Ocean Floor Resources

How could gravel extraction have anything to do with salmon migrations? When people think about resource extraction and the environmental issues, the first thing that comes to mind is usually oil spills related to disasters like the Exxon Valdez in Alaska, or the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April of 2010.

There are a number of other issues that are much less known such as the impact of gravel extraction on anadromous fish, like salmon. These are fish that spend the majority of their lives in the ocean and then swim up rivers to spawn. The actual and potential impact that gravel extraction has on these fish is so important that NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service has been advocating for a national plan on gravel extraction to reduce the impact on anadromous fish and other organisms.

Open the NOAA Gravel Extraction Policy with the background and proposals for a national policy on gravel mining. Read the Introduction and Environmental Effects of Gravel Extraction sections.

Create responses to the following questions based on what you found on the website:

1. Why does NOAA believe that a national policy on gravel extraction is necessary?
2. What are some of the impacts of gravel extraction on fish and their habitats?
3. What should gravel extraction not be allowed to interfere with?
4. What is the intent of a gravel policy?