The Wonders of Dredging

[island_sands]

It's amazing what machinery can do, some time, effort... one can take an island, and reshape it.

Imagine what marine life is affected by such activity :vangry I think dredging should be banned unless necessary to sustain an existence...

See before and after....

 

[land shark]

Aldo Leopold wrote
'The first step to intelligent tinkering is to keep all the pieces of the puzzel.'
makes ya wonder how many pieces these tinkers lost.

 

[sinkweight]

I wonder how many times humans can push mother nature off balance before she falls flat on her back.

'Seems like most people just pile their selfish needs on the heavy side of the scale once they see it's already tipped.

Sadly enough, most of these people fail to see the broad range of consequences from even the smallest-scale landforming. From current and tidal flow, to deposited food sources and critical temperatures and countless other factors, it'd be easy to wipe out many types of life and habitats we've yet to understand, let alone discover.

I'm not a bleeding heart, I just agree with Island somp'm fierce.

 

[anton]

unfortunately such things are widespread. Here in the Arabian/Persian Gulf (the name I discovered, depends on what side of the water you are!), "development" is causing untold damage. Some example:
Dubai-Several reclaimed areas for high rise and high-priced condo towers on a set of island, I think named Pearl Islands.
Qatar-Same thing (we like to copy things here) but called Palm Tree islands, shaped like a huge palm tree (They have been dredging for about the past year or so just off the beach near our fitness club. Viz is horrid at best and there "used to be" a series of small shallow water reefs.
-Qatar-the new "International Hub" airport similar to what dubai is doing as well. Contract awarded to a series of dredging companies hit the papers 2 days ago. They will "reclaim" 22 sq. kilometers of ocean where there are some reefs (and great spearfishing as well)

I personally think they should call it grabbing or claiming, not "reclaiming" as it is a bit of a misnomer. Miles of horrid desert and they will ruin the coast... even more.

 

[island_sands]

The place you are referring to in Dubai is the Palm. You can actually see it from space.

Untold reef damage, but the construction prides itself on the channels and piping its done to maintain visibility. How incredibly talented they are. :head

I have seen pictures of the Qatar construction that you refer to. Multi-million dollar project.

Its amazing how building projects pride themselves on bigger, better, lusher, more luxurious. Why can't their respect for the environment and natural earth formations be on the top of their list?

 

[sinkweight]

Anton, you need to place a false headline in the Dubai newspapers, which reads Dubai Vows to Preserve and Protect Natural Environment...then hope that Qatar tries to copy it.

All joking aside, that's really a horrible thing. If only the average man and woman knew the intricacy and time it took for those reefs to form. I wish the world went from sprawl back to crawl.

I'm sorry about your fishing spots, too, Anton.

I'm imagining 50 years from now when I go to sea world, their live sea mammal display is going to be some black labrador retriever that swims around after a tennis ball.

ok, that's a bit much...but still.

 

[anton]

yeah,
sands hit it right about the money... the airport project is even bigger than the island condo project at 5.5 BILLION for a HUGE airport that people will use... they hope. The fact that other regional airports want to do the same might not have been looked at fully. They are moving in 50 MILLION cubic meters of landfill beginning soon! It is the <keyword follows> "first" airport specifically built for the airbus A380-800 and will be able to accomadate 6 of them at a time. (they hope that this will become a hub airport for asia.)

Sands is correct on the islands, I had them mixed up, pearl is in qatar, palm in dubai.

 

[island_sands]

yeah,
sands hit it right about the money... the airport project is even bigger than the island condo project at 5.5 BILLION for a HUGE airport that people will use... they hope. The fact that other regional airports want to do the same might not have been looked at fully. They are moving in 50 MILLION cubic meters of landfill beginning soon! It is the <keyword follows> "first" airport specifically built for the airbus A380-800 and will be able to accomadate 6 of them at a time. (they hope that this will become a hub airport for asia.)

Sands is correct on the islands, I had them mixed up, pearl is in qatar, palm in dubai.

holy moly!!! will you look at that?? Looks like a dead starfish, as opposed to a pearl!
It's enormous!! And as you say.... MILES of desert to use....why spoil the ocean??
:head

 

[DeepThought]

Hubris.

I bet you that those ilsands won't last forever as well. I heard that the Osaka airport is already in deep trouble although it was supposed to last for a few more decades.

 

[island_sands]

Hubris.

I bet you that those ilsands won't last forever as well. I heard that the Osaka airport is already in deep trouble although it was supposed to last for a few more decades.

The sea brings... and she will take away.... the islands in Maldives are a certain shape for a very powerful reason..