Revision summary
Oceans store food, energy, minerals, and transport routes. UNCLOS gives a territorial sea and a 200-nautical-mile EEZ for living and energy resources. Polymetallic nodules in the Area are licensed by the International Seabed Authority. India’s Mumbai High, KG basin, and Deep Ocean Mission sit on that store. Overfishing and pollution can empty the store even when maps still list it.
Model answer
Introduction
Oceans cover most of the planet and hold living, mineral, and energy stocks that land cannot match in scale. The statement is true, but the store is legally zoned and ecologically fragile.
Body
Living and food resources
- Marine fisheries and aquaculture supply protein to coastal states; India’s marine catch and the Blue Revolution rest on this store, within a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea and a 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone under UNCLOS, 1982.
- Seaweed, molluscs, and genetic resources of the deep are newer food and pharmaceutical stocks, still poorly inventoried.
Energy, minerals, and space
- Offshore oil and gas, methane hydrates, and coastal wind are energy stores; India already produces hydrocarbons off Mumbai High and the Krishna–Godavari basin.
- Polymetallic nodules, cobalt-rich crusts, and hydrothermal sulphides in the Indian Ocean are mineral stores; the International Seabed Authority licenses the Area beyond national jurisdiction, and India holds nodule contracts in the central Indian Ocean.
- Oceans are also a transport and data store: sea lanes carry most of world trade, and submarine cables carry most international digital traffic.
Limits of the store-house
- IUU fishing, plastic, acidification, and sea-level rise can empty the living store even while maps still show ‘resources’.
- India’s Deep Ocean Mission and Samudrayaan aim at science and nodules, but commercial mining is not yet a cheap, clean harvest.
- The statement is therefore right on endowment and incomplete without conservation and UNCLOS duty.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD O[Oceans] --> F[Fisheries EEZ] O --> E[Oil gas wind hydrates] O --> M[Nodules ISA] O --> T[Sea lanes cables]
Conclusion
Oceans are a store-house of fish, hydrocarbons, nodules, wind, trade routes, and cables. UNCLOS zones the store; overfishing and pollution can lock it. An 8-mark note should affirm the endowment and add that stewardship is part of the resource.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Soil profile plays an important role in agriculture. Do you agree?
Next question in the 2023 paper (Q8). View answer →
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Do high-seas minerals belong to the nearest coastal state?
No. Beyond the continental shelf, the Area is the common heritage of mankind, administered by the ISA, not by the nearest EEZ.
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Is the ocean store unlimited?
No. Fish stocks collapse under IUU fishing, and mining can wreck benthic habitats. The store is large, not infinite.
Same topic · past papers
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