Platboombai, on the coast of South Africa.

The Atlantic Basin stretches between the continents of Europe, Africa and the Americas. Few of the mineral deposits of the Atlantic are commercially viable, an exception being oil and gas reserves in the North Sea. In addition, massive exploitation of oil and gas reserves take place in both the marine and terrestrial region of West Africa – 150 million tonnes compared with 44 million tonnes in the North Sea. Further, some of the finest diamonds in the world are extracted from the coast of South West Africa.

The North Atlantic is the world’s most heavily fished ocean area, and many fish stocks suffer from over-fishing. In the North-East Atlantic, for example, 40 out of 60 commercial fish species are being fished unsustainably due to fisheries mismanagment. In the southern hemisphere, rich fisheries, comprising shrimp, lobster, sardine, anchovy and tuna occur along the West African coast as a result of the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water in the region.

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Photo: Anne G Lee/WWF UK