Large Marine Ecosystem: Goods, Services, Threats and Conservation

This article discusses the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) and their importance in providing goods and services such as clean water, biodiversity, energy, culture, coastal property, and minerals. It also highlights the threats posed by human activities such as unsustainable fishing practices, ocean acidification, nutrient enrichment, plastic waste, over-exploitation of resources, invasive species, international shipping, and increasing ocean temperature. The article concludes by discussing the LME approach, which is an integrated strategy for recovering from losses through sustainable and scientific management.

Running head: LARGE MARINE ECOSYSTEM
LARGE MARINE ECOSYSTEM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
LMEs in Antarctic...........................................................................................................................3
Goods and Services from the Coastal Ecosystem............................................................................4
Threats to these goods and services by the human activities...........................................................5
LME Approach................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The ocean is a vast expanse of water body inhabiting unique marine ecosystems
comprising of river basins, mangroves, coral reefs, sand banks, estuaries and continental shelves
(Liquete et al., 2013). Large marine ecosystem consist of an area extending 200,000 sq. km. or
more adjacent to landmass of continents characterized by predominant by higher primary
productivity than the other open areas of ocean. Large Marine Ecosystems originated as a potent
tool to enable sustainable management and development of marine resources through a
collaborative effort. LMEs serve over 80% of the major catches of fishes but extremely
vulnerable to massive ocean pollution which enriches the water with nutrients thereby degrading
the habitat of the ocean (Hofmann et al., 2014). Various other oceanic activities comprising of
overfishing, increasing water temperature, global warming, and climate change hamper the
economic prosperity derived from these limited marine resources. It also has an aggravating
effect on the biodiversity like the thriving coral reefs, mangroves and sea grasses which helps in
preserving the quality of the water (Mann & Lazier, 2013). Over-exploitation of these resources
arising from unsustainable management can lead a $12.6trillion worth of resources at extreme
risk.
Antarctic LME is the area confined between 48 degree and 60 degree south latitudes
experiencing an extreme cold climate covering an area of 4.3 million square km which holds
70% of the fresh water. A wide variety of species including krill, toothfish, icefish, ballen
whales, and Antarctic cod fish comprising the major biodiversity of the Antarctic Convergence
also called as Antarctic Polar front (Christner et al.,2014). The upwelling of the cold water
currents releases vast quantities of nutrients promoting growth of the planktons which forms the
base of the marine ecosystem. Many species of seals, birds, squid and benthic organisms are

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found which has attracted immense commercial interest for pirate fishing resulting to doubling of
illegal trade in Patagonian tooth fish. This has indirectly killing the albatross and other sea birds.
These species have sophisticated mechanism to survive in extreme cold conditions. The
metabolic rates of these organisms are low which enables greater protein synthesis. Antarctic
krill form the forage species in the food chain which are generally very short and limited. Due to
increasing overexploitation of krill it is necessary to conserve them in order to maintain the
sustainability of the LMEs (Boonstra & Österblom, 2014).
LMEs in Antarctic
Antarctic experiences strong winds due to coastal slopes and is also known as one of the
windiest continent of the world. The wind speeds ranges over 327 km/h while the lowest
temperature recorded in Antarctic is -89.2 degrees with massive ice shelves measuring double
the size of Australia. The atmosphere is also one of the driest on earth resulting in very limited
biodiversity which has acclimatized to such an harsh climatic ecosystem. With an ice coverage
of upto 4 km thick the landmass have only few plants such as mosses and lichens. The well
developed marine food web form the large part of the LME of Antarctic where the
phytoplankton are the major primary producers providing food for the other organisms of the
trophic levels. From minute zooplanktons, krill to huge blue whales plays a vital role in
sustaining the ecosystem (Ainley & Pauly, 2014).
During harsh winter conditions, the phytoplankton are unavailable hence the krill sustain
life on feeing the ice algae. Krill is one of the important zooplankton which 5 cm in length are
the source of food to many mammals, fishes and birds of Antarctic. It is one most available
biomass in anatarctic whose population is estimated to be greater than the human population of
the world. Krill forms one the keystone species of the Antarctic marine food web because of the

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dependence of the organisms of higher trophic level. Decrease in krill population can greatly
affect the baleen whales and also affect commercial fishing which has great demand for krill due
to its high protein content (Siegfried, Condy, & Laws, 2013). Squid is another most protein rich
organism consumed by the fishes, mammals, seals and whales. The seabirds like Skuas, acts a
predator feeding of the krills and also acts as scavengers as they feed on the dead remains of the
penguins. Snow petrels, a seabird feeds on the zooplankton in polynyas.
Goods and Services from the Coastal Ecosystem
 Clean Water - LMEs contribute in maintaining the ecosystem by preserving the
biodiversity of the ocean.
 Biodiversity-The flora and fauna in these ecosystems plays crucial role to increase the
primary productivity. Phytoplankton, the microscopic plants absorbs sunlight and carbon
dioxide from air thereby producing oxygen in the water to be taken by diverse organisms
residing. The dissolve oxygen provides a thriving environment for the fauna to survive,
grow and multiply (Coll et al., 2016). This keeps a balance in the ocean to facilitate
macro-algae, corals, seagrass, fishes, crustaceans and molluscs. The kelp forests also
provide shelter to juvenile fishes who mature before moving open seas. Gastropods also
thrive feeding on the micro-algae similarly kelp and seagrasses have a long lifespan
which helps them to store nutrients and compounds of nitrogen and phosphorous brought
down by the rivers in the ocean (Glasow et al.,2016)
 Energy- LMEs are a massive storehouse of energy providing extensive biomass energy,
hydropower, tidal, wave and current energy. The biodiversity have rich medicinal value
which helps in drugs and pharmaceutical industry. Antarctic LMEs are used for mining

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and oil exploration activities but the deposits of iron-ore, copper, gold, nickel, platinum,
coal, chromium and hydrocarbons but these are not yet exploited.
 Culture Leisure- Coastal areas provide huge economic prospects by facilitating eco-
tourism activities generating employment prospects for the native, earning foreign
exchange for the country thereby strengthening the economy of the country (Wilhelm,
2014). It also the people to preserve their unique culture which attracts tourists from all
over the country.
 Coastal Property- The community living near the coast play an axial role in conserving
the coastal property and all its essential services. It is crucial for the people to maintain
the coastal area as people are dependent on them for their livelihood like fishing,
accessing coast for adventurous sports like kayaking, snorkeling and so on(Duda, 2016).
 Minerals- Antarctic LMEs are rich in resources of rare minerals which are precious in
making drugs, antibiotics for rare diseases. These minerals helps the scientist and
geologists to study, explore and determine the material, sediments and derive conclusions
regarding the evolution of the earth and the materials which comprise them (
Rapport,2014).
Threats to these goods and services by the human activities
 Unsustainable fishing practices - The excessive fishing by the communities residing in
the coastal areas has threatened with over 30% of fish stocks are being over utilization
beyond its replacement capacity. Moreover, last decade has witnessed greatest effort in
effective fishing globally (Sherman, 2014). Unregulated fishing accounts for more than
five times of the reported data of catch. Commercial fishing of squid and Antarctic krill
by the nations have multiplied over two years especially by Russia, Spain, Poland,

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Germany Korea, Chile and Taiwan for which Convention on the Conservation of
Antarctic Marine Living Resources for better management of the fisheries (Arriagada &
Neira, 2014).
 Ocean acidification- The anthropogenic activities of the releases massive amount of
carbon dioxide from incessant combustion of non-renewable resources and have resulted
oceans to act as a natural sink for these emissions leading to form carbonic acid in the
ocean itself. These compounds are harmful for the marine organisms leading to increase
in the ocean acidity by the over 30% (Gjerde, 2013). Ocean acidification leads to lesser
availability of the carbonate ions which are required by the several marine organism
which includes coral reefs and keystone plankton species that fixes the carbon elements
in the skeletons.
 Nutrients enrichment- The toxic wastes generated by the human activities like
industrialization, manufacturing of chemicals, excessive use of fertilizers in agricultural
activities generate toxic elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, lime, silica (Carlisle,
2014). These elements bio-accumulate in flora and fauna creating hypoxia called as dead
zones where the oxygen level drops to certain level making difficult for the organisms to
thrive. This happens because a nutrient rich region enable algal growth which consume
massive amount of dissolved oxygen in the oceanic region. An oxygen deficient region
lead to death of marine living resources (Coles et al., 2013). After the death of algae,
bacteria present in the water break down the dead remains consuming major proportion
of the dissolved oxygen.
 Plastic wastes- The floating plastic garbage has become a common seen triggered by the
recent the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Plastics are non-biodegradable due to which

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remain stagnant in the water extremely detrimental to the marine organisms. Frequent
death of tortoise, whales, seals have doubled over years due to ubiquitous presence of
plastic in the water. UNDP estimates economic loss amounting to US $8 billion per year
due to marine debris. These wastes poses imminent threat to safer navigation, human
safety and can enter the food chain deteriorating the trophic level and posing risk such as
eutrophication (Lester et al., 2013).
 Over-exploitation of resources- Irrational and unsustainable use of resources can
impose massive pressure on the limited resources thus disrupting the ecosystem and its
long term viability. These resource are vital and have greater economic value attracting
nations from all over the world to extract these resources. In absence of a general
protocol protecting the resources countries take advantage of unsustainable exploitation.
 Invasive species- The invasive species compete with the native flora and fauna thereby
leaving very little resources like oxygen or carbon dioxide for the native species. These
species change the ecosystem and have capability to destabilize the ecosystem enter the
water from ship’s ballast water, hulls and other mobile marine infrastructure.
 International Shipping and Navigation: The international shipping is also a major
emitter of carbon dioxide of over 796 million tons accounting for 2.2% of the volume of
world’s greenhouse gases. These emissions will grow manifold to over 50% to 250% by
the year 2050. These emissions damage the quality of the coastal air which triggers the
global climate change, greenhouse effect leading to massive acidification of the ocean
(Barbiere & Heileman, 2016).
 Increasing ocean temperature- The effluents from thermal power plants and other
thermal effluents from the industries increase the temperature of the water leading to

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massive coral bleaching. Coral reefs rainforests of the oceans plying a vital role in
promoting ecotourism, aesthetical value and providing shelter to algae and numerous
micro and macro organisms. Incidents of coral beaching are becoming frequent and
manipulating the lives of rare flora and fauna vital for sustainable ecosystem (Link et al.,
2014).
LME Approach
Due to excessive losses in the large marine ecosystem it is important to mitigate and
conserve these valuable and rare resources through prompt action plan. In order to decelerate
these hazardous effects of anthropogenic activities an ecosystem-based management (EBM) of
LMEs. In this whole process the ecosystem as a whole is managed and scientific integrated
management helps to take urgent remedial action to derive potential outcome and improvement
in the ecosystem (Cheung et al., 2013). The LME Approach is an integrated five modular
strategy for recover from the losses through sustainable and scientific management. This
modular approach focuses on the major elements which are- socio-economics, productivity,
governance, pollution, fisheries and health of the ecosystem. These elements are adopted in the
strategic planning process by Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and a Strategic Action
Programme (SAP). These efforts has made the marine ecosystem to become more resilient as
overfishing has been minimized to certain extent, further the trawling process of catching fishes
and mechanized fishing is also revolutionized through sustainable fishing practices (Guerry et
al.,2015).

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Conclusion
Despite extreme detrimental effects in the LMEs, nations have come forward and
acknowledged their unviable and unsustainable use of the resources. A multi-pronged
approached by the major stakeholders will enable the countries to engage ethically to adopt the
strategies as discussed above in a better way. It is essential these activities and action programme
must be upgraded to latest technology and build capacities to meet the targets of the plan. These
planned efforts must be evaluated and measured to realize the potential outcome. Global
Environment Facility, an UN effort have garnered immense support from the nations to resolve
the plaguing issues of LMEs to the core. Regular assessment of the efforts will keep in check of
the hazardous effects of the anthropogenic activities in order to meet the current demands of the
resourceful LMEs. Large marine ecosystem has been a sustaining resource for the rich hotspot
biodiversity thriving in the region hence maintenance of LME remain significant for nations
within the geographical scope.

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