Understanding Sustainability

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Objectives

• Understand the concepts of sustainability and carrying capacity

• Variations in the environment cause variations in carrying capacity

Introduction

Marine ecosystems globally are threatened by large and regional scale environmental changes in many cases created by past and present human activities. The productivity of marine ecosystem services, from fish, shellfish and algae for food, to attractive swimming beaches and beautiful underwater sceneries for diving tourism, are all depending on intact marine ecosystems. To be able to explore the marine resources without eroding or even destroying them, we must find methods for sustainable uses, and for this we need comprehensive knowledge in various disciplines.

Procedure

Using the virtual lab, we created three different experiments of your own. The independent variables presented in the lab were

• The initial number of fish present (in thousands of tons)

• the fish reproduction rate

• the capture rate, a variation factor that causes random environmental disturbances

• the capture start time that controls how many months of the year fishing will occur

One independent variable was chosen for each experiment.

1. The variation factor was set to the maximum level.

2. A hypothesis was developed for each experiment.

3. Then the experiment was run to find the results.

4. Hypothesis was compared to the actual results.

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OUTPUT VARIABLES:

• Time: The time elapsed in the simulation (in months).

• Present amount: Current amount of fish in the simulation system (thousands of tons).

• Total caught: Cumulative fish catch in thousands of tons.

• Fish dynamics: This graph shows the time history of the quantity of fish in the system.

UNITS:

• Times are in mont...

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...e increase in time the fish caught even out with the fish produced. So, the fish caught will remain same if we change the initial amount at maximum capture rate.

3. Keeping the variation factor maximum, if we increase the reproduction rate, we will find that the fish caught will remain same but the present amount will decrease. With the increase in reproduction rate, the present amount will because of the capture rate being related to the number of fishes present. So, with more production of fishes, more will die. And hence, the present amount will decrease.

It is very important to conserve the marine life as if depleted it will hamper the whole ecosystem. So, Fishery and marine sustainability should go hand in hand with each other.

Ineffective marine sustainability and fishery practices will further affect the whole ecosystem as all the parts of the ecosystem

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