Tourism impact on the environment

Whitby Jet

The black line is the jet in the rocks

The jet ,which has been mined for years, is running out and mining it is ruining the coastline.
It has never been permitted to mine for the gem material, though it was accepted practice, in the Victorian era, to dig deep into the cliff faces to extract it. Once the section of cliff had been exhausted of the gemstone, the Jet workers would ensure their excavations were re-filled. In higher and more inaccessible areas of the cliff face, young men were lowered on ropes to carry out this work, a task made all the more dangerous by the fact that the cliffs are mostly shale and therefore very unstable.
This means they were never really allowed to mine the jet in the first place.

The heyday of the jet trade came after the death of Prince Albert in 1861. Queen Victoria went into strict mourning, and black jet jewellery came into fashion. 
By 1875 Whitby contained 200 jet workshops, which employed 1,500 men. The increased damage also led to the opening of twenty jet mines, starting at the foot of the cliffs west of Whitby and around Runswick Bay, and later spreading into the moorland dales.By the end of the nineteenth century the boom was over. Local supplies of jet ran short, and by 1892 Jet had to be imported from Spain. Fashion also changed, and the industry declined, although it still continues on a small scale.


A way to help the impact on the environment would be to use less jet to make jewellery and mix this with other stones or precious metals which we have lots of. Also they could make it more expensive which would make it worth more as it would be rarer.





Fossils

The fossils on the beaches are being destroyed by tourists. There is a code for collecting fossils.

By following the code and going on fossil tours instead of going by yourself, this will help to protect the fossils and beaches. Whitby should make the fossil tours more advertised also as they do run but only during school holidays and peak times.  This means that people who holiday out of peak times will miss out and go off fossil hunting on their own.  


If people do not know what they are looking for, they can destroy the coastline of fossils and break up pieces which could be rare or valuable.  The local people will suffer as these are the pieces that they find, preserve and sell in the local shops.





Whaling
Whitby was a whaling town,catching whales for their blubber, oil and bones.
This happened over hundreds and hundreds of years until recent times when whales in our seas were nearly extinct.

In the 1970's Greenpeace ran a campaign to stop whaling, they helped make whaling illegal in most countries.  This was good because the amount of whales increased and the amount of whales in the sea became healthy again, but this meant that the whales ate all the fish which was bad for the fishing industries as the fish population dropped.


The governments came up with a solution to only hunt whales for scientific purposes in 1986 where Iceland and Japan were allowed to hunt.  The amount of whales has since dropped to an acceptable level, fish levels have risen and the food chain has been balanced again.




The impact of fishing

Fishing too much in one area can impact the amount of fish, recently there has been a decrease in cod which is why fish and chips are becoming more expensive.  The fishermen are finding it hard to find and catch cod as the fish is being over-fished and so there is not much left.




The fishermen have started to fish more for plaice and haddock, this means that the cod fish can re cooperate and be protected for a while.  
A good way to help this is to make other fish more 'liked', instead of always asking for cod in the fish shop, try haddock or plaice instead.  They should make a campaign for people to try new or different types of fish to eat.  




Fishing Trips


The local people run fishing trips out of Whitby harbour, this is good for tourism but it also puts more pollution of oil/fuel into the water around Whitby.  This can harm the fish and wildlife in the sea.

Its not only the oil in the water but also litter like wrappers, paper, cigarette butts etc... which can harm fish, sea gulls, crabs etc... who live in and around the water.

The fisherman and tour companies who run the trips could keep better care of the surroundings.  They could collect all litter and dispose of it responsibly.  If they kept the maintenance on their boats up to date they would leak less oil/fuel, this would be cleaner for the environment.




Coastal Walks

Coastal walks are good as they keep people and pets healthy (by pets I mean dogs, not your pet hamster).  Around Whitby there are lots of walks which are beautiful.

Tourists although enjoying the views and fresh air are destroying the beauty by dropping litter, not cleaning up dog mess, wandering off the paths and so stomping on wild flowers which impacts bee's and other wildlife.  They can also disturb nests of wild birds and some people even steal their eggs.


A way to combat this is to lead organised walks, this would also educate people on the local countryside, flowers, wildlife, fossils, areas of interest etc... or to put up more signs to tell people where they can safely walk or why they shouldn't wander into other areas.

Most people are responsible but they could put up more bins for litter and dog poo, this would keep the walks cleaners and nicer for all to use.