The Continental Shelf
The Futures of Our Coasts are not so Clear

Coastal areas are under siege. Population growth and economic activity are taking a toll on the biodiversity of coastal regions (Hinrichsen 1998).    Mangroves, vital feeding and breeding grounds for aquatic life around the world, are clear-cut, claimed for urban and agricultural lands and poisoned from runoff.  About 25 million hectares of mangroves in Indonesia, Thailand, East Africa, Philippines and elsewhere, have been lost in the last 100 years. Underwater meadows of seagrasses filter erosion and sediment and provide food and habitat for marine life.  These, too, are threatened by mining for sand, coral and minerals and dredging and filling for ship canals.  Consequently, the number of fish in many coastal areas has declined.  Similarly, coral reefs, living organisms themselves, have suffered from human activity.  Reefs protect shorelines from storm damage and erosion.  They are important habitat for thousands of species of aquatic life, but they are in great danger. In developing areas, like the Philippines and Indonesia, fishermen, trying to eek out a living, use dynamite to catch fish living within the reefs.  Others use poisons to capture fish for the aquarium market.  Some coral reefs have been destroyed by the mysterious phenomenon of bleaching.  Scientists are still uncertain about the cause of bleaching, but some believe it is connected to global warming and warmer ocean-water temperatures (Hinrichsen 1998).  All of these threats to our coasts have resulted in a loss of biodiversity along our coasts.  Many of them can be traced to activities in our own homes or in our own backyards.

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