The Ocean's Bounty
Both the biological and geological features of the ocean provide many valuable resources for humans. Foods, medicines, industrial products, fuel, sand, gravel, minerals, and drinking water are all obtained from the sea.
Fish and shellfish are among the sea's most important commodities, feeding people around the globe. Worldwide, the proteins in fish and shellfish provide up to 17 percent of the total animal protein consumed by the human population.
But marine animal life provides much more than food. For example, scientists are increasingly looking to ocean animals as sources of medicines. A number of chemical compounds derived from marine animals were being tested for medicinal value in 2001. Among these were two substances with anticancer potential--one extracted from a small, soft-bodied animal called a sea squirt, the other from a sponge.
The algae, or seaweeds, of the ocean are also a valuable resource. Consumers in Japan eat more than 20 varieties of seaweed. In many countries, calcium and other minerals are extracted from seaweed for dietary supplements. Seaweeds are also the source of alginates, compounds added to ice cream, beer, salad dressings, cosmetics, paints, and ink to improve their texture.
Many of the seas' resources are nonliving. For example, vast amounts of crude oil and gas come from deposits deep below the sea floor. The Persian Gulf, North Sea, and Gulf of Mexico are prime sources of offshore oil. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a government agency responsible for managing ocean resources, more than half of the United State's undiscovered deposits of oil and gas lie buried in the country's outer continental shelf.
Besides fuel, the most important geological resources obtained from the ocean are sand and gravel dredged from ocean sediment. Both of these materials are widely used in the construction of buildings, roads, and other structures.
The sea is also an immense potential source of many other valuable minerals. For example, copper, nickel, cobalt, and manganese are buried in seamounts, while iron, silver, gold, and platinum can be found around ocean vents and in ridges. However, the technology required to mine these metals efficiently and profitably had not yet been developed as of 2001.
Yet another potential resource from the ocean is drinking water. Facilities for the desalination (salt removal) of seawater from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf already provide much of Saudi Arabia's drinking water. Although desalination is a very expensive process, some scientists expected that it would become more common in the future as countries in the Middle East and other regions struggle with growing populations and shortages of fresh water.
When one considers the size and importance of the sea to the world, it seems that Earth may have been misnamed. There is much more ocean than land on the planet. The global ocean is an enormous resource, and humanity will undoubtedly continue to depend upon its bounty for centuries to come.
