- Email: [email protected]
Great lakes anti-pollution pact
Volume 10/Number 4/April 1979
spilled when the vessel broke in two and sank in the St. Lawrence seaway near Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The 32000 ton ship's loss is understood to have occurred after it struck an ice floe in severe weather conditions 80 km off the Canadian Coast. Immediately after the accident the two halves of the vessel remained afloat with a large quantity of oil still contained in holds but it was estimated that approximately 10 000 tons had escaped.
1972 agreement. Responsibility for monitoring compliance with the Agreement has been given to the Water Quality Control Board, a sub-group of the US-Canadian Joint International Commission.
Round-the-World News Greece
UK Pollution Protection Reports Published A series of four reports commissioned by Britain's Secretary for Trade to review arrangements for pollution control have recommended a £1.5m spending programme to enable marine disasters to be tackled more effectively. This money is needed, say the reports, to buy more dispersant spraying equipment, a new Springsweep oil recovery system designed by the Warren Spring Laboratory and the setting up of two salvage equipment storage bases at Pembroke Dock and Rosyth. The additional spraying gear will help increase the number of tugs and other small vessels able to deal with coastal oil spills from 90 to 125. The Government has accepted these proposals together with a recommendation that Britain seeks an increase in the £19.5m compensation limit provided for under the new International Fund Convention. But the reports disappointed many by rejecting the idea of buying specialised ships to tackle major pollution incidents or paying for additional salvage tugs to be stationed in British waters. And one report highlighted a critical deficiency in the Government's forward planning for protection from pollution disasters. It points out that merely a skeleton contingency plan existed for dealing with a disaster involving a ship carrying chemicals although such an incident could involve many highly toxic chemicals and be far more hazardous than oil.
Little information is yet available about what is believed to be a major oil spill off the south coast of Crete. A large quantity of crude oil is reported to have escaped after the Liberian tanker Messiniaki ran aground when fully laden with 95 000 tons of crude oil.
Canada A Bill to establish a new Department of Fisheries and Oceans and a Fisheries and Oceans Research Advisory Council has been introduced in the Canadian House of Commons. The powers and functions of the Department will include coastal and inland fisheries, fishing and recreational harbours, hydrography and marine sciences, also coordination of federal policies and programmes involving oceans. The Research Council will advise the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans on issues of fisheries and marine science and on the scope and adequacy of the research programmes of his department- the role formerly of the Fisheries Research Board.
Australia Dr. Tsutomu Ikeda from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), who was recently awarded the Japanese Oceanographic Society's Okada Prize for his research achievements is now undertaking an official study of Antarctic krill. Australia's Minister for Science, Senator James Webster, who announced details of the expedition, said that Dr Ikeda would study the food needs and growth rates of Antarctic krill and bring back living specimens for more detailed study.
Great Lakes Anti-Pollution Pact An agreement to 'eliminate and reduce to the maximum extent practicable the discharge of pollutants into the Great Lakes system' has been signed by the United States and Canada following more than a year of negotiation. Although the p a c t - w h i c h revises the 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement - will not have the effect of law, municipalities will be required to have fully effective pollution controls completed and operational by the end of 1982. The agreement incorporates new knowledge about toxic substances covering 35 pollutants including cadmium, PCB's and lead, which were not included in the
Pacific The University of the South Pacific in Suva is undertaking a study to determine whether turtle farming projects could be made economically feasible in the region. The South Pacific Commission which is also backing a similar study at Raratonga in the Cook Islands believes that the Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) could prove the best choice for setting up breeding colonies and in addition to the commercial prospects it is felt that a percentage of farmproduced turtles will help conserve or even increase the wild population. 99
spilled when the vessel broke in two and sank in the St. Lawrence seaway near Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The 32000 ton ship's loss is understood to have occurred after it struck an ice floe in severe weather conditions 80 km off the Canadian Coast. Immediately after the accident the two halves of the vessel remained afloat with a large quantity of oil still contained in holds but it was estimated that approximately 10 000 tons had escaped.
1972 agreement. Responsibility for monitoring compliance with the Agreement has been given to the Water Quality Control Board, a sub-group of the US-Canadian Joint International Commission.
Round-the-World News Greece
UK Pollution Protection Reports Published A series of four reports commissioned by Britain's Secretary for Trade to review arrangements for pollution control have recommended a £1.5m spending programme to enable marine disasters to be tackled more effectively. This money is needed, say the reports, to buy more dispersant spraying equipment, a new Springsweep oil recovery system designed by the Warren Spring Laboratory and the setting up of two salvage equipment storage bases at Pembroke Dock and Rosyth. The additional spraying gear will help increase the number of tugs and other small vessels able to deal with coastal oil spills from 90 to 125. The Government has accepted these proposals together with a recommendation that Britain seeks an increase in the £19.5m compensation limit provided for under the new International Fund Convention. But the reports disappointed many by rejecting the idea of buying specialised ships to tackle major pollution incidents or paying for additional salvage tugs to be stationed in British waters. And one report highlighted a critical deficiency in the Government's forward planning for protection from pollution disasters. It points out that merely a skeleton contingency plan existed for dealing with a disaster involving a ship carrying chemicals although such an incident could involve many highly toxic chemicals and be far more hazardous than oil.
Little information is yet available about what is believed to be a major oil spill off the south coast of Crete. A large quantity of crude oil is reported to have escaped after the Liberian tanker Messiniaki ran aground when fully laden with 95 000 tons of crude oil.
Canada A Bill to establish a new Department of Fisheries and Oceans and a Fisheries and Oceans Research Advisory Council has been introduced in the Canadian House of Commons. The powers and functions of the Department will include coastal and inland fisheries, fishing and recreational harbours, hydrography and marine sciences, also coordination of federal policies and programmes involving oceans. The Research Council will advise the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans on issues of fisheries and marine science and on the scope and adequacy of the research programmes of his department- the role formerly of the Fisheries Research Board.
Australia Dr. Tsutomu Ikeda from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), who was recently awarded the Japanese Oceanographic Society's Okada Prize for his research achievements is now undertaking an official study of Antarctic krill. Australia's Minister for Science, Senator James Webster, who announced details of the expedition, said that Dr Ikeda would study the food needs and growth rates of Antarctic krill and bring back living specimens for more detailed study.
Great Lakes Anti-Pollution Pact An agreement to 'eliminate and reduce to the maximum extent practicable the discharge of pollutants into the Great Lakes system' has been signed by the United States and Canada following more than a year of negotiation. Although the p a c t - w h i c h revises the 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement - will not have the effect of law, municipalities will be required to have fully effective pollution controls completed and operational by the end of 1982. The agreement incorporates new knowledge about toxic substances covering 35 pollutants including cadmium, PCB's and lead, which were not included in the
Pacific The University of the South Pacific in Suva is undertaking a study to determine whether turtle farming projects could be made economically feasible in the region. The South Pacific Commission which is also backing a similar study at Raratonga in the Cook Islands believes that the Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) could prove the best choice for setting up breeding colonies and in addition to the commercial prospects it is felt that a percentage of farmproduced turtles will help conserve or even increase the wild population. 99