Coastal threats


By the year 2000, two - thirds of the world' s people could be living in coastal areas. As coastal populations grow, development activities increase, often destroying habitat and reducing the sea' s productivity.

Picture of sea shells Tourism can be a prime cause of coastal degradation. Poorly planned developments destroy breeding and feeding areas - building hotels on sandy beaches in Greece and Turkey has severely reduced turtle nesting grounds. Thoughtless tourists trample on sand dunes and coral reefs, disturbing wildlife.

The expansion of tourism also increases local output of sewage and other waste. Some 90 per cent of the sewage that pours into the Mediterranean is untreated. Raw sewage poses a threat to swimmers - it causes gastro - intestinal problems and feeds huge blooms of algae which stifle other marine life. In the late 1980s, a massive algal slick spread through the sea separating Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Beaches were closed and millions of fish are thought to have died.

Another rapidly expanding coastal activity is aquaculture shrimp and fish farming - mostly to supply export markets. In countries such as Thailand and the Philippines, fish ponds have replaced the mangrove forests in which wild fish species once fed and spawned. Most of the farmed fish is exported, leaving local people, who used to depend on wild fish for food and income, with nothing. Meanwhile, farmers keep their fish "healthy" with steroids, antibiotics, and pesticides. All these substances affect other animals and plants.


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Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund for Nature