The Indian Ocean is the third largest body of water, covering about 20% of the earth’s surface. It is the body of water between Africa, the Southern Ocean, Asia, and Australia. There are many island nations in the Ocean, such as the Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Comoros. There are four extremely important waterways leading from the Indian Ocean. There is the Suez Canal (Egypt), Bab el Mandeb (Djibouti-Yemen), the Straits of Hormuz (Iran-Oman) and the Strait of Malacca (Indonesia). This ocean carries heavy traffic from the oilfields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia. It is estimated that around 40% of the world’s off-shore oil production is moved through the Indian Ocean.

In the off-shore areas of Saudi Arabia, Iran, India and western Australia, large reserves of hydrocarbons are being tapped.

The Ocean’s abundance of tunafish and shrimp is extremely important, not only for domestic consumption in bordering countries, but also for export.

What Can You Find There?

The natural resources of the ocean are oil and gas fields, fish, shrimps and sea mammals, as well as sand and gravel aggregates and placer deposits.

Issues of Concern in the Indian Ocean

- Oil pollution in the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf and Red Sea

- endangered marine species including seals, turtles, whales and the dugong,

On December 26th, 2004, the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean were hit by tsunamis caused by an underwater earthquake. The waves resulted in more than 275,000 deaths and over 1 million homeless. This event was one of the deadliest disasters in modern history.