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http://hdl.handle.net/1834/396
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| Title: | Sustainability of the Benguela: ex Africa semper aliquid novi |
| Authors: | Shannon, L.V.
O’Toole, M.J. |
| ASFA Terms: | Ecosystems
Sustainability |
| Issue Date: | 2003 |
| Publisher: | Elsevier |
| Citation: | G. Hempel and K. Sherman, (eds.) Large Marine Ecosystems of the World: Trends in Exploitation, Protection and Researchn, p. 227-253 |
| Abstract: | The Benguela Current ecosystem is situated along the coast of south western
Africa, stretching from east of the Cape of Good Hope, in the south, northwards
into Angola waters and encompassing the full extent of Namibia’s marine
environment. It is one of the four major coastal upwelling ecosystems of the
world which lie at the eastern boundaries of the oceans. Like the Humboldt,
California and Canary systems, the Benguela is an important centre of marine
biodiversity and marine food production. Its distinctive bathymetry,
hydrography, chemistry and trophodynamics combine to make it one of the most
productive ocean areas in the world, with a mean annual primary productivity of
1.25 kilograms of carbon per square metre per year—about six times higher than
the North Sea ecosystem. This high level of primary productivity of the Benguela
supports an important global reservoir of biodiversity and biomass of
zooplankton, fish, sea birds and marine mammals, while near-shore and off-shore
sediments hold rich deposits of precious minerals (particularly diamonds), as
well as oil and gas reserves. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1834/396 |
| Appears in Collections: | Miscellaneous
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