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Sea otters
New Research Topics
Waste-Free Technology
The Soviet-Swedish working group on environmental protection, which met in Moscow in February-March, 1974, has extended its range of activities to cover five topics for the next two years (only two were dealt with in the previous two years). New subjects include the use of petroleum wastes, and the side effects of using fertilizers in agriculture and forestry; the current work on purification of effluent from the pulp and paper industries will continue. The group is especially concerned with the protection of the Baltic and its environs.
According to the leading Leningrad ecologist, Professor Sergei Plyushkin, all Soviet industry will be converted to waste-free technology within the next 10-15 years, priority being given to the chemical, pulp and paper, and mining industries.
Bubbles for Bacteria A new aeration device has been produced by the Latvian Academy of Sciences to assist the natural process of bacterial cleansing of polluted waters. By supplying oxygen to the aerobic bacteria concerned, it is envisaged that a 4 kW aerator, weighing less than 100 kg, could deal with 1,000 m3 of waste water per day, at a cost considerably lower than that of conventional devices. The aerators can be mounted on fixed supports or installed on pontoons as required. Since they can be submerged to any required depth, they are suitable for treating rivers either near the source of the effluent itself, or at the river mouth.
Mining Council A scientific council for the co-ordination of research on the surveying and mining of under-sea resources has been set up at the Leningrad Mining Institute. Current work at the Institute includes a geophysical study of the Barents Sea shelf, the development of machinery and techniques for undersea mining and drilling, and a programme of prospecting on the Baltic for amber beds.
Sea Otters It is reported from the Soviet Far East that the c o l o n y of sea otters (Enhydra lutris), which established itself on Bering Island in the Komandorskii's some 3 years ago, continues to thrive, and that the animals are now migrating from one island of the group to another. The sea-otter, thought in 1874 to be extinct as a result of the depredations by the piratical promyshleniki (who in the course of their activities also temporarily acquired Alaska and northern California for the Russian empire) is the subject of the strictest protective legislation, both by the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. (The earliest U.S. protection law was passed in 1899, with amendments in 1910 and 1912. The penalty for even being in possession of a sea-otter pelt was at that time £500). At present, colonies or 'pods' of sea-otters are to be found in the Kuriles, off the coast of Kamchatka, the Aleutians and the Rat Islands. Until recently, however, they occurred in the Komadorskiis only on Mednyi Island. Since the sea-otter usually remains settled in a given habitat, the inter-island migration is attributed to an expansion of the otter population to the maximum level supportable on Mednyi, and is seen, therefore, as a notable triumph for the conservation programme. IO0
Return Home The research vessel Dmitrii Mendeleev returned to harbour at Vladivostok at the beginning of April, after a 4-month survey of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Her research team had been studying the effect of current, wind, etc. on the mixture of water masses in the oceans. It is hoped eventually to utilize these data in drafting anti-pollution measures.
Sisals from the Sea The Marine Hydrophysics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR is carrying out a programme of ocean research using a system of automatic buoy stations which transmit data on the physical parameters of the ocean, and on weather conditions, to the shore or to a mother-ship.
Sewage System, in ad, The Leningrad sewage system is being completely modernized, so that by 1985, its outfall should 'compete in cleanliness' with the water of natural rivers and springs. Leningrad, a highly-industrialized city standing on an artificially created site on viscous marshy soil and virtually at sea level, constitutes a unique problem for sewerage technology, The installation of large-diameter collectors and ten high-capacity pumping stations in recent years have, however, successfully blocked all discharges of polluted water into the tributaries of the River Neva.
Liquid Radioactive Waste A Pravda article of February 25, 1974, written in a highly conversational tone, clearly designed to reassure the less intellectual reader, dealt at some length with the safety measures used in storing radio.active wastes. It was stressed that the conversion of liquid wastes into solid blocks (by mixing with concrete) not only facilitates storage but also minimizes the possibility of the escape of radioactivity into the soil waters--an eventuality which, says the article, at this storage station (unnamed, but set, apparently among snow-covered terrain) has never occurred.
Krym Arrives And, finally, the 'pollution-safe' supertanker Krym (see Mar. Poll. Bull., 5(1): 5, 1974) was launched on April 9. Construction of a sister ship has already been started.
Waste-Free Technology
The Soviet-Swedish working group on environmental protection, which met in Moscow in February-March, 1974, has extended its range of activities to cover five topics for the next two years (only two were dealt with in the previous two years). New subjects include the use of petroleum wastes, and the side effects of using fertilizers in agriculture and forestry; the current work on purification of effluent from the pulp and paper industries will continue. The group is especially concerned with the protection of the Baltic and its environs.
According to the leading Leningrad ecologist, Professor Sergei Plyushkin, all Soviet industry will be converted to waste-free technology within the next 10-15 years, priority being given to the chemical, pulp and paper, and mining industries.
Bubbles for Bacteria A new aeration device has been produced by the Latvian Academy of Sciences to assist the natural process of bacterial cleansing of polluted waters. By supplying oxygen to the aerobic bacteria concerned, it is envisaged that a 4 kW aerator, weighing less than 100 kg, could deal with 1,000 m3 of waste water per day, at a cost considerably lower than that of conventional devices. The aerators can be mounted on fixed supports or installed on pontoons as required. Since they can be submerged to any required depth, they are suitable for treating rivers either near the source of the effluent itself, or at the river mouth.
Mining Council A scientific council for the co-ordination of research on the surveying and mining of under-sea resources has been set up at the Leningrad Mining Institute. Current work at the Institute includes a geophysical study of the Barents Sea shelf, the development of machinery and techniques for undersea mining and drilling, and a programme of prospecting on the Baltic for amber beds.
Sea Otters It is reported from the Soviet Far East that the c o l o n y of sea otters (Enhydra lutris), which established itself on Bering Island in the Komandorskii's some 3 years ago, continues to thrive, and that the animals are now migrating from one island of the group to another. The sea-otter, thought in 1874 to be extinct as a result of the depredations by the piratical promyshleniki (who in the course of their activities also temporarily acquired Alaska and northern California for the Russian empire) is the subject of the strictest protective legislation, both by the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. (The earliest U.S. protection law was passed in 1899, with amendments in 1910 and 1912. The penalty for even being in possession of a sea-otter pelt was at that time £500). At present, colonies or 'pods' of sea-otters are to be found in the Kuriles, off the coast of Kamchatka, the Aleutians and the Rat Islands. Until recently, however, they occurred in the Komadorskiis only on Mednyi Island. Since the sea-otter usually remains settled in a given habitat, the inter-island migration is attributed to an expansion of the otter population to the maximum level supportable on Mednyi, and is seen, therefore, as a notable triumph for the conservation programme. IO0
Return Home The research vessel Dmitrii Mendeleev returned to harbour at Vladivostok at the beginning of April, after a 4-month survey of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Her research team had been studying the effect of current, wind, etc. on the mixture of water masses in the oceans. It is hoped eventually to utilize these data in drafting anti-pollution measures.
Sisals from the Sea The Marine Hydrophysics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR is carrying out a programme of ocean research using a system of automatic buoy stations which transmit data on the physical parameters of the ocean, and on weather conditions, to the shore or to a mother-ship.
Sewage System, in ad, The Leningrad sewage system is being completely modernized, so that by 1985, its outfall should 'compete in cleanliness' with the water of natural rivers and springs. Leningrad, a highly-industrialized city standing on an artificially created site on viscous marshy soil and virtually at sea level, constitutes a unique problem for sewerage technology, The installation of large-diameter collectors and ten high-capacity pumping stations in recent years have, however, successfully blocked all discharges of polluted water into the tributaries of the River Neva.
Liquid Radioactive Waste A Pravda article of February 25, 1974, written in a highly conversational tone, clearly designed to reassure the less intellectual reader, dealt at some length with the safety measures used in storing radio.active wastes. It was stressed that the conversion of liquid wastes into solid blocks (by mixing with concrete) not only facilitates storage but also minimizes the possibility of the escape of radioactivity into the soil waters--an eventuality which, says the article, at this storage station (unnamed, but set, apparently among snow-covered terrain) has never occurred.
Krym Arrives And, finally, the 'pollution-safe' supertanker Krym (see Mar. Poll. Bull., 5(1): 5, 1974) was launched on April 9. Construction of a sister ship has already been started.