Marine Atlas: Maximizing Benefits for Kiribati

As the chapters “Plastic oceans” and the graphic below show, excess nutrients are only one type of pollution and threat to Kiribati’s marine values. To keep Kiribati’s coastal habitats healthy (see also chap- ter “Home, sweet home”), it is important to manage point-source pollution, which comes from a single identifiable source such as a factory, as well as non-point pollution, for example from agricultural run-off. The MARPOL Convention (see also chapter “One world, one ocean”) is one international instrument to regulate pollution. MSP can help spatially identify sources and areas of pollution to guide sustainable ecosystem management, ensuring the dose does not make the poison.

Sea food “All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison”, stated the Swiss physician Paracelsus 500 years ago. And indeed, the dose makes the poison. We need to eat food, but too much food is evidently bad for us. Marine organisms need food and nutrients as well. Phosphate (see map) is one of the important nutrients that supports biological activity and is impor- tant for the growth of tiny plants known as phytoplankton, which form the basis

of many marine food chains (see also chapter “Soak up the sun”).

MUNITIONS IN THE OCEAN CAUSES: World wars and other conflicts. Many countries around the world have dumped chemical as well as conventional weapons in the ocean. EFFECTS AND TRENDS: The experts agree that recovering the munitions would be too expensive and possibly too risky. However, leaving them is risky as well, though: for example, 70 years after the Second World War, clumps of white phos- phorous from firebombs still wash up on beaches. They look like amber and chil- dren like to collect them. Phosphorous bursts into flames if it comes in contact with oxygen and warmth. At 1,300 de- grees Celsius, it can burn all the way to the bone. This military waste will continue to pose a threat long into the future.

Another food source is nitrogen (see map), which is present in the marine environment in various forms, with nitrate being the principal form used by organisms. Phy- toplankton productivity at the surface of the ocean is often limited by the amount of available fixed inorganic nitrogen (Falkowski et al., 2009). However, where there is too much of these nutrients, algal blooms can occur, which can have neg- ative impacts on the environment.

RADIOACTIVITY CAUSES: Atomic powers and countries that operate atomic power plants like the USA, Russia, Japan, and several European countries. EFFECTS AND TRENDS: Starting in the 1950s, countries be- gan legally dumping barrels of radioactive waste from nucle- ar power plants into the ocean. Barrels in the English Channel that should have remained sealed for hundreds of years have already begun leaking. The marine dumping of atomic waste was finally forbidden in 1993. However, the ban only applies to radioactive solids. Expelling radioactive wastewater into the ocean is still permitted and practiced. The Fukushima nu- clear catastrophe as well as atomic weapons tests conducted by the great powers have had measurable effects.

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NITRATE CONCENTRATION (mmol m -3 )

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Kiribati Provisional EEZ Boundary

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Copyright © MACBIO Map produced by GRID-Arendal Sources : Becker et al, 2009; Claus et al, 2016; IHO-IOC GEBCO, 2017; Smith and Sandwell, 1997.

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OIL POLLUTION CAUSES: Wastewater, leaks during oil drilling, regular shipping, illegal tank cleaning, oil spills, and drilling accidents. EFFECTS AND TRENDS: It takes exposed rocky and sandy coasts anywhere from a few months to five years to recover, while sheltered rocky coasts and coral reefs need from two to more than ten years. Although the rate of extraction is higher than ever, pollution from oil spills has de- creased due to stricter maritime transport regulations. On the other hand, the risk of drilling accidents increases the farther we penetrate into the depths.

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NOISE CAUSES: Shipping, deep-sea mining, military activities, driving sheet piling for harbors and offshore plants into the seabed, searching for oil and gas reserves with long-range acoustic devices (LRADs), and oil and natural gas ex- traction. EFFECTS AND TRENDS: The amount of noise in the ocean is increasing due to the contin- ually increasing usage of the ocean. Fish and especially marine mammals like whales and dolphins that communicate and navigate with sound are affected. The animals get con- fused, beach themselves, and perish in shal- low water.

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CC-BY-SAPETRABOECKMANN.DE/OCEANATLAS2017

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MAXIMIZING BENEFITS FOR KIRIBATI

THREATS

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