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Oil refinery discharges
Marine PollutionBulletin 98:1708 : 13 and for organochlorine substances 83 : 1567 : 11. Regarding the organochlorine substances and pesticide residues for which data are presented it is concluded firmly that "the level of organochlorine pesticide and PCB residues, although differing from species to species, is low by all standards of safety either for the fish or shellfish species or for man". Although one might question the grammar, this conclusion will be generally accepted. In respect of metals, it is concluded that the levels encountered are unlikely to be dangerous to the species concerned. This is a conclusion with which not everyone would agree but it remains for the sceptics to demonstrate that damage is being done which is significant at population or ecosystem level. This mass of data can provide some interesting rid-bits for academic investigators not under pressure to deliver results to a deadline for administrative or control purposes. For example the differences between Mytilus and Modiolus in respect of accumulation of metals and between crab and lobster body meats in respect of all substances analysed. There is a strong suggestion that the whelks Buccinum and Neptunea, being both predatory and rather sedentary and also widely distributed, would repay attention as indicators of the spread of potential pollutants. There is a further advantage too in that both species are robust and easily maintained in laboratory tanks. Looking to the future, we may hope that the next report in this series will deal with most of the backlog and so enable some of the trends to be displayed graphically. Possibly we may look for the inclusion of values for arsenic and even selenium. In reports which give so much information errors in production and presentation appear to be very few; in Table 6 of Report No.2 'chromium' appears as a column heading instead of 'cadmium' but the mistake is almost immediately evident and causes no confusion. The horizontal lining up of tables which occupy a spread of two pages is sometimes defective (e.g. Table 5 in Report No.2) and the Latin names of the lobster and cockle are not those now generally accepted.
H.A. COLE
Dumping Wastes at Sea Three reports just published by The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Fishery Research Technical Report, Nos 50-52, 1979) give a good view of the impact of dumping dredging spoil into coastal waters. At present about 28 million tons of spoil are dumped each year at some 70 designated spoil grounds. MAFF was the licensing authority for England and Wales until I April 1978, when Wales took over its own affairs; Scotland has always been separate in this respect. There has been a good deal of routine monitoring of metals in water, fish and shellfish in recent years and now MAFF has turned its attention to the sediments and the benthic ecosystems. The third of these reports (No.52) gives the overall picture of the composition of dredged spoils dumped at sea around the entire coast of England and Wales from Berwick in the north-east to Workington in the north-west. Analyses of the metal content of sediments from 132 sites, sampling about 10 000 tons of the total dumped. The 'persistent' oils (i.e. non-saponifiable oil) were also quantified at 46 of these sites. The results, not unexpectedly, show wide variations between 344
different places. Spoils from industrialized estuaries much used by shipping, like the Tyne, Tees and Mersey, contain concentrations of metals 500 times greater than in sediments in uncontaminated estuaries, like the rivers Bure and Yare in the Great Yarmouth area. The highest concentration of 'persistent' oil was in sediment at an oil-loading berth on the Manchester Ship Canal. The dumping grounds have an impoverished fauna and it appears that, even after dumping has stopped, recolonization of the area is slow. However, it is concluded that this effect is limited to the affected areas and although some contaminants leach out of the sediments and lead to increased concentrations of pollutants in animal tissues, the effect is not widespread. The report rather discounts any strict relationship between particular contaminants in dumped spoil and the incidence of fish disease. The other two reports focus in detail on the effects of dumping sewage sludge off Plymouth (Report No.50) and solid industrial wastes at two sites off the north-east coast of England (Report No. 51). The Plymouth dumping ground is in an area of high dispersion because of the resuspending action of winter storms and the dumping evidently has no detectable effect on the benthic fauna. Zones of enrichment by organic detritus and trace metals from the sewage sludge have been identified, but the concentrations are less than those inshore of the dumping ground, which are associated with coastal discharges and the deposit of dredge spoil. The area supports a diverse fauna which is unaffected by the dumping. The story in the north-east is quite different. One area, off Blyth, receives mainly fly ash from a coal-fired power station, the other, off Sunderland, is a dumping ground for colliery waste. At both sites where dumping is in progress, there is a severe depletion of benthic fauna in terms of both species and abundance. There is some evidence of recovery of older, weathered waste deposits, so recolonization of the affected areas would probably follow if dumping ceased. The north-east coast is the site of one of the most productive inshore commercial fisheries around the United Kingdom and dumping wastes there is, of course, damaging to the fishing interests. Bottom trawling is inhibited because of the uneven piles of spoil on the seabed, lobster and crab potting is impossible in areas where waste is regularly deposited, and the spoil has filled in rocky crevices and destroyed the habitat of crabs and lobsters. It also appears that the conditions of the dumping licences have not been properly observed. The main areas of waste off the north east coast amount to 40 km 2, but this is more than three times the area actually licensed for dumping and in most cases, it seems that the chief areas of dumping are inshore of the licensed dumping grounds. This casual attitude on the part of the dumpers has therefore had a much greater adverse impact on commercial fisheries than is necessary or was budgeted for when the licences were issued.
Oil Refinery Discharges A major new study on water pollution has criticized EEC guidelines for measuring the impact of refinery effluents on marine and fresh waters. Widespread concern about oil refinery discharges led
Volume 10/Number 12/December1979 CONCAWE, the oil companies' international study group, to commission the report. CONCAWE asked two internationally-respected consultants to conduct the review. Dr Jenifer M. Baker, of the Field Studies Council in the UK, considered the marine environment, which receives effluent from most of the older refineries. Dr L. Huber, of the Bavarian Institute for Water Research, Munich, examined the effects in fresh water, into which many of the newer refineries discharge. Their two independent reviews form the main part of the report, which also includes a brief introduction to oil refining in Europe, and to the sources, characteristics, and methods of treatment applicable to refinery waste waters. The study came in the wake of an EEC Directive on oil pollution of surface waters. It concludes that the three 'danger' criteria of toxicity, persistence, and bio-accumulation are very difficult to apply to refinery effluents, since their complexity and the variability of receiving waters makes measurement impracticable. In practice, refinery effluents are found to be relatively innocuous, although primary treatment may result in discharges which show some acutely toxic effects when undiluted. The traditional coastal location of oil refineries, discharging into estuaries or tidal waters, often results in rapid reduction of effluent concentrations by dilution - so no adverse environmental effects may be observed. Inland refineries usually carry out either physical or biological secondary treatment, which can eliminate any possible ecological effects, even from undiluted effluent. The report calls for further study of the relationship between the composition of refinery effluent and toxicity, and the standardization throughout Europe of effluent parameters which should be controlled.
Lead in Food The Lead in Food Regulations, 1979, laid before Parliament on 12 October 1979, and coming into effect on 12 April 1980, will set new maximum limits for lead in specified foods, reduce the general limit of the lead content in food from 2.0 mg kg -1 to 1.0 mg kg -~ and introduce specific limits, for the first time, for lead in fish (2.0 mg k g - q and shellfish (10.0 mg kg-~). These regulations are made under the provisions of the Food and Drugs Act, 1955, which apply only in England and Wales; they amend and supersede the Lead in Food Regulations of 1961, as amended. It is expected that similar regulations will be made for Scotland and Northern Ireland under the appropriate Food and Drugs Acts. The regulations result from advice tendered by the Food Additives and Contaminants Committee which has in progress " a review of metals in canned foods, including the influence of canning technology on their presence in such products". Further recommendations for changes may emerge later. No problems are likely to be created for marketing fresh fish and shellfish by these new regulations. Existing levels of lead in these products are generally below the suggested limits. Enforcement may well present some difficulties because the accurate determination of lead content is difficult and there is the ever present risk of contamination
by airborne lead during sampling, processing and analysis resulting an artificially high determinations. The new regulations and the general tightening up that they represent, may be seen as evidence of renewed anxiety about the intake of lead in the population, particularly young children, and a feeling in official circles that the contribution from canned seafood may be significant and needs to be more closely controlled. Whether any changes in canning technology are needed will emerge from later reports by the Food Additives and Contaminants Committee. No doubt the Torrey Research Station of MAFF has the matter under consideration and will make the appropriate recommendations if they are needed.
Pesticide Pollution A call for greater awareness of the pollution caused by agricultural pesticides in Britain has been made in a report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. The report criticizes the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for its emphasis on productivity rather than public health. But the Commission has not satisfied many environmentalists, because although it recognizes the rising levels of nitrate in water due to the use of nitrogenous fertilizers, it strongly doubts the health hazards associated with this. The Commission also states that the reduction of nitrate levels in water could probably not be achieved by using less fertilizers. It would be cheaper for water authorities to treat polluted water than to reduce agricultural productivity by restricting the use of fertilizers.
Action Call from Biologists A call for stronger government action on marine pollution has been made in a memorandum approved by 200 biologists. The 14th European Marine Biology Symposium held recently in Heligoland discussed the effects of the Amoco Cadiz disaster, but greater concern was expressed about more regular kinds of pollution to the marine environment. The meeting discussed in particular three main problems: the destruction of the marine habitat, exploitation of living resources, and the threats of long-term pollution confirmed in recent scientific reports. The conference called for new technology to reduce waste disposal into the sea, the development of new methods of health assessment in the environment, and the closer involvement of scientists when such new decisions or policies are made.
Tanker Owners Praised but Asked to do Better The Secretary General of IMCO, Mr C.P. Srivastava, has told the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation that oil pollution of the sea could be greatly reduced if they took action in four specific areas. Speaking at the 10th anniversary dinner of TOVALOP the tanker owners' compensation scheme, Mr Srivastava, who praised the industry for its efforts to improve safety and reduce pollution, said that action was needed to ensure the effective implementation of the 'load on top' system.
H.A. COLE
Dumping Wastes at Sea Three reports just published by The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Fishery Research Technical Report, Nos 50-52, 1979) give a good view of the impact of dumping dredging spoil into coastal waters. At present about 28 million tons of spoil are dumped each year at some 70 designated spoil grounds. MAFF was the licensing authority for England and Wales until I April 1978, when Wales took over its own affairs; Scotland has always been separate in this respect. There has been a good deal of routine monitoring of metals in water, fish and shellfish in recent years and now MAFF has turned its attention to the sediments and the benthic ecosystems. The third of these reports (No.52) gives the overall picture of the composition of dredged spoils dumped at sea around the entire coast of England and Wales from Berwick in the north-east to Workington in the north-west. Analyses of the metal content of sediments from 132 sites, sampling about 10 000 tons of the total dumped. The 'persistent' oils (i.e. non-saponifiable oil) were also quantified at 46 of these sites. The results, not unexpectedly, show wide variations between 344
different places. Spoils from industrialized estuaries much used by shipping, like the Tyne, Tees and Mersey, contain concentrations of metals 500 times greater than in sediments in uncontaminated estuaries, like the rivers Bure and Yare in the Great Yarmouth area. The highest concentration of 'persistent' oil was in sediment at an oil-loading berth on the Manchester Ship Canal. The dumping grounds have an impoverished fauna and it appears that, even after dumping has stopped, recolonization of the area is slow. However, it is concluded that this effect is limited to the affected areas and although some contaminants leach out of the sediments and lead to increased concentrations of pollutants in animal tissues, the effect is not widespread. The report rather discounts any strict relationship between particular contaminants in dumped spoil and the incidence of fish disease. The other two reports focus in detail on the effects of dumping sewage sludge off Plymouth (Report No.50) and solid industrial wastes at two sites off the north-east coast of England (Report No. 51). The Plymouth dumping ground is in an area of high dispersion because of the resuspending action of winter storms and the dumping evidently has no detectable effect on the benthic fauna. Zones of enrichment by organic detritus and trace metals from the sewage sludge have been identified, but the concentrations are less than those inshore of the dumping ground, which are associated with coastal discharges and the deposit of dredge spoil. The area supports a diverse fauna which is unaffected by the dumping. The story in the north-east is quite different. One area, off Blyth, receives mainly fly ash from a coal-fired power station, the other, off Sunderland, is a dumping ground for colliery waste. At both sites where dumping is in progress, there is a severe depletion of benthic fauna in terms of both species and abundance. There is some evidence of recovery of older, weathered waste deposits, so recolonization of the affected areas would probably follow if dumping ceased. The north-east coast is the site of one of the most productive inshore commercial fisheries around the United Kingdom and dumping wastes there is, of course, damaging to the fishing interests. Bottom trawling is inhibited because of the uneven piles of spoil on the seabed, lobster and crab potting is impossible in areas where waste is regularly deposited, and the spoil has filled in rocky crevices and destroyed the habitat of crabs and lobsters. It also appears that the conditions of the dumping licences have not been properly observed. The main areas of waste off the north east coast amount to 40 km 2, but this is more than three times the area actually licensed for dumping and in most cases, it seems that the chief areas of dumping are inshore of the licensed dumping grounds. This casual attitude on the part of the dumpers has therefore had a much greater adverse impact on commercial fisheries than is necessary or was budgeted for when the licences were issued.
Oil Refinery Discharges A major new study on water pollution has criticized EEC guidelines for measuring the impact of refinery effluents on marine and fresh waters. Widespread concern about oil refinery discharges led
Volume 10/Number 12/December1979 CONCAWE, the oil companies' international study group, to commission the report. CONCAWE asked two internationally-respected consultants to conduct the review. Dr Jenifer M. Baker, of the Field Studies Council in the UK, considered the marine environment, which receives effluent from most of the older refineries. Dr L. Huber, of the Bavarian Institute for Water Research, Munich, examined the effects in fresh water, into which many of the newer refineries discharge. Their two independent reviews form the main part of the report, which also includes a brief introduction to oil refining in Europe, and to the sources, characteristics, and methods of treatment applicable to refinery waste waters. The study came in the wake of an EEC Directive on oil pollution of surface waters. It concludes that the three 'danger' criteria of toxicity, persistence, and bio-accumulation are very difficult to apply to refinery effluents, since their complexity and the variability of receiving waters makes measurement impracticable. In practice, refinery effluents are found to be relatively innocuous, although primary treatment may result in discharges which show some acutely toxic effects when undiluted. The traditional coastal location of oil refineries, discharging into estuaries or tidal waters, often results in rapid reduction of effluent concentrations by dilution - so no adverse environmental effects may be observed. Inland refineries usually carry out either physical or biological secondary treatment, which can eliminate any possible ecological effects, even from undiluted effluent. The report calls for further study of the relationship between the composition of refinery effluent and toxicity, and the standardization throughout Europe of effluent parameters which should be controlled.
Lead in Food The Lead in Food Regulations, 1979, laid before Parliament on 12 October 1979, and coming into effect on 12 April 1980, will set new maximum limits for lead in specified foods, reduce the general limit of the lead content in food from 2.0 mg kg -1 to 1.0 mg kg -~ and introduce specific limits, for the first time, for lead in fish (2.0 mg k g - q and shellfish (10.0 mg kg-~). These regulations are made under the provisions of the Food and Drugs Act, 1955, which apply only in England and Wales; they amend and supersede the Lead in Food Regulations of 1961, as amended. It is expected that similar regulations will be made for Scotland and Northern Ireland under the appropriate Food and Drugs Acts. The regulations result from advice tendered by the Food Additives and Contaminants Committee which has in progress " a review of metals in canned foods, including the influence of canning technology on their presence in such products". Further recommendations for changes may emerge later. No problems are likely to be created for marketing fresh fish and shellfish by these new regulations. Existing levels of lead in these products are generally below the suggested limits. Enforcement may well present some difficulties because the accurate determination of lead content is difficult and there is the ever present risk of contamination
by airborne lead during sampling, processing and analysis resulting an artificially high determinations. The new regulations and the general tightening up that they represent, may be seen as evidence of renewed anxiety about the intake of lead in the population, particularly young children, and a feeling in official circles that the contribution from canned seafood may be significant and needs to be more closely controlled. Whether any changes in canning technology are needed will emerge from later reports by the Food Additives and Contaminants Committee. No doubt the Torrey Research Station of MAFF has the matter under consideration and will make the appropriate recommendations if they are needed.
Pesticide Pollution A call for greater awareness of the pollution caused by agricultural pesticides in Britain has been made in a report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. The report criticizes the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for its emphasis on productivity rather than public health. But the Commission has not satisfied many environmentalists, because although it recognizes the rising levels of nitrate in water due to the use of nitrogenous fertilizers, it strongly doubts the health hazards associated with this. The Commission also states that the reduction of nitrate levels in water could probably not be achieved by using less fertilizers. It would be cheaper for water authorities to treat polluted water than to reduce agricultural productivity by restricting the use of fertilizers.
Action Call from Biologists A call for stronger government action on marine pollution has been made in a memorandum approved by 200 biologists. The 14th European Marine Biology Symposium held recently in Heligoland discussed the effects of the Amoco Cadiz disaster, but greater concern was expressed about more regular kinds of pollution to the marine environment. The meeting discussed in particular three main problems: the destruction of the marine habitat, exploitation of living resources, and the threats of long-term pollution confirmed in recent scientific reports. The conference called for new technology to reduce waste disposal into the sea, the development of new methods of health assessment in the environment, and the closer involvement of scientists when such new decisions or policies are made.
Tanker Owners Praised but Asked to do Better The Secretary General of IMCO, Mr C.P. Srivastava, has told the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation that oil pollution of the sea could be greatly reduced if they took action in four specific areas. Speaking at the 10th anniversary dinner of TOVALOP the tanker owners' compensation scheme, Mr Srivastava, who praised the industry for its efforts to improve safety and reduce pollution, said that action was needed to ensure the effective implementation of the 'load on top' system.