Russians and Americans in the Bering Sea

It cannot be denied that these are such thorny subjects, given the way the world has developed, that it is asking a lot for any government to deal realistically with them. In many countries it has to look to the next election and is therefore bound to concentrate on short-term problems. Even in those countries where the government is assured of a long period of office, it cannot move far ahead of public opinion and the conventional philosophy. Yet any responsible politician must see beyond his own term of office and much could be done to prepare the public for a different sort of world than that which we have experienced in the last few decades without arousing political controversy. The absence of even modest action in this direction suggests that governments have been so preoccupied with epiphenomena and immediate problems that they have not yet started to look ahead, let alone develop a management plan for their national affairs and the wider international problems. It is about time they did so.

Prospects for the IMCO Conference A new convention to replace existing measures on oil pollution at sea is likely to emerge from the October conference of the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization on marine pollution, according to Mr J. N. Archer, head of the Marine Division of the Department of Trade and Industry. Speaking at a symposium on marine pollution organized by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects in February, Mr Archer said that a new comprehensive agreement is likely to replace the 1954 convention with its 1969 amendments that at present limit the discharge of oil at sea. (Many countries have still to enforce the 1969 amendments which were only adopted in Britain late last year; see Marine Pollution Bulletin, 4 (2): 20, 1973.) Mr Archer also said that the new agreement will almost certainly include a much more effective requirement than in the 1954 agreement that governments should provide shore reception facilities for oily residues. The aim of the conference, he pointed out, is to 'achieve by 1975 if possible but certainly by the end of the decade, the complete elimination of the wilful and intentional pollution of the seas by oil and noxious substances other than oil and the minimization of accidental spills'. How this is to be achieved is still a matter of argument. Some governments, Mr Archer said, believed that a total ban is the only solution, but a number of others believe that if the 1969 amendments are properly enforced they will provide a sufficient solution. Under the 1969 amendments, 60 litres of oil and water mixture containing not more than 100 parts per million oil can be released per mile. Such a slick, Mr Archer said, disappears in about two hours and allows the load-on-top system, used by 80 per cent of the world's tankers, to be used.

According to Mr Archer, it is probably true to say 'that if these amendments were enforced, the problem of deliberate oil pollution from ships would be very largely solved'. A total ban on all discharges may prove prohibitively expensive, Mr Archer pointed out. A much cheaper solution such as the 1969 amendments might still produce a substantial improvement in the situation. Mr Archer also pointed out that while some 1.5 million tons of oil are discharged into the sea by ships each year, the amount reaching the seas from the land may be twice that amount, while an even larger proportion may reach the sea as air-borne pollution from such sources as oil burning power stations and motor cars. 'The total quantity discharged,' Mr Archer said, 'has been estimated to amount to some 25 million tons a year, and it is reasonable to believe that a substantial proportion of this ultimately reaches the seas'. But October's London conference is not only concerned with oil pollution. For the first time the conference will discuss 'noxious substances other than oil' internationally. The United Nations committee GESAMP (joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution) is currently identifying hundreds of potentially hazardous substances and classifying them under a number of regulations for carriage and discharge according to the danger they present. 'Wide differences of opinion as to suitable treatment are already emerging internationally, and the whole question of definition and treatment of noxious substances other than oil is likely to be a lively one at the conference.'

Russians and Americans in the Bering Sea The sea ice, sea surface and atmospheric conditions of the Bering Sea have been measured by the Academy of Sciences of the USA and USSR in joint programme. Both ships and aircraft have been used in the operation which lasted from February 15 to March 7. The experiment--one of the results of last August's US/USSR working group on satellite meteorology-is intended to obtain and exchange microwave measurements of the sea surface at varying temperatures and sea states, the salinity, thickness, roughness and age of the sea ice, and the water content of the atmosphere. Results may help produce a better understanding of weather patterns in the Bering Sea. It is also hoped that the measurements from microwave radiometers mounted on the aircraft can be compared to information from satellite borne instruments so that the value of each in meteorology can be assessed.

Pipelines in Port Phillip Bay Esso Australia are distributing a report with the pride of a new father handing out cigars. T i t l e d 'Report on the Impact of the Ethane Pipeline on the Marine Ecosystem of Port Phillip Bay', it was compiled by Jeanette Watson of the National Museum of Victoria after only eight hours of murky scuba diving. The 29 km pipeline is the first to cross Port Phillip Bay and carries ethane from the Gippsland fields via Westernport to the refinery complex at Altona, south-west of Melbourne. 51