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Valuable UK marsh saved
Marine Pollution Bulletin
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora - drew up new regulations and legislation following the conference to become effective from June. The conference, with 350 participants, was one of the largest conservation meetings ever held. One of the main achievements of the meeting was to place an inter-member ban on trade in the sperm, sei and fin whales. It is hoped that the move will prompt the IWC to ban all whaling in the three named species. Last year about 1300 sperm, 200 fin and 150 sei whales were taken. Guidelines were also introduced to restrict the ranching of green turtles, crocodiles and lizards to help cut down illegal trading. The only move away from the general trend of the meeting was a heavy defeat for the French proposals for extended protection for seals. The next meeting of CITES is scheduled to be held in Botswana in Spring 1983.
Mangrove Forests Must Be Saved The destruction of mangrove forests has been discussed at a conference held by the members of IUCN. A recent survey in Indonesia showed that when a mangrove swamp was destroyed, the local shrimp population quickly died out too, because they feed on dead leaves and other litter falling into the water from the mangrove. Leading experts on mangroves will be finalizing a report aimed at drawing the attention of governments to the forests' plight. The meeting was funded by the World Wildlife Fund and is part of the IUCN's plan to promote the World Conservation Strategy. Mangrove forests are a vital part of ecological chains that can survive hurricanes and waterlogging, but since the turn of the century about 16000 km 2 of mangroves have disappeared in India alone due to ill-planned urban and tourist development, unchecked firewood gathering and pollution. Properly managed mangroves could provide valuable firewood to tropical countries suffering from oil price rises and also provide important barriers to the sea along certain coastlines, which would help in reclaiming fertile land from the sea. The World Conservation Strategy and its members are all members of the IUCN Commission on Ecology.
Pacific Mine Waste Dumping Causes Furore Controversy continues to surround the actions of an American owned mining company which has begun dumping large quantities of toxic wastes into the Pacific Ocean. Despite protests, the company (Amax of Canada Ltd.) has been given special dispensation from the Canadian Government allowing it to exceed controls limiting the amount of tailings in effluent to 25 mg 1- I. Throwing aside pollution regulations set up under the Fisheries Act, the authorities are allowing the company's molybdenum mine at Alice Arm, British Columbia, to dump wastes containing a greatly increased percentage of tailings. The company carried out test dumping of the w a s t e 228
which contains arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium, copper, iron and radium 226 - for a period of three weeks but this was unmonitored. All the company has revealed is that the tailings stayed 'pretty well near the bottom' of the sea. tt has been revealed that the quantity of tailings to be dumped in the sea might reach 10000 tonnes per annum over a ten year period. Conservationists have discovered that four out of five scientists on a governmental panel set up to assess the effects of the dumping, were opposed to the proposal but were overruled by the panel chairman. The dumping will immediately affect Indians living near the mine as disposal will take place in their traditional fishing grounds.
Raids on Alaskan 'Poachers' More than 10000 pounds of walrus ivory, from about 750 animals, was seized in recent raids by US government agents. The raids, which took place mostly in Alaska, were one of the largest law enforcement operations ever carried out by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and was preceded by 11 months of undercover investigations. Seizures in Anchorage revealed more than one ton of walrus ivory, along with polar bear hides, sperm whale teeth and sea otter skins. The walrus death toll this year in Alaska is expected to reach 10000 and their total population is only about 210000. The World Wildlife Protection Act .of 1972 which prohibits the sale of raw ivory to non-natives of Alaska is due for reauthorization this year and conservationists hope it will be tightened and more rigidly enforced.
Valuable UK Marsh Saved Conservationists have won their two-year battle to save one of Europe's most valuable wildlife estuaries. Gedney Marsh, part of the Wash Estuary, UK, is a Grade 1 Site of Special Scientific Importance and an important natural habitat for waders and wildfowl. The UK Secretary of State for the Environment, Michael Heseltine, has accepted the recommendations of a public inquiry that damaging agricultural development should not go ahead. The inquiry was set up when the owner of the marsh applied in 1978 for planning permission to build a sea bank on the marsh to convert it for arable farming. Protests arose from several environmentalist groups who wanted to protect the 80 hectares of the marsh as a rare and valuable natural habitat, for seals, birds, and small invertebrates.
Japanese Nuclear Plant Leaks Intensive safety checks are to be carried out in all 22 Japanese nuclear power plants after reports of radioactive contamination on the seabed near an atomic facility. The leak occurred when high-density radioactive waste water overflowed from storage tanks at a disposal facility at Tsuruga City, about 200 miles west of Tokyo. At least 40 tonnes of radioactive waste water flowed into the sea, and leaders of an anti-nuclear plant group have claimed that it is as serious as the 1979 reactor breakdown at America's Three Mile Island.
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora - drew up new regulations and legislation following the conference to become effective from June. The conference, with 350 participants, was one of the largest conservation meetings ever held. One of the main achievements of the meeting was to place an inter-member ban on trade in the sperm, sei and fin whales. It is hoped that the move will prompt the IWC to ban all whaling in the three named species. Last year about 1300 sperm, 200 fin and 150 sei whales were taken. Guidelines were also introduced to restrict the ranching of green turtles, crocodiles and lizards to help cut down illegal trading. The only move away from the general trend of the meeting was a heavy defeat for the French proposals for extended protection for seals. The next meeting of CITES is scheduled to be held in Botswana in Spring 1983.
Mangrove Forests Must Be Saved The destruction of mangrove forests has been discussed at a conference held by the members of IUCN. A recent survey in Indonesia showed that when a mangrove swamp was destroyed, the local shrimp population quickly died out too, because they feed on dead leaves and other litter falling into the water from the mangrove. Leading experts on mangroves will be finalizing a report aimed at drawing the attention of governments to the forests' plight. The meeting was funded by the World Wildlife Fund and is part of the IUCN's plan to promote the World Conservation Strategy. Mangrove forests are a vital part of ecological chains that can survive hurricanes and waterlogging, but since the turn of the century about 16000 km 2 of mangroves have disappeared in India alone due to ill-planned urban and tourist development, unchecked firewood gathering and pollution. Properly managed mangroves could provide valuable firewood to tropical countries suffering from oil price rises and also provide important barriers to the sea along certain coastlines, which would help in reclaiming fertile land from the sea. The World Conservation Strategy and its members are all members of the IUCN Commission on Ecology.
Pacific Mine Waste Dumping Causes Furore Controversy continues to surround the actions of an American owned mining company which has begun dumping large quantities of toxic wastes into the Pacific Ocean. Despite protests, the company (Amax of Canada Ltd.) has been given special dispensation from the Canadian Government allowing it to exceed controls limiting the amount of tailings in effluent to 25 mg 1- I. Throwing aside pollution regulations set up under the Fisheries Act, the authorities are allowing the company's molybdenum mine at Alice Arm, British Columbia, to dump wastes containing a greatly increased percentage of tailings. The company carried out test dumping of the w a s t e 228
which contains arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium, copper, iron and radium 226 - for a period of three weeks but this was unmonitored. All the company has revealed is that the tailings stayed 'pretty well near the bottom' of the sea. tt has been revealed that the quantity of tailings to be dumped in the sea might reach 10000 tonnes per annum over a ten year period. Conservationists have discovered that four out of five scientists on a governmental panel set up to assess the effects of the dumping, were opposed to the proposal but were overruled by the panel chairman. The dumping will immediately affect Indians living near the mine as disposal will take place in their traditional fishing grounds.
Raids on Alaskan 'Poachers' More than 10000 pounds of walrus ivory, from about 750 animals, was seized in recent raids by US government agents. The raids, which took place mostly in Alaska, were one of the largest law enforcement operations ever carried out by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and was preceded by 11 months of undercover investigations. Seizures in Anchorage revealed more than one ton of walrus ivory, along with polar bear hides, sperm whale teeth and sea otter skins. The walrus death toll this year in Alaska is expected to reach 10000 and their total population is only about 210000. The World Wildlife Protection Act .of 1972 which prohibits the sale of raw ivory to non-natives of Alaska is due for reauthorization this year and conservationists hope it will be tightened and more rigidly enforced.
Valuable UK Marsh Saved Conservationists have won their two-year battle to save one of Europe's most valuable wildlife estuaries. Gedney Marsh, part of the Wash Estuary, UK, is a Grade 1 Site of Special Scientific Importance and an important natural habitat for waders and wildfowl. The UK Secretary of State for the Environment, Michael Heseltine, has accepted the recommendations of a public inquiry that damaging agricultural development should not go ahead. The inquiry was set up when the owner of the marsh applied in 1978 for planning permission to build a sea bank on the marsh to convert it for arable farming. Protests arose from several environmentalist groups who wanted to protect the 80 hectares of the marsh as a rare and valuable natural habitat, for seals, birds, and small invertebrates.
Japanese Nuclear Plant Leaks Intensive safety checks are to be carried out in all 22 Japanese nuclear power plants after reports of radioactive contamination on the seabed near an atomic facility. The leak occurred when high-density radioactive waste water overflowed from storage tanks at a disposal facility at Tsuruga City, about 200 miles west of Tokyo. At least 40 tonnes of radioactive waste water flowed into the sea, and leaders of an anti-nuclear plant group have claimed that it is as serious as the 1979 reactor breakdown at America's Three Mile Island.