Re:The Suez Canal will be widened
by viztor on Sunday May 16, 2021 @09:24AM
(#27173549)
That's an entirely different subject isn't it? I don't see how a widen canal would worsen the problem as long as the demand for cross-continental transport persist.
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Not at all. The invasive species in question are salt-water animals that traveled through the canal. If there are no controls in place, a wider canal means a larger volume of water flowing toward the Mediterranean, which means more opportunity for invasive species to find their way through. From the Wikipedia article linked:
> A first look at some groups of exotic species shows that more than 70% of the non-indigenous decapods and about 63% of the exotic fishes occurring in the Mediterranean are of Indo-Pacific origin, introduced into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. This makes the Canal the first pathway of arrival of alien species into the Mediterranean.
Re:The Suez Canal will be widened
by Someone1234 on Sunday May 16, 2021 @09:53AM
(#27173715)
I don't even understand what "controls" means here? Are you talking about turning the Suez Canal into a filtered lock system able to hold Suezmax class ships (160,000 DWT)? Wouldn't the massive energy usage by pumping/filtering that much water (and the usage by the ship's idle engines while they wait) do more environmental damage than the invasive species?
Re:The Suez Canal will be widened
by PoignardAzur on Sunday May 16, 2021 @10:46AM
(#27174071)
Obviously the correct engineering solution is underwater laser turrets. Mounted on sharks.
We use electrified barriers to prevent Asian carp spread in the Great Lakes region [0]. I'm not sure of the practicality of something similar in a saltwater canal.
[0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/24/asian-carp-gre...
I was thinking of a filtered lock system, and you're right that that's impractical for the Suez.