Cold EnvironmentsDeep Dive

Threats from Human Activity: Oil Spills, Tourism, and Over-Fishing

Part of Cold Environments — Threats & Management · GCSE GCSE Geography revision

This deep dive covers Threats from Human Activity: Oil Spills, Tourism, and Over-Fishing within Cold Environments — Threats & Management for GCSE Geography. Revise Cold Environments — Threats & Management in Cold Environments for GCSE Geography with 15 exam-style questions and 20 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 6 of 16 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.

Topic position

Section 6 of 16

Practice

15 questions

Recall

20 flashcards

🛢️ Threats from Human Activity: Oil Spills, Tourism, and Over-Fishing

Oil Spills — The Exxon Valdez Case Study

On 24 March 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. It discharged approximately 40 million litres of crude oil — one of the most damaging oil spills in US history. The consequences illustrate exactly why Arctic oil extraction carries exceptional risk.

Approximately 2,000 km of Alaskan coastline contaminated — including the Kenai Fjords National Park and Katmai National Park

An estimated 250,000 seabirds killed, along with 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbour seals, 250 bald eagles, and billions of salmon and herring eggs

The fishing industry in Prince William Sound was devastated — herring populations collapsed in 1993 and have never fully recovered

Full ecological recovery has taken over 30 years — and some species (killer whales, herring) are still below pre-spill population levels

Cold water is the key problem: oil biodegrades 3–10 times more slowly in cold Arctic temperatures than in temperate waters; the remoteness of the site means response takes days, not hours

Exxon paid approximately $3.4 billion in clean-up costs and damages

The Exxon Valdez set the global standard for what an Arctic oil disaster looks like. Any future spill in the more remote Arctic Ocean — far from roads, ports, and equipment — would be orders of magnitude harder to manage.

Tourism Pressure

The appeal of polar environments to tourists is also a threat to them. The scale is growing rapidly:

Footfall damage — tundra vegetation is extremely slow-growing; a single footstep can compact the soil and kill moss or lichen that took decades to establish; paths and camping areas can take 50–100 years to recover

Wildlife disturbance — noise from cruise ships and tourists on shore disturbs nesting seabirds (penguins, petrels) during critical breeding periods; one disturbance can cause a colony to abandon eggs

Introduced species — seeds carried on boots, or rats escaping from ships, can devastate island ecosystems that evolved without mammalian predators; South Georgia island spent £10 million on a rat eradication programme (2011–2015) to protect albatross colonies

Black carbon (soot) — heavy fuel oil burned by cruise ships produces black soot particles that deposit on ice and snow, reducing albedo and accelerating local melting

Ship groundings — the MS Explorer sank in the Antarctic in 2007 after hitting ice; the wreck posed an ongoing risk of fuel leaking into surrounding waters

Over-fishing

Antarctic krill are the keystone species of the Southern Ocean — almost every predator depends on them. They are also commercially exploited: demand for krill oil (marketed as a health supplement) has grown sharply.

Total krill biomass estimated at 500 million tonnes; commercial krill catch approximately 300,000 tonnes/year in recent seasons

The Grand Banks cod collapse (Canada, 1992) is the defining precedent: the fishery was certified as "inexhaustible" by scientists in the 1970s and then collapsed entirely within 20 years of industrial fishing; 40,000 jobs lost

Whaling: the International Whaling Commission (IWC) imposed a commercial whaling moratorium in 1986; Japan, Norway, and Iceland contested it. Japan used a "scientific whaling" loophole until 2019, when it withdrew from the IWC and resumed commercial whaling in its own waters

The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established in 1994 — banning commercial whaling across the entire Southern Ocean; Japan contested it until 2019

Quick Check: Give two reasons why an oil spill in Arctic waters is harder to manage than one in a temperate ocean.

Threats from Human Activity: Oil Spills, Tourism, and Over-Fishing

🛢️ Threats from Human Activity: Oil Spills, Tourism, and Over-Fishing

Oil Spills — The Exxon Valdez Case Study

Tourism Pressure

Over-fishing

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Practice Questions for Cold Environments — Threats & Management

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15 questions on Cold Environments — Threats & Management — practise free