefully managed due to concerns about the impact of fisheries on endangered Steller sea lions for which pollock is a major prey.

SOURCE:M.C. Aquarone and S. Adams

Overfishing has endangered the Steller Sea Lions

SOURCE: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Steller_sea_lions_%28Eumetopias_jubatus%29_on_rocks.jpg

...On Pollution

• One of the greatest proboems affecting the Gulf of Alaska LME includes predation of the land and its life by "Invasive Species". To clarify, invasive species are non-native plants or animals that travel to the gulf by some mode of transportation and with their presence, they disrupt the ecosystem by altering either the food chain or productivity. 

SOURCE:  http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153189/

...On Ecosystem Health

The 1989 Exxon Oil Spill

SOURCE: http://marineinsight.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/oil-spill2.jpg

• In 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of North Slope crude oil off the Port of Valdez, the terminal of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline after striking the bottom of the cargo area on the reefs of Prince William Sound. This was the largest tanker oil spill in U.S. history (50,000,000 gallons) and it contaminated over 2,000 km of the Gulf of Alaska’s coastline. The livelihood of 70,000 full-time residents living in the area was directly affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. They had to overcome the effects of the oil-related fish mortalities. Others using the area seasonally for work or recreation were also seriously affected. There remain concerns about the lingering effects of the oil spill and the pockets of residual oil in the environment, especially in the Western portion of Prince William Sound. The effects of the oil spill interact with the effects of other kinds of changes and perturbations in the marine ecosystem. More common than spills, however, are smaller discharges of refined oil products, crude oil and hazardous substances.

• Because salmon are anadromous (swim up rivers from sea to spawn) and spend a portion of their lives in freshwater streams, rivers, and lakes, the health of salmon populations in this LME is directly influenced by land management practices in both countries and by the loss of freshwater spawning and rearing habitats. Competing uses for the salmon habitat include logging, mining, oil and gas development, and industrial and urban development.

SOURCE: M.C. Aquarone and S. Adams