Page 191 - NS-2 Textbook

186 NAUTICAL SCIENCES

A major objective of the United States and its NATO al- is the Venezuelan oil fields on Lake Maracaibo (Mar-a-
lies in the event of fuhue war with any of the Russian ki' -bo). TIus offshore drilling operation makes that coun-
states would be to try to keep their submarines out of the try the world's fifth largest producer of petroleum.
North Atlantic shipping lanes by blocking their passage Venezuela is one of the top exporters of oil to the United
through the Strait of Gibraltar and the G-I-UK gap. States.
Some of the most significant events in modern The Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas is also rich in
times-ones that have had profound and continuing oil produced from offshore rigs. Oil and natural gas
effects on rulIitary strategy in northern Europe and fields are also being developed along the Mexican coast
throughout the world-were the democratization of near Tampico. One of the worst oil-pollution catastro-
the former Soviet satellite nations of Eastern Europe in the phes to date occurred in the Mexican field in 1979-80
late 1980s, the reunification of Germany in 1990, and the when an tmderwater well exploded. Millions of barrels
fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. More on these events and of oil escaped into the gulf, spreading an oil slick all the
their effects is presented in the histOlY section of this text. way to Texas beaches.
Fishi1lg. A great deal of fishing is done by the people
of the many Caribbean islands. Most of this is small
scale-that is, catches are brought ashore and consumed
CARIBBEAN SEA AND GULF OF MEXICO
fresh. The most important commercial fishing operations
The Caribbean has an area of 1,020,000 square miles, are for shrimp and menlladen in the Gulf of Mexico.
with two deep basins separated by the underwater TI,ere is a large shrimp catch along the U.S. and Mexican
Nicaragua Rise. The rise runs from the hump of Hon- Gulf Coasts. TI,is is where almost all of the slu'imp con-
duras and Nicaragua in Central America northeastward sumed in the United States is caught.
past Jamaica to Haiti. This shallow rise, only 200 to 1,000 Menhaden fishing is the most mechanized. Small
feet deep, takes up almost one-fourth of the Caribbean boats pump their catch into larger carrier vessels. The
Sea area. To the north is the Yucatan basin with the Cay- fish are then brought ashore and processed into fish meal
man Trench, the deepest part of the sea at 25,216 feet. The for export, mostly to less developed countries. Fish meal
southern and western half of the sea, extending from is a high-protein product used for fish cakes, seafood
Costa Rica to Haiti, and then eastward to the islands of sauces, and the like.
the Lesser Antilles, is as deep as 16,400 feet. There also are large lltilllbers of delicious Caribbean
The Lesser Antilles, small islands bordering the east- lobsters, called langus!a, caught around all the islands.
ern limits of the Caribbean, are on a ridge of very active Some are frozen into packages of expensive lobster tails.
volcanoes. Mmmt Pelee, on the island of Martinique, Langusta differ from Maine lobsters only in that they do
killed 30,000 people during a violent volcanic eruption in not have large claws. Excellent blue crabs are also caught
1902. More recent but less damaging volcanic action has along the U.s. Gulf Coast, some for carming but most for
occurred on several of these islands since then. the fresh market.
Currents from the equatorial Atlantic flow into the Poris a1ld Naval Bases. Houston, Texas, and New Or-
Caribbean from the southeast along the coast of northern leans, Louisiana, are the major U.S. ports on the Gulf
South America. Part of this current continues north into Coast. Other important ports are Galveston and Port
the Gulf of Mexico before moving eastward again be- Arthur, Texas; Mobile, Alabama; and Tampa, Florida. Ve-
tween Cuba and Florida, and then up the East Coast of racruz is the most important Mexican port. Barranquilla
the United States. The prevailing winds, which to a large (Bar-rang-ke' -ya), Colombia, and Maracaibo and La
extent follow the currents, bring sh'ong hurricanes into Guaira (La GWI'-ra) (port of Caracas), Venezuela, are im-
the area and up the East Coast in the late summer and portant in those nations. The capital cities in the Greater
fall of the year. Almost every year these huge storms and Lesser Antilles are the major ports of each of those
cause great property damage and loss of life somewhere islands. The largest and most important of these cities is
in the Caribbean islands, on the Gulf Coast, or along the Havana, Cuba. The island of Aruba, in the Netherlands
eastern seaboard of the United States. Antilles, not far from Lake Maracaibo, is a major oil-
The Gulf of Mexico has an area of 598,000 square refining site. Much asphalt is exported from Port of Spain,
miles and an average depth of 4,960 feet. From the Yu- Trinidad.
catan Peninsula of Mexico in the south, around the gulf The Antilles are a favorite area for luxury passenger
clockwise to the southern tip of Florida, the continental cruise ships. To escape the 'winter, Americans cruise out
shelf extends far to sea. 1n the north it has been broad- of Port Everglades (Miami), Florida, and San Juan, Puerto
ened even farther by silt carried out to sea by the Missis- Rico, on pleasure voyages to exotic Caribbean ports such
sippi River. as St. Thomas, Jamaica, and Barbados.
Minerals. The Caribbean in general has fewer mineral TI,e United States has no major naval bases on the
resources than other ocean basins. TI1€ exception to this Gulf Coast. There is a large conunercial shipyard that