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Porton Down suspected of marine pollution
Marine Pollution Bulletin
disturbance, and traffic, or which adversely affect heritage features or remote stretches of coast." Thirty per cent of heritage coast land is within Natural Trust ownership. The statement says high priority should be given to assisting further protective ownership by the trust and similar organizations as this is one of the most effective means of securing long-term protection and management. The Commission proposes that a local authority committee should be charged with the protection and management of heritage coasts, supported by an officer team that would be responsible for drawing up a coast management plan. Local communities, too, should be involved through local societies and groups.
Porton Down Suspected of Marine Pollution The National Rivers Authority is investigating the causes of marine life deaths including ten dolphins and guillemots, razorbills and a giant leatherback turtle, around a former UK Ministry of Defence nerve gas factory at Porton Down Chemical Defence Establishment, Nancekuke, Cornwall. The factory closed in the 1970s and the site was used to dump incinerated mustard gas and white asbestos. The sea cliffs have since been subjected to coastal erosion and it is feared toxins may have been released.
Mass White Sea Mortalities During recent months, several million dead starfish, mussels, crabs, porpoises, and seals have been washed up on the coast of the White Sea in the Soviet Arctic. It has also been discovered that shoals of native fish have migrated out of the area. As yet, marine scientists have not established the cause(s) of this disaster. Inadequate food supplies or reduced salinity have already been dismissed as causative factors. Reported high levels of strontium resulting from nearby nuclear testing or from a submarine or icebreaker leak have been dismissed by government scientists. Another report claims that the army dumped several old containers of mustard gas in the area during the 1950s which, it is claimed, may now be leaking. It has also been suggested that a submarine accident last December, which resulted in a rocket fuel spill may also be to blame. A government commission has been set up to investigate the incident. PIETER JONES
Pacific Nuclear Tests A recent report alleges that toxic persistent radioactive isotopes produced during underground nuclear tests at the Muraroa Atoll are leaking into the marine environment. The French and American governments have conducted over 130 tests at the site since 1975, when atmospheric tests ceased. Jacques Cousteau published a report in 1987 which concluded that the tests posed no 502
immediate danger. However, a report by the American environmental pressure group, Search Technical Services, casts doubt on the evaluation of Cousteau's data which, it claims, indicate that the underground test caverns are leaking into the lagoon of the volcanic atoll. An earlier study by University of Auckland in the mid-1980s raised concerns about the leaching of radiation from the contaminated rock by hydrothermal convection which transfers water from the porous rock under the atoll into the lagoon. Subsequent research by several New Zealand scientists indicated that, after 10 years, the radiation would begin to leak into the lagoon. PETER JONES
Ecology Institute Prize, 1991 The Ecology Institute is seeking nominations for its 1991 award for excellence in ecology. The prize winner will write a book in the series Excellence in Ecology which will be published by the Institute at cost price. Two such titles have so far appeared: Tom Fenchel's (prize winner in 1986) Ecology--Potentials and Limitations (see Mar. Pollut. Bull. 19, 296-297) and E. O. Wilson's (prize winner in 1987) Success and Dominance in Ecosystems which has just appeared. The 1991 prize will be devoted to the field of limnetic ecology. The Chairman of the Jury will be Professor J. Overbeck, Max-Planck-Institut ftir Limnologie, Postfach 165, D-2320 Plon, Germany, and all research ecologists are invited to send him their nominations.
North American News Random Drug Testing A proposed rule, which would require any crew member who could affect safety in commercial vessels and Mobile Drilling Units (MODUs), to be subject to random drug testing has been proposed by the US Coast Guard (USCG). Once the rule is made law, any vessel or MODU carrying more than 50 personnel will be required to undergo random tests on its crew. The smaller vessels will have until late December 1990 before testing begins. The drugs in question will be opiates, amphetamines, cocaine, PCP, and marijuana. By pinpointing safety-sensitive personnel, the USCG has sidestepped the ruling made last December where random testing was stated to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution. The USCG make it clear in their proposal which personnel, licensed or unlicensed, would be considered to be safety-sensitive. The list includes the master, deck watch officers, engineers, pilots, radio officers, deckhands, and able seamen on inspected vessels while, on MODUs, the offshore installation manager, ballast control operator, barge supervisor, qualified engine department members and wipers would qualify. Any crew member on a commercial passenger vessel who had direct responsibility for safety would be included as well as tankermen and lifeboatmen. Certain personnel on uninspected vessels would also qualify.
disturbance, and traffic, or which adversely affect heritage features or remote stretches of coast." Thirty per cent of heritage coast land is within Natural Trust ownership. The statement says high priority should be given to assisting further protective ownership by the trust and similar organizations as this is one of the most effective means of securing long-term protection and management. The Commission proposes that a local authority committee should be charged with the protection and management of heritage coasts, supported by an officer team that would be responsible for drawing up a coast management plan. Local communities, too, should be involved through local societies and groups.
Porton Down Suspected of Marine Pollution The National Rivers Authority is investigating the causes of marine life deaths including ten dolphins and guillemots, razorbills and a giant leatherback turtle, around a former UK Ministry of Defence nerve gas factory at Porton Down Chemical Defence Establishment, Nancekuke, Cornwall. The factory closed in the 1970s and the site was used to dump incinerated mustard gas and white asbestos. The sea cliffs have since been subjected to coastal erosion and it is feared toxins may have been released.
Mass White Sea Mortalities During recent months, several million dead starfish, mussels, crabs, porpoises, and seals have been washed up on the coast of the White Sea in the Soviet Arctic. It has also been discovered that shoals of native fish have migrated out of the area. As yet, marine scientists have not established the cause(s) of this disaster. Inadequate food supplies or reduced salinity have already been dismissed as causative factors. Reported high levels of strontium resulting from nearby nuclear testing or from a submarine or icebreaker leak have been dismissed by government scientists. Another report claims that the army dumped several old containers of mustard gas in the area during the 1950s which, it is claimed, may now be leaking. It has also been suggested that a submarine accident last December, which resulted in a rocket fuel spill may also be to blame. A government commission has been set up to investigate the incident. PIETER JONES
Pacific Nuclear Tests A recent report alleges that toxic persistent radioactive isotopes produced during underground nuclear tests at the Muraroa Atoll are leaking into the marine environment. The French and American governments have conducted over 130 tests at the site since 1975, when atmospheric tests ceased. Jacques Cousteau published a report in 1987 which concluded that the tests posed no 502
immediate danger. However, a report by the American environmental pressure group, Search Technical Services, casts doubt on the evaluation of Cousteau's data which, it claims, indicate that the underground test caverns are leaking into the lagoon of the volcanic atoll. An earlier study by University of Auckland in the mid-1980s raised concerns about the leaching of radiation from the contaminated rock by hydrothermal convection which transfers water from the porous rock under the atoll into the lagoon. Subsequent research by several New Zealand scientists indicated that, after 10 years, the radiation would begin to leak into the lagoon. PETER JONES
Ecology Institute Prize, 1991 The Ecology Institute is seeking nominations for its 1991 award for excellence in ecology. The prize winner will write a book in the series Excellence in Ecology which will be published by the Institute at cost price. Two such titles have so far appeared: Tom Fenchel's (prize winner in 1986) Ecology--Potentials and Limitations (see Mar. Pollut. Bull. 19, 296-297) and E. O. Wilson's (prize winner in 1987) Success and Dominance in Ecosystems which has just appeared. The 1991 prize will be devoted to the field of limnetic ecology. The Chairman of the Jury will be Professor J. Overbeck, Max-Planck-Institut ftir Limnologie, Postfach 165, D-2320 Plon, Germany, and all research ecologists are invited to send him their nominations.
North American News Random Drug Testing A proposed rule, which would require any crew member who could affect safety in commercial vessels and Mobile Drilling Units (MODUs), to be subject to random drug testing has been proposed by the US Coast Guard (USCG). Once the rule is made law, any vessel or MODU carrying more than 50 personnel will be required to undergo random tests on its crew. The smaller vessels will have until late December 1990 before testing begins. The drugs in question will be opiates, amphetamines, cocaine, PCP, and marijuana. By pinpointing safety-sensitive personnel, the USCG has sidestepped the ruling made last December where random testing was stated to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution. The USCG make it clear in their proposal which personnel, licensed or unlicensed, would be considered to be safety-sensitive. The list includes the master, deck watch officers, engineers, pilots, radio officers, deckhands, and able seamen on inspected vessels while, on MODUs, the offshore installation manager, ballast control operator, barge supervisor, qualified engine department members and wipers would qualify. Any crew member on a commercial passenger vessel who had direct responsibility for safety would be included as well as tankermen and lifeboatmen. Certain personnel on uninspected vessels would also qualify.