Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
A
B
Figure 11-12.
Lock and dam 15 on the Mississippi River at Rock Island, Illinois. A. String of grain barges, 3 wide
and 4 long, entering lock 15 from upstream end. B. Towboat
Crimson Glory
pushes barges out of lock 15
(downstream). The barge immediately in front of the towboat carries diesel fuel. Bridge has rotated sideways to
allow passage of the towboat. Photos by J.S. Aber.
originally harvested, thereby increasing the wild
population. In fact, Branellec (2011, pers. com.)
described pearl production as a non-extractive
industry and eco-friendly business (
Jewellery
News Asia
2011b).
Salt-water pearl farmers, thus, have a keen
interest in protecting waters and life in coastal
bay, lagoon, atoll, and reef areas especially
against the greatest threats to pearl farming
and marine biodiversity, namely illegal i shing
and poaching through the use of explosives and
poisons (DeVantier, Alcala and Wilkinson 2004).
Philippine government regulation, for example,
protects the interests of pearl-farm cultivation
areas by creating “no-take” zones, where i sh
and other marine life extraction is legally
banned. South Sea pearl farms are located in the
Coral Triangle, which includes the Philippines,
Indonesia, Malaysia, and other countries in the
Sulu-Sulawesi, South China, Celebes, and Philip-
pine seas. The Coral Triangle contains half of
the worlds' coral reefs and is heralded for its
rich marine biodiversity. The World Wildlife Fed-
eration (WWF 2011) reported that all nature-
based tourism in the Coral Triangle earned over
US$12 billion. Black-pearl production in Mexico
from the Sea of Cortez is another popular venue
for ecotourism (Sea Cortez Pearl Blog 2011).
Global pearl production statistics are closely
guarded, and numbers differ among pearl
associations; nonetheless, pearl farming and
ecotourism are co-existing multi-billion dollar
industries that depend upon clean and viable
wetland habitats.
11.4.3 Services industries
Water has been used as a means of transporta-
tion since the earliest civilizations. Humans
settled close to water bodies for food, water and
fertile soils, as well as the ability to transport
themselves and their goods easily (see Fig. 1-6).
In some wetlands, water levels are actively
managed and rivers are dredged and chan-
nelized to facilitate water transportation through-
out the year. The Mississippi River is a good
example of a river serving as a lifeline for com-
merce and a vital economic link. Despite the
popularity of alternative means of transport,
including rail and road, decades of channeliza-
tion, dredging, and the construction of locks
and dams have allowed the Mississippi to con-
tinue functioning as an important means of
transportation connecting the coast to the deep
interior of the continent (Fig. 11-12). Typically,
petroleum products such as gasoline and fuel
oil are shipped upstream from Louisiana, while
agricultural products from the Midwest and
Great Plains, including wheat and corn destined
for export markets, are shipped downstream.
Similar to the Mississippi corridor, the ambi-
tious Hidrovia transportation project on the
South American Paraná-Paraguay river system
connecting Buenos Aires in Argentina to Cáceres
