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Trinidad
Volume 8/Number 9/September 1977
bad as the Mediterranean unless action was taken to reduce the estimated 11.25m tons of industrial waste and 10m tons of sewage going into the sea off the Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire coasts. Samples of fish and seawater in the area are regularly taken by Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries scientists and a spokesman said that if serious evidence of pollution damage was found, dumping would be curtailed.
USSR Soviet scientists have begun experiments to discover whether it will be possible to breed whales in captivity. They are currently attempting to domesticate a small school of baleen whales in the Okhotsk Sea. Commercial hunting of this species was halted when the danger of their becoming extinct was imminent and total stocks in the Okhotsk Sea is thought to be about 1500.
Mediterranean The first workshop meeting of Mediterranean nations to set about tackling their shared sea pollution problem reached agreement on a code of practice to be applied by each state over the next three years. Sixteen countries were represented at the meeting with only Albania and Syria absent. The workshop follows last year's signing of the Barcelona agreement which set out an overall anti-pollution convention, and protocols on dumping chemicals and a coordinated action plan for dealing with oil spills.
Straits of Malacca Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have signed an agreement to coordinate an anti-pollution policy in the Straits and methods of coping with pollution incidents. The tripartite agreement also includes guidelines concerning navigation for the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
France A national testing programme to assess the level of sea pollution off French bathing beaches has resulted in 25 being given a D grading indicating that they have water of 'insufficient quality' and are considered permanently unsafe for swimming. The beaches are in areas near Boulogne, Dieppe, St. Malo, Brest and Antibes in the South of France. Almost 100 other beaches have been given a C grading indicating that they are temporarily unsafe. Included in this category are beaches around Calais and Boulogne, twenty areas in Brittany and nearly 30 between Menton and Marseilles. On the most seriously affected beaches a violet warning flag will be flown to warn bathers and at a number of the temporarily unsafe beaches on the Mediterranean, local authorities will issue daily bulletins giving a detailed analysis of bacterial levels.
Maldive Islands The government of this chain of coral atolls in the Indian Ocean--650km south west of Sri Lanka--has introduced a law banning underwater hunting and controlling catches of turtles and tortoises. The use of spear guns, spears and explosives for fishing has been completely prohibited and a ban has been put on catching tortoises smaller than 61cm and turtles of less than 76cm in any part of the Maldives.
Trinidad With 340 oil-producing wells lying offshore, the government of Trinidad and Tobago is drawing up an oil spill contingency plan that will set down the minimum equipment and dispersants which should be held by operating companies.
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bad as the Mediterranean unless action was taken to reduce the estimated 11.25m tons of industrial waste and 10m tons of sewage going into the sea off the Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire coasts. Samples of fish and seawater in the area are regularly taken by Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries scientists and a spokesman said that if serious evidence of pollution damage was found, dumping would be curtailed.
USSR Soviet scientists have begun experiments to discover whether it will be possible to breed whales in captivity. They are currently attempting to domesticate a small school of baleen whales in the Okhotsk Sea. Commercial hunting of this species was halted when the danger of their becoming extinct was imminent and total stocks in the Okhotsk Sea is thought to be about 1500.
Mediterranean The first workshop meeting of Mediterranean nations to set about tackling their shared sea pollution problem reached agreement on a code of practice to be applied by each state over the next three years. Sixteen countries were represented at the meeting with only Albania and Syria absent. The workshop follows last year's signing of the Barcelona agreement which set out an overall anti-pollution convention, and protocols on dumping chemicals and a coordinated action plan for dealing with oil spills.
Straits of Malacca Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have signed an agreement to coordinate an anti-pollution policy in the Straits and methods of coping with pollution incidents. The tripartite agreement also includes guidelines concerning navigation for the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
France A national testing programme to assess the level of sea pollution off French bathing beaches has resulted in 25 being given a D grading indicating that they have water of 'insufficient quality' and are considered permanently unsafe for swimming. The beaches are in areas near Boulogne, Dieppe, St. Malo, Brest and Antibes in the South of France. Almost 100 other beaches have been given a C grading indicating that they are temporarily unsafe. Included in this category are beaches around Calais and Boulogne, twenty areas in Brittany and nearly 30 between Menton and Marseilles. On the most seriously affected beaches a violet warning flag will be flown to warn bathers and at a number of the temporarily unsafe beaches on the Mediterranean, local authorities will issue daily bulletins giving a detailed analysis of bacterial levels.
Maldive Islands The government of this chain of coral atolls in the Indian Ocean--650km south west of Sri Lanka--has introduced a law banning underwater hunting and controlling catches of turtles and tortoises. The use of spear guns, spears and explosives for fishing has been completely prohibited and a ban has been put on catching tortoises smaller than 61cm and turtles of less than 76cm in any part of the Maldives.
Trinidad With 340 oil-producing wells lying offshore, the government of Trinidad and Tobago is drawing up an oil spill contingency plan that will set down the minimum equipment and dispersants which should be held by operating companies.
197