Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper

Chapter 48: More Deep Thoughts with Stef Fulton

Now Stef was finally getting to participate in a serious four-month secretive journey to remote regions of the world.  This being the type of exploration now denied younger scientists due to the extreme dangers that could arise.   Research foundations were careful to mitigate risks that might lead to backlash and negative media coverage, even as they continued to search for the answers to save Planet Earth and use the amazing resources being discovered within the depths of the sea.  Although more was known about the surface of Mars, than about the depths of Earth's oceans, the scientists knew that their ocean quests were the most viable way to save Earthlings.

As Stef reflected more about the political atmosphere's distrust of ocean research, the thought that sprang to mind was this: "It really is global climate change that is responsible for the current wave of vicious competition for mankind's limited resources for food and energy".

Chinese fishing vessels, the biggest, most technologically advanced fleet on earth, regularly fished off the shores of Africa, depriving local fisherman of their livelihood, and the African residents of a much needed food source.  This was directly tied to the climate changes of drought, dust storms, and excessive heat that ruined their crops and livestock.  Food donated from other countries was often intercepted by greedy competing tribes or inhumane governments, who could make profits off of the limited supplies.

Rare minerals, oil deposits, and now high-demand chemicals from hydrothermal vents were now prompting nations to expand their territories into the Arctic Circle, (primarily Russia, but also China, Iceland, Canada and the United States) and in the waters near Antarctica (primarily Australia, Japan, Korea, France, Chile, and Venezuela).  International waters were now up for grabs, leading to hostilities between competing offshore drilling enterprises, some "state run" and some "private companies".

Some countries were actually taking atolls and building them into larger islands to claim more territory in strategic areas for building up their military might.   And yet as the sea level rises, more and more island nations without resources for building protective walls are at risk of disappearing below the sea's surface.

Some nations, such as Japan, continued to harvest endangered species for traditional food and medicine markets. Their vessels often encountered fleets of high- powered boats intercepting their ships.

A bigger environmental issue Japan faced was the continuing high radiation measurements from the Fukushima disaster.  The 2011 tsunami which caused the environmental catastrophe brought on studies of many environmental consequences.

Although the release of radioactive waters is the greatest concern, some other studies have found that the wave action of the tsunami carried organisms aboard shipwrecked boats and containers swept out to sea clear across the Pacific Ocean over years of time.  Some species living in ships' hulls began arriving to North America after being carried along by currents, for many years.  Throughout history species have been carried to new lands, including islands, where they have flourished, sometimes to the detriment of the local species.  But these studies seem remarkable when it is documented that the species have lived in wreckage for years, before reaching a shoreline many years later.

Of course, by far, the release of radioactive elements into the ocean waters was the gravest concern of scientists worldwide after the tsunami damage of the Fukushima reactor.   Even many years after the meltdown, the radiation measurement was 530 Sieverts, or 53,000 rems (Roentgen Equivalent for Man).  The dose at which fifty percent of a human population would die is 250 to 500 rems, so the readings of the current radiation levels is frightfully serious.  The radiation levels within the reactor buildings remain so high that robots cannot enter to get readings.

Every day since the accident began, 300 to 400 tons of water has poured into the Pacific where up to hundred different isotopes enter the ocean.  These isotopes include strontium 90 and plutonium, americium, tritium, cesium 137 and 134 and many others.  These isotopes are entering the ocean's food cycle where bio-concentration causes each level up the food chain to have a greater amount stored in body fat and other tissues.

These radioactive elements are tasteless, odorless, and colorless.  They now can be found in salmon on the west coast of the U.S.   Ingesting these, humans are having them concentrate in various organs, where the irradiation continues for many years.

This news is very distressing as many fish, turtles, whales, and squid can migrate thousands of miles feeding on all sorts of organisms that are exposed to the Pacific waters where the isotopes are being released.  The stories and updates about this disaster are often subdued and not at the forefront of national and international news stories.   At the same time as contamination is occurring, countries around the world are vying for all kinds of oceanic products, and not just sources of seafood.

As science research reveals more and more practical uses for products from the ocean and the ocean floor, the competition increases for claiming the rights to these products.   From manganese nodules vacuumed off the ocean floor near Thailand, to swift ocean currents being harnessed by turbine systems generating electric power, to the gathering of a specialized bacterium found at hydrothermal vents, the list of products every industrialized country wants to command continues to grow.

All of this attention to ocean products was resulting in the over harvesting of more than a few critically important species and the habitats needed to maintain equilibrium in the oceans. Marine biologists and oceanographers certainly had their work cut out for them.

As Stef thought of the many fronts on which these scientists now faced daunting challenges and obstacles, frustration mounted wondering why citizens of the world could not see the obvious benefits in sharing both knowledge and products for the good of all mankind.