- Email: [email protected]
Dangerous chemicals come ashore
Marine Pollution Bulletin
Fisheries Aid Radwaste at Sea After Greenpeace interfered with the dumping of a load of British and Swiss low-level radioactive waste at the deep Atlantic site in August 1982, further dumping in 1983 and 1984 was prevented by a ban imposed by the British seamen's union (the waste is usually carried in a British ship). As a way out of the impasse, an independent review was set up jointly by the Department of Environment and the Trades Union Congress in April 1984. The four-man review committee reported towards the end of the year.
(Report of the independent reviewof disposal of radioactive wastein the northeastAtlantic, HMSO London 1984 £4.90). The dumpsite is on the northeast Atlantic abyssal plane with an average depth of 4400 m, and has been in use for dumping low and intermediate-level radioactive waste since the early 1960s. A number of European countries used it and the operation has been coordinated by the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Latterly a number of the participating countries have opted for land disposal and in February 1983, the London Dumping Convention had some concern about continuing ocean dumping until the completion of a number of international reviews due in 1985. The DoE/TUC independent review says that since ocean dumping has been suspended since 1983, any resumption should await the outcome of the various international reviews in 1985. It strongly supports recommendations made by The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in 1976 and 1984 that in disposing of wastes, the Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) should be sought. This means that land disposal or storage options must be compared with ocean disposal and it notes that the administrative arrangements in Britain, with the Department of the Environment taking the lead on land and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food taking the lead at sea, do not make this easy and some change should be made to bring across-the-board reviews of environmental options to be brought under one roof. The review has examined the models for the fate of radioactive wastes that have been dumped at the site so far and accepts that they entail extremely low risks (the risk to an individual of contracting cancer from this source is 1 in 100 millions, compared with 1 in 100 000 from natural background radiation). It concludes that even this risk is exaggerated rather than under-estimated. The review acknowledges that many people have a very strong reaction against dumping radioactive wastes at sea, but points out that there is also a very strong reaction against radioactive waste disposal on land, particularly among those whose immediate surroundings are affected. In deciding the BPEO, the key word is 'practicable' and that involves taking into account not only purely scientific considerations and statistical risks, but also public reaction. Where the balance of public acceptability lies between land or sea disposal of radioactive waste is, as the independent review committee says, not something it can or should decide.
Many developing countries have 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) but have neither the physical capacity nor the technical or managerial expertise to exploit their fisheries to full advantage. FAO has recently published an update of a survey carried out in 1979-81 of national and international aid programmes to remedy the situation (FAO Fisheries OrcularNo. 755, rev. 1, 1984). Over the last 10 years, the share of assistance going to fisheries has remained at 3% of the total aid, which is about equal to the fisheries' average share of the GNP in developing countries. The actual aid, in inflationdiscounted terms, has doubled in that period. Asia, where fish represents over half the total animal protein supply, receives about 40% of the total aid, Africa 28%, Latin America 20% and the Near East 9%. The balance goes to the Caribbean and Oceania. Support to Asian fisheries has remained constant since 1980 and the main increase in the last few years has been to Latin America, the Near East and, to some extent, Africa. Support of small-scale fisheries, aquaculture and training has shown a steady increase throughout the period, but since 1981 there has been a big jump in the support of industrial fisheries. The aid comes from a number of international agencies--the World Bank, Regional Development Bank groups, the U N system, etc.--and also through bilateral aid from developed to developing countries. The nature of the support varies widely. Japan is a major contributor because more and more developing countries have extended their jurisdiction over waters where Japanese vessels have traditionally fished and the aid is part of a package of fishing rights. The aid is well integrated, providing motorized equipment, spare parts, repair training and training in the correct use of the equipment. Japanese aid is mainly concentrated in Asia and the Pacific but has recently increased markedly in East Africa. American aid for fisheries is relatively small and is mainly directed towards mariculture. Denmark and Norway have been providing fishing vessels in southern Asia. Italy and Spain are assisting the development of fisheries in African states. British fisheries aid is concentrated on aquaculture in land-locked African states, small scale fishing in Tanzania, harbour construction in India and cold storage facilities in Burma. The Netherlands aid is mainly concentrated in Asia (66%) and Africa (31%) and, following a general trend, is now focused on small-scale fisheries, provision of ice-plants and aquaculture.
Dangerous Chemicals Come Ashore The UK Advisory Committee on Pollution of the Sea has commissioned a survey of dangerous chemicals washed ashore on British beaches. These chemicals, often in unmarked containers are lost overboard from shipping but the loss is rarely reported by ships' captains. Indeed, the master of a vessel may not be aware of the loss until the cargo is unloaded in port.
Volume 16/Number 1/January 1985
"Since no one wants to be responsible for dumping hazardous waste material, can you think of a better idea ?"
Among the recoveries from beaches there were over 100 canisters of petroleum ether, acetone, ethanol, and hydrogen peroxide appearing on the south coast of England within the space of 3 weeks; large containers of sulphuric acid; a barrel of sodium hydroxide washed ashore at Deal on the southeast coast of England during winter storms. The fact that the containers are frequently unmarked makes dealing with them a hazardous business. The survey, prepared by Trevor Dixon from reports by the coastal local authorities of England and Wales, covers the 12 months to September 1983, but other incidents have continued since then almost routinely. Dixon urges better and more durable marking of chemical containers and a system to deal with liability and compensation. The International Maritime Organization 0MO) has rules for the carriage of dangerous chemicals by sea, but even though they are mostly complied with, they cannot prevent accidental losses. Nevertheless, there is obviously scope to improve labelling and notification.
The 260 is a micro-processor based system which removes the need for operator skill from the control and analysis loop. It presents sonar images that have been automatically adjusted for slant range, ship speed and amplitude but is genuinely portable and can be powered by batteries. The unit is used in conjunction with a tow-fish which emits acoustic impulses, in a thin, fan-shaped pattern, which then spreads as far as 600 m on either side. Reflected acoustic energy is received by sensitive transducers within the fish which converts and amplifies through an in-built time varied gain amplifier prior to transmission up to the 260 sidescan recorder to be translated into hard copy. The result is a continuous, plan view of the scanned area with greatly improved signal to noise. Sequential scanning enables a mosaic of the seabed to be build up rapidly, with all the main topographical features readily identifiable. Central to the accuracy of the unit is the use of a 128 style grey-tone graphic printer, a relatively small print area (20 cm) coupled with an extremely precise pixel size (1/8 nun) and rapid, 50 lines s-I, print rate. Slant range correction is achieved by re-determining the height for each transmission and re-positioning each pixel at its true The EG & G 260 image-correcting sidescan sonar is horizontal range to an accuracy of 1% pixel--800 slant claimed to be the most advanced sonar system available range corrections per scan per channel are carried out for non-military users yet as simple to operate and under- automatically. Amplitude and speed are also corrected to ensure maximum accuracy. stand as an echo system, and notably inexpensive.
Sidescan Sonar
Fisheries Aid Radwaste at Sea After Greenpeace interfered with the dumping of a load of British and Swiss low-level radioactive waste at the deep Atlantic site in August 1982, further dumping in 1983 and 1984 was prevented by a ban imposed by the British seamen's union (the waste is usually carried in a British ship). As a way out of the impasse, an independent review was set up jointly by the Department of Environment and the Trades Union Congress in April 1984. The four-man review committee reported towards the end of the year.
(Report of the independent reviewof disposal of radioactive wastein the northeastAtlantic, HMSO London 1984 £4.90). The dumpsite is on the northeast Atlantic abyssal plane with an average depth of 4400 m, and has been in use for dumping low and intermediate-level radioactive waste since the early 1960s. A number of European countries used it and the operation has been coordinated by the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Latterly a number of the participating countries have opted for land disposal and in February 1983, the London Dumping Convention had some concern about continuing ocean dumping until the completion of a number of international reviews due in 1985. The DoE/TUC independent review says that since ocean dumping has been suspended since 1983, any resumption should await the outcome of the various international reviews in 1985. It strongly supports recommendations made by The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in 1976 and 1984 that in disposing of wastes, the Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) should be sought. This means that land disposal or storage options must be compared with ocean disposal and it notes that the administrative arrangements in Britain, with the Department of the Environment taking the lead on land and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food taking the lead at sea, do not make this easy and some change should be made to bring across-the-board reviews of environmental options to be brought under one roof. The review has examined the models for the fate of radioactive wastes that have been dumped at the site so far and accepts that they entail extremely low risks (the risk to an individual of contracting cancer from this source is 1 in 100 millions, compared with 1 in 100 000 from natural background radiation). It concludes that even this risk is exaggerated rather than under-estimated. The review acknowledges that many people have a very strong reaction against dumping radioactive wastes at sea, but points out that there is also a very strong reaction against radioactive waste disposal on land, particularly among those whose immediate surroundings are affected. In deciding the BPEO, the key word is 'practicable' and that involves taking into account not only purely scientific considerations and statistical risks, but also public reaction. Where the balance of public acceptability lies between land or sea disposal of radioactive waste is, as the independent review committee says, not something it can or should decide.
Many developing countries have 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) but have neither the physical capacity nor the technical or managerial expertise to exploit their fisheries to full advantage. FAO has recently published an update of a survey carried out in 1979-81 of national and international aid programmes to remedy the situation (FAO Fisheries OrcularNo. 755, rev. 1, 1984). Over the last 10 years, the share of assistance going to fisheries has remained at 3% of the total aid, which is about equal to the fisheries' average share of the GNP in developing countries. The actual aid, in inflationdiscounted terms, has doubled in that period. Asia, where fish represents over half the total animal protein supply, receives about 40% of the total aid, Africa 28%, Latin America 20% and the Near East 9%. The balance goes to the Caribbean and Oceania. Support to Asian fisheries has remained constant since 1980 and the main increase in the last few years has been to Latin America, the Near East and, to some extent, Africa. Support of small-scale fisheries, aquaculture and training has shown a steady increase throughout the period, but since 1981 there has been a big jump in the support of industrial fisheries. The aid comes from a number of international agencies--the World Bank, Regional Development Bank groups, the U N system, etc.--and also through bilateral aid from developed to developing countries. The nature of the support varies widely. Japan is a major contributor because more and more developing countries have extended their jurisdiction over waters where Japanese vessels have traditionally fished and the aid is part of a package of fishing rights. The aid is well integrated, providing motorized equipment, spare parts, repair training and training in the correct use of the equipment. Japanese aid is mainly concentrated in Asia and the Pacific but has recently increased markedly in East Africa. American aid for fisheries is relatively small and is mainly directed towards mariculture. Denmark and Norway have been providing fishing vessels in southern Asia. Italy and Spain are assisting the development of fisheries in African states. British fisheries aid is concentrated on aquaculture in land-locked African states, small scale fishing in Tanzania, harbour construction in India and cold storage facilities in Burma. The Netherlands aid is mainly concentrated in Asia (66%) and Africa (31%) and, following a general trend, is now focused on small-scale fisheries, provision of ice-plants and aquaculture.
Dangerous Chemicals Come Ashore The UK Advisory Committee on Pollution of the Sea has commissioned a survey of dangerous chemicals washed ashore on British beaches. These chemicals, often in unmarked containers are lost overboard from shipping but the loss is rarely reported by ships' captains. Indeed, the master of a vessel may not be aware of the loss until the cargo is unloaded in port.
Volume 16/Number 1/January 1985
"Since no one wants to be responsible for dumping hazardous waste material, can you think of a better idea ?"
Among the recoveries from beaches there were over 100 canisters of petroleum ether, acetone, ethanol, and hydrogen peroxide appearing on the south coast of England within the space of 3 weeks; large containers of sulphuric acid; a barrel of sodium hydroxide washed ashore at Deal on the southeast coast of England during winter storms. The fact that the containers are frequently unmarked makes dealing with them a hazardous business. The survey, prepared by Trevor Dixon from reports by the coastal local authorities of England and Wales, covers the 12 months to September 1983, but other incidents have continued since then almost routinely. Dixon urges better and more durable marking of chemical containers and a system to deal with liability and compensation. The International Maritime Organization 0MO) has rules for the carriage of dangerous chemicals by sea, but even though they are mostly complied with, they cannot prevent accidental losses. Nevertheless, there is obviously scope to improve labelling and notification.
The 260 is a micro-processor based system which removes the need for operator skill from the control and analysis loop. It presents sonar images that have been automatically adjusted for slant range, ship speed and amplitude but is genuinely portable and can be powered by batteries. The unit is used in conjunction with a tow-fish which emits acoustic impulses, in a thin, fan-shaped pattern, which then spreads as far as 600 m on either side. Reflected acoustic energy is received by sensitive transducers within the fish which converts and amplifies through an in-built time varied gain amplifier prior to transmission up to the 260 sidescan recorder to be translated into hard copy. The result is a continuous, plan view of the scanned area with greatly improved signal to noise. Sequential scanning enables a mosaic of the seabed to be build up rapidly, with all the main topographical features readily identifiable. Central to the accuracy of the unit is the use of a 128 style grey-tone graphic printer, a relatively small print area (20 cm) coupled with an extremely precise pixel size (1/8 nun) and rapid, 50 lines s-I, print rate. Slant range correction is achieved by re-determining the height for each transmission and re-positioning each pixel at its true The EG & G 260 image-correcting sidescan sonar is horizontal range to an accuracy of 1% pixel--800 slant claimed to be the most advanced sonar system available range corrections per scan per channel are carried out for non-military users yet as simple to operate and under- automatically. Amplitude and speed are also corrected to ensure maximum accuracy. stand as an echo system, and notably inexpensive.
Sidescan Sonar