- Email: [email protected]
Estuarine and brackish water association
Marine Pollution Bulletin
which these services might be deployed. Copies may be obtained from the Secretary for International Affairs at the RICS, 12 Great George Street, Parliament Square, London SW1P 3AD, UK.
Gulf's Pollution Problems Increase Oil spilled by five damaged wells in the Nowruz Field off the northern coast of Iran has formed a huge oil slick in the Gulf, reported to be 40 km wide and extending more than 600 km south-east to Qatar. Reports have also been received of beaches impacted by oil and tar balls in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. In late May-early June, a spokesman for the Red Adair Company of Houston said the wells - damaged by a blow out and Iraqi rocket attacks - were estimated to be spilling up to 10000 barrels a day, although the International Tanker Owners Association put the figure as low as 2000 barrels daily early in May. Following a meeting of technical experts from Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to decide how to respond to the spill, it was agreed that daily helicopter flights would be made over Saudi Arabian and Iranian waters to chart the movement of the slick.
Dispute over Sea Graves for Nuclear Subs A plan by the United States Navy to dispose of 100 obsolete nuclear submarines by dumping them at sea off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts during the next two decades has been sharply criticized by a committee of scientists set up by the Oceanic Society to study the proposal. The Navy is considering abandoning the submarines at depths of 4000 m off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina or off Cape Mendocino, California, arguing that burial at sea is cheaper than using land nuclear dumps. But the Society claims that the Navy has ignored the effects of radioactivity emanating from the submarines' reactors and steam generators on deep sea ecology. It argues that burying the submarines in land dumps would be safer, as radioactive reactor compartments will rust more quickly if sunk at sea. Claiming that most of the radioactive nuclides from the submarine reactors would have decayed to stable atoms before they could possibly be released to the environment by the 'slow corrosion process', the Navy says an accident would not give anybody a radiation dose higher than the 4 mrem yr -~ limit set for drinking water in the United States. Countering this, the Society says the Navy's case is based on "weak scholarship" and has left little margin for error in a 'worst case' situation.
$4m Research Programme Report The latest Environmental Research Annual Status Report published by the American Petroleum Institute (API) which summarizes recently completed and continuing projects, shows that $4m was spent on its research programme in 1982. 244
API funded 21 projects in the category Environmental Fate and Effects of Petroleum and Related Subjects, covering spills in the marine environment, toxicity effects on marine organisms, and the ecological impact of spill clean ups. Seven projects on spill technology were funded, including a study of aerial dispersant spraying systems. The report is available as Publication No. 4358, free of charge from Publications Section, API, 2101 L Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20037, USA.
CITES Improves Species Protection The fourth meeting of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora, held in Botswana, resulted in a conference described by CITES' secretary general Eugene LaPointe as " a great success". Member states who accepted a proposal to admit the European Economic Community as a party to the Convention, defeated attempts to relax restrictions on trade in products from a wide range of endangered species and increased protection for six species of whales including the minke, Bryde's and four bottlenose varieties. The minke whale listing on Appendix 1 of the Treaty-banning all trade except for scientific purposes -will become effective from January 1986, coinciding with the beginning of the total moratorium on commercial whaling declared by the International Whaling Commission last year. A notable conservation set-back, however, was the defeat of a resolution to regulate trade in harp and hooded seals following a heated debate. Secretary General LaPointe said that the conference, which was attended by more than 300 delegates from 60 countries and 100 private organizations, had achieved results which showed that CITES had reached maturity at an international level.
Estuarine and Brackish Water Association The Estuarine and Brackish-Water Sciences Association (EBSA) is organizing two scientific meetings later this year. On 21-22 September at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, twenty-four papers will be presented at a conference on "The Structure and Function of Brackish Water and Inshore Communities". Further details from Dr M. Wilkinson, Heriot-Watt University, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. On 3 November, 'Scottish Sea Lochs' will be the topic of a joint EBSA and Scottish Marine Biological Association meeting, at Stirling University. Further details from Mr A. Edwards, SMBA, Dunstaffnage, PO Box 3, Oban, Scotland.
Safety at Sea The Fourth International Symposium on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion in the Process Industries, to be held at Harrogate, England, on September 12-16, 1983, will incorporate sessions on 'Chemical process hazards' and 'Hazardous chemicals and liquified gases- safe transport by sea'.
which these services might be deployed. Copies may be obtained from the Secretary for International Affairs at the RICS, 12 Great George Street, Parliament Square, London SW1P 3AD, UK.
Gulf's Pollution Problems Increase Oil spilled by five damaged wells in the Nowruz Field off the northern coast of Iran has formed a huge oil slick in the Gulf, reported to be 40 km wide and extending more than 600 km south-east to Qatar. Reports have also been received of beaches impacted by oil and tar balls in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. In late May-early June, a spokesman for the Red Adair Company of Houston said the wells - damaged by a blow out and Iraqi rocket attacks - were estimated to be spilling up to 10000 barrels a day, although the International Tanker Owners Association put the figure as low as 2000 barrels daily early in May. Following a meeting of technical experts from Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to decide how to respond to the spill, it was agreed that daily helicopter flights would be made over Saudi Arabian and Iranian waters to chart the movement of the slick.
Dispute over Sea Graves for Nuclear Subs A plan by the United States Navy to dispose of 100 obsolete nuclear submarines by dumping them at sea off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts during the next two decades has been sharply criticized by a committee of scientists set up by the Oceanic Society to study the proposal. The Navy is considering abandoning the submarines at depths of 4000 m off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina or off Cape Mendocino, California, arguing that burial at sea is cheaper than using land nuclear dumps. But the Society claims that the Navy has ignored the effects of radioactivity emanating from the submarines' reactors and steam generators on deep sea ecology. It argues that burying the submarines in land dumps would be safer, as radioactive reactor compartments will rust more quickly if sunk at sea. Claiming that most of the radioactive nuclides from the submarine reactors would have decayed to stable atoms before they could possibly be released to the environment by the 'slow corrosion process', the Navy says an accident would not give anybody a radiation dose higher than the 4 mrem yr -~ limit set for drinking water in the United States. Countering this, the Society says the Navy's case is based on "weak scholarship" and has left little margin for error in a 'worst case' situation.
$4m Research Programme Report The latest Environmental Research Annual Status Report published by the American Petroleum Institute (API) which summarizes recently completed and continuing projects, shows that $4m was spent on its research programme in 1982. 244
API funded 21 projects in the category Environmental Fate and Effects of Petroleum and Related Subjects, covering spills in the marine environment, toxicity effects on marine organisms, and the ecological impact of spill clean ups. Seven projects on spill technology were funded, including a study of aerial dispersant spraying systems. The report is available as Publication No. 4358, free of charge from Publications Section, API, 2101 L Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20037, USA.
CITES Improves Species Protection The fourth meeting of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora, held in Botswana, resulted in a conference described by CITES' secretary general Eugene LaPointe as " a great success". Member states who accepted a proposal to admit the European Economic Community as a party to the Convention, defeated attempts to relax restrictions on trade in products from a wide range of endangered species and increased protection for six species of whales including the minke, Bryde's and four bottlenose varieties. The minke whale listing on Appendix 1 of the Treaty-banning all trade except for scientific purposes -will become effective from January 1986, coinciding with the beginning of the total moratorium on commercial whaling declared by the International Whaling Commission last year. A notable conservation set-back, however, was the defeat of a resolution to regulate trade in harp and hooded seals following a heated debate. Secretary General LaPointe said that the conference, which was attended by more than 300 delegates from 60 countries and 100 private organizations, had achieved results which showed that CITES had reached maturity at an international level.
Estuarine and Brackish Water Association The Estuarine and Brackish-Water Sciences Association (EBSA) is organizing two scientific meetings later this year. On 21-22 September at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, twenty-four papers will be presented at a conference on "The Structure and Function of Brackish Water and Inshore Communities". Further details from Dr M. Wilkinson, Heriot-Watt University, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. On 3 November, 'Scottish Sea Lochs' will be the topic of a joint EBSA and Scottish Marine Biological Association meeting, at Stirling University. Further details from Mr A. Edwards, SMBA, Dunstaffnage, PO Box 3, Oban, Scotland.
Safety at Sea The Fourth International Symposium on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion in the Process Industries, to be held at Harrogate, England, on September 12-16, 1983, will incorporate sessions on 'Chemical process hazards' and 'Hazardous chemicals and liquified gases- safe transport by sea'.