Key Idea: Topic 8.4 is the last part of Option B (Oceans & coastal margins) — how the future of the oceans is managed, both as a resource to share sustainably and as a space states compete over. It pulls together two ideas: 8.4.1 — sustainable fisheries & marine protection: how overfishing shrinks stocks, and how quotas, aquaculture, closed seasons, mesh rules, surveillance and Marine Protected Areas bring catches back below the breeding rate. 8.4.2 — ocean geopolitics & resource conflict: how UNCLOS divides the sea into a 12-mile territorial sea and a 200-mile EEZ, and how competition over abiotic resources (oil, gas, minerals) and strategic chokepoints drives disputes. This is an option, examined on Paper 1 (SL answers 2 options, HL answers 3 — same questions). Each option is a structured question off a stimulus plus a [10] extended-answer (Examine / Evaluate / Discuss).
🐟 8.4.1 — Sustainable fisheries & marine protection
A fishery is sustainable when fish are caught no faster than they breed and replace themselves (the sustainable yield). Overfishing — catching above that rate — shrinks the stock and can collapse it. Management either restricts the catch (quotas, mesh rules, closed seasons) or takes pressure off wild stock (aquaculture, Marine Protected Areas). The skill examiners test is reading an aquaculture-production chart or MPA map, then explaining a strategy and weighing it in the [10] essay.
[Diagram: geo-bar-chart]
Tip: An Explain of a strategy needs its mechanism: larger mesh → juveniles escape → they breed → stock replaced. A bare list of names scores the low marks only. For a chart or map, read the value off the axis or scale and always quote the units.
🌊 8.4.2 — Ocean geopolitics & resource conflict
The oceans are a global commons, but states still claim sovereignty over the sea near their coast under UNCLOS — a 12-mile territorial sea and a 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) where they own the resources. Conflict flares where EEZs overlap, where the sea holds abiotic resources (oil, gas, minerals), or where it controls a strategic chokepoint. The skill tested is reading a flow map of oil chokepoints, then explaining EEZ rights and weighing resolvability in the [10] essay.
Example: South China Sea — China, Vietnam, the Philippines and others claim the Spratly/Paracel islands, which sit on oil, gas and rich fishing astride a major shipping route; overlapping EEZs make it contested. Arctic Ocean — as ice melts, Russia, Canada, the USA, Norway and Denmark submit rival continental-shelf claims to seabed oil, gas and new lanes. Strait of Hormuz — about 21 million barrels of oil a day pass through, so threats to close it become political leverage.
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Exam Tips
- Sustainable = catch at or below the replacement rate (the sustainable yield).
- Explain a fishery strategy with its MECHANISM (mesh → juveniles escape → breed → stock replaced) — a bare list scores low.
- For a chart or flow map: read the value off the axis or scale and ALWAYS quote the units (million tonnes, million barrels/day).
- EEZ = 200 nautical miles; the state owns the resources (fish, oil, gas, minerals). UNCLOS sets the zones.
- Keep ABIOTIC (oil/gas/minerals) in focus for resource-conflict questions — drifting to fishing (biotic) caps the mark.
- On the Paper 1 [10] Evaluate/Examine/Discuss: argue BOTH sides, use a NAMED case (Galápagos, South China Sea, Arctic, Hormuz), and finish with a justified judgement.