Tsunami's Effects: Man, And The Sea (December 30, 2004)

We continue to count the human loss - the faces of the dead, disconnected from reality by the cloud of statistics to assure manageability. While Emily has posted on mangroves in the region, perhaps we need to take a deeper look as well – peering into the ocean depths. There's a certain irony in this; we know so little about these depths and the effects of a tsunami on them. Like a submarine, we 'ping' for information; like a fishing village, we analyze the flotsam. Yet even as we watch the beach, we need to keep our eyes on the horizon – the future.

While there is speculation about the tsunami affecting the fishing industry, only now are people beginning to realize that there may be a more serious problem than broken boats and ripped nets. While we count lost wages and food, the Indian Fishing Industry itself may be affected for years to come. Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the other Indian Ocean rim countries will have similar problems. Even as fishermen shake their fists at the sea, we must ask, "Where are the fish?" So far, the responses have been shallow.

Fishing Impact

You cannot feed the hungry on statistics -- Heinrich Heine

I'm no marine biologist (and I don't play one on the internet), but that sea life has been affected is without question. When one sees a shark in a swimming pool in Phuket, Thailand, one has to wonder what happened to other fish in the region. At this time, if they have been tossed ashore by nature's whim, they most certainly are rotting and causing a stench, and may be a vector for disease as well.

Historically, tsunamis have impacted sea life. Large waves overrun masses of land, and leave fish in the treetops and sea creatures on land. It's an odd twist that the tsunami trades land animals for sea animals in this way. How many fish were washed ashore on December 26th? How many reefs were damaged?

While we ponder immediate problems and immediate solutions, it's important that evaluation of the actual fish is done. Where literally millions of fish may have died, and where the habitats of the fish nearer the coast have almost certainly been affected, there is no apparent data based on previous tsunamis to indicate the effect on ocean life – and subsequently, human lives that depend on this ocean life. Consider Coral reefs may take years to recover from tsunamis - and therefore, so may the fish. The Coral Reef Heritage of India is a strong one. What will the poor fisherman, who has had his boat wrecked and has lost income over the last few days, catch in the next few months?

While society has been aware of the effects of fishing and overfishing for quite some time, the numbers tend to be human-centric. We've tried to make made it illegal for humans to inadvertently decimate fish stock although Mother Nature can do it with impunity. This doesn't excuse deep sea scraping; instead it makes humanity's effect on sea life more important. What we call a calamity under cover of a tsunami is something which we actually do ourselves – a natural catastrophe. It's not usually the humble coastal fisherman who does this, instead the larger fishing operations – yet the price paid is one of hunger.

Tsunamis And Sea Life?

The described effects of tsunamis, as far as I have found, haven't taken into account how sea life is affected other than as a side note. With this tsunami, the effect on sea life and the associated ecosystems could well be massive.

When researching this entry, one of the most disturbing things I found was that there was very little available information regarding how sea life is affected. Without prior information, it's difficult to ascertain just how much of an impact that the tsunami will have on fishing, and subsequently, the region's economy. This is definitely an area where tsunami experts may wish to study - it's unlikely that this will be the last tsunami that humanity will encounter. The potential impact on humanity - through food and economy - gives such a study merit. As mentioned in an email in 1998 regarding underwater 'storms':

...Earthquakes can raise tsunami that act impact as huge unexpected waves when they arrive in shallow water. Unless the earthquake is near enough for animals to have sensed the vibrations and hidden, they will caught in the open by this large wave. In the 1750 Lisbon earthquake, reports record that the sea withdrew like a giant low tide, leaving fish flopping around on the seabed. People who went out to view this phenomenon, or to collect the fish, were drowned when the tsunami crashed back over the beaches...

In this particular scenario, it's easy to hypothesize that fish caught on the inside of the tsunami, had they sensed it, would have headed away from it - which would have been, in this massive bay, toward land. In doing so, they may have unwittingly become caught up in the wave. As the tsunami approaches land, it gains height even as it slows down. This would affect sea life within 1 kilometer of land, and perhaps even more depending on the depth of the tsunami in the open sea.

Deeper in the ocean, in the region of the earthquake, many things could have happened. Deformation of the sea floor is almost assured with an earthquake of this strength - but how the sea floor became deformed is open to speculation. That's really the bottom line with this tsunami - it's almost a theme - "We Do Not Know."

Because we do not know, it is time for us to start trying to find out. Maybe somewhere, there's a group of people working on this. And again, with all efforts being pointed toward saving the lives of our brothers and sisters, maybe it isn't. Yet knowing how much of an effect has been had on the sea life may well prepare the countries in the region for long term actions; while aid in the form of assistance and money rolls in, the long term effects will determine the long term assistance needed.

Suspend Fishing?

In the worst-case scenario, the fishing industry may have to be suspended to allow for the sea life to adapt and adjust. These kinds of bans are not unique to developing nations--in fact, they are common across the industrialized world, from Newfoundland, Canada to New Zealand's Pukerua Bay. The lessons being learned from such bans will be instructive.

The UK created a "no-take" zone in the Devon Sea nearly two years ago to try and restore fish stocks. Happily, marine life has made a huge comeback in just 18 months, surprising scientists who now hope that these creatures will venture beyond the borders of the no-fishing zones to repopulate other areas, benefiting local fishermen.

(In early December, a British scientific commission called for massive expansion of no-fishing zones into 30 percent of British territorial waters, including a ban on all deep-sea trawling, to give fish stocks a chance to recover. Bottom trawling of the sea bed was cited as a major factor in the wrecking of the U.K.'s marine life. However, Britain was one of several countries which recently impeded the adoption of an E.U. ban on trawling the North Sea.)

New livelihoods and sources of food may have to be found. In a way, this ties to Alex's post, Beyond Relief.

The good news is that there may actually have been only a small effect on the land ecosystems. Consider that land animals seem to have done in Sri Lanka, surviving the flooding at the Yala Reserve - but they had somewhere to run.

Eco-Tourism

We've heard much about the missing tourists; the people who not only lost their lives or were otherwise victims of this mortal event – and there's a deeper impact here as well. The South-East Asian coastal areas have had eco-tourism in the form of diving and resorts – where people came from all over the world to visit reefs, and fish. What now?

While the impact on the eco-tourism attractions such as reefs and fishing have yet to be determined in a concrete way, it's apparent that they have been affected. How much so remains a question.

Reefballs had been used already in India, and perhaps this is one way in which something can be salvaged for both fishermen and eco-tourism. In a twist, it recycles fly ash – a pollutant.

The Solutions

While Jeff McNeely, chief scientist of the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN) says that Human activities contributed to tsunami's ravages, perhaps it is time to consider how to minimize these ravages.

Realistic numbers for aid, as well as continued development, require more assessment of the economy of the coastline - and the fish that feed it.

Continued work with Coral Reef Conservation with UNDP might be an idea, with an emphasis on artificial reefs to replace or help existing reefs recover. This will also help the fish recover, but it's likely that this will take time – time without fishing.

Most importantly, this is a time for assessment of the impact on ocean life, and also the impact of ocean life on mankind. It's also time to consider how mankind impacts the ocean – and how to minimize negative impact in such a fragile environment. The tsunami, in it's sheer power, reminds us all how fragile we are – but it should also remind us of the fragility of life on our planet.

Special thanks to Emily Gertz for pointing out the bans on fishing in developed nations, and in conjunction with Alex Steffen, help with editing.

Original Article

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