Black Sea Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The bosphorus and the Dardanelles, the narrow straits into the Black Sea, have long been the division between Europe and Asia. Istanbul, founded as Constantinople on these straits, has long been a rival with Rome and Jerusalem as the center of the world. Ever since Jason and the Argonaut’s legendary journey to the region, the Black Sea has been a corridor between North and South and Europe and Asia, and an ancient place of trade, culture, and cross-fertilization of ideas. That vigorous trade continues today with about 50,000 cargo ships and 1,500 tankers crossing in and out of the Black Sea annually.

Six different countries Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and Georgia along with a narrow access for Moldova, all share the Black Sea coastline. With so many claims to the Black Sea’s resources from countries with different religious and cultural values, the environmental consequences of the Black Sea region’s economic development are difficult to manage.

The Black Sea was formed only some six or seven thousand years ago, when the rising Mediterranean breached into a freshwater lake basin. Some have connected this incident with legendary accounts of the great flood encountered in several different religious traditions. Although most of the sea is quite deep, the northwestern section of the sea is relatively shallow, and provides a flourishing ecosystem for red algae and animals dependent on the algae as a food source. Although the Black Sea ecosystem was generally quite strong, the recent introduction of alien species such as the Rapana snail has devastated some native populations.

Shipping, industry, and especially tourism have transformed the Black Sea coastal region with large numbers of artificial structures to protect beaches from erosion, causing the buildup of pollution and toxins. During the 1960s, the advent of the Green Revolution in agriculture led to the massive inflow of fertilizers into the sea, creating an overabundance of nutrients and crowding out of native red algae, the foundation of the Black Sea’s ecosystem.

Tons of plant and animal life washed up onto the shores as the sea became starved of oxygen. The introduction of the alien comb jelly in the 1980s, which ate fish larvae, led to a massive decline in fish. The fall of the Soviet Union led to a respite in fertilizer and waste dumping into the Black Sea, leading to a partial recovery of the red algae habitat. Nevertheless, the recent development of oil fields and pipelines may lead to serious negative, environmental consequences for the region.

Bibliography:

Gunes-Ayata, ed., Black Sea Politics (IB Tauris, 2005);
Laurence Mee, “Can the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Black Sea Be Protected?” Politics of the Black Sea, T. Aybak (ed.), (IB Tauris, 2001).