Mers et océans

     the document is a graphic published in 2018 by the FAO (The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This document talks about the increase in the exploitation of fishery resources. Today maritimisation is one of the biggest part of the globalization. Seas and oceans are important vectors of this globalized world. Hydrocarbons account for the largest part of energy resources. Offshore currently accounts for 30% of global oil production and 27% of gas (according to INSEE). Fishery resources are the oldest exploited in the seas and oceans and are therefore very important.

we will therefore see how the seas and oceans are essential and increasingly exploited reserves of resources. first we will observe the resources exploited in the world and then we will study the case of France and its resources.

    Since the beginning of maritimisation, one of the main challenges for the different nations with EEZs has been the exploitation of different resources such as fisheries resources (crustacean fish...), hydrocarbons (gas, oil...) and finally polymetallic nodules. These various resources play a very important role in the economy created by maritimization. It is therefore logical that we should see growing exploitation. As a result, the graph we have on fisheries resources illustrates this very well. We notice that since 1950 there has been a very strong increase in fishing in the world (from 20 million tonnes of fish caught on the high seas to 100 million in 2018) and fish farming there has been a strong increase. This is also true for other resources. Demands for raw materials must be met by more intensive exploitation. One example is the growing presence of polymetallic nodule mining sites throughout the world. Unfortunately, these operations often result in new problems that we are faced with today.

These problems are as growing as the demand for resources. Among these problems we can see tensions and complications in the exploitation of resources ever further away from the countries concerned. The most current example is, of course, that of the tensions in the China Sea. Therefore, China wants to have a monopoly on the exploitation of the China Sea, which is a strategic location for global maritime trade. Indeed, the China Sea has many resources (see above). Among these tensions is the one between Vietnam and China over the giant oil platform laid by China in the Vietnamese EEZ. This controversy is a perfect illustration of the problems posed by the exploitation of the world’s maritime resources. However, problems other than tensions have been noted, such as the fact that nations face economic or geographical concerns that prevent them from making the best use of the resources available in their EEZs. As an example, we have the French island of Clipperton on the coast of Mexico, which has very rich fishery resources but which are not exploited by France because France is too far away. Other operations are complex, such as polymetallic nodules, although a Canadian company may have found a way to exploit them.

With these growing operations, there is at the same time a strong development of ports and related infrastructure. Again, China is cited as an example. Along its entire coastline, new large-scale industrial ports are being created, such as the Port of Ningbo, the Port of Zhoushan and the Port of Shanghai. In Europe there are the ports of Antwerp or Rotterdam. With this development of ports there is the development of ships capable of transporting all these goods (oil tankers, container ships...). There is also the creation of new platforms to improve the oceans by cleaning them up (The Ocean Clean Up) because massive exploitation also creates ecological constraints. But with these new technologies at the service of the exploitation of the seas and oceans and all the problems observed, what about France and its maritime economy?

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