Total loss of habitat

Some activities result in a habitat being entirely removed or destroyed. Beach sand mining is quickly becoming a problem for many island nations.

• Grenada has many problems with both illegal and illegal sand mining. With no clear legislation it shall continue until effective management plans can be formulated.
• In St. Vincent & the Grenadines sand consumption figures doubled between 1985 and 1990.
• Since 1994 sand from Guyana has been imported for all government projects.
• In Puerto Rico there is a to ban on all sand mining from beaches, very occasionally permits are granted for beach sand mining at specific locations and for short periods of time. Most sand is extracted from the back dune, inland and river bed areas.
• In Tobago the spate of building as tourism increased since the 1980s has meant many beaches were intensively mined for sand. Some of these beaches never recovered, even after mining ceased.

An alternative to beach mining is to dredge sand from offshore. This has repercussions for fish, particularly in early life stages, and invertebrates that settle on these shelf areas that are covered by beach extension. A study off the east coast of Florida showed that when 5 hectares of hardbottom habitat were covered this lowered the numbers of individuals and numbers of species species by 30 times and 10 times, respectively.

Mining of other products such as cobalt, which is used in medicine as well as in the aerospace, paint, ceramics, tire, and other industries, and manganese, which provides strength and hardness in steel, is also used in batteries, bricks, glass, and paints can result in the loss of marine habitats through the same processes as sand mining. As can mining for heavy minerals, including titanium and chromite and even precious minerals including gold and platinum, and phosphorites, which are used extensively in agriculture and pharmaceuticals.

Land reclamation also results in total loss of mud flats, coral reefs, seagrasses, intertidal zones and other shallow marine habitats. The International airport at Honolulu, Hawai'i was built on a coral reef and 20 per cent of Singapore is built on coral reefs.

Monitoring of the above practices and the initiation and enforcement of legislation controlling these practises in essential to preserve habitats from complete obliteration.