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Radioactivity MA Marine Aggregates ML Marine Legislation BW Bathing Water MR Marine Reserves RE Renewable Energy OA Ocean Acidification PO Pollution FI Fisheries GW Global Warming CE Coastal Erosion

World's largest offshore tidal turbine about to be installed in Scottish waters

The world's largest tidal turbine has been unveiled at a facility in Invergordon, Scotland, marking the culmination of a decade of development activity, and moving tidal power one step closer to commercial viability.

The AK1000 has been developed by Atlantis Resources Corporation, a developer of electricity-generating tidal current turbines, and is due to be installed on the sea bed and connected to the grid at a dedicated berth at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney later this summer.

The company said the turbine is capable of generating enough electricity for more than 1,000 homes and is designed for harsh weather and rough, open ocean environments such as those off the Scottish coast.

World's Largest Tidal Power Turbine Is Unveiled Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The AK1000 tidal energy turbine above, developed by Atlantis Resources, is loaded onto a barge in Invergordon, Scotland. It stands 22.5m high. It has an 18 metre rotor diameter, weighs 130 tonnes and stands 22.5 metres high. It is capable of dispatching 1MW of predictable power at a water velocity of 2.65m/s.

Atlantis chief executive Timothy Cornelius said the unveiling and installation of the turbine marked an important milestone for the marine power industry in the UK. "The AK1000 is capable of unlocking the economic potential of the marine energy industry in Scotland and will greatly boost Scotland's renewable generation capacity in the years to come," he said. "Today is not just about our technology, it is about the emergence of tidal power as a viable asset class that will require the development of local supply chains employing local people to deliver sustainable energy to the local grid. The AK1000 takes the industry one step closer to commercial-scale tidal power projects."

Atlantis claims the AK1000 development programme has already injected more than £5m into the UK's renewable energy sector and has provided employment across a broad range of sectors including design, engineering, fabrication and project management.

"We are at the start of a new industrial boom, akin to the development of the North Sea oil and gas fields," said Cornelius. "If we receive the same support from all levels of government that the oil and gas industry received to make the North Sea the success that it is, then the future is very bright for marine power and even brighter for Scotland."

Concern is expressed that "austerity cuts" will damage marine conservation

Plans to set up a network of marine conservation areas and safely build vast offshore windfarms and deep-sea oil rigs around the UK could be hampered or irreparably damaged by spending cuts, senior ecologists have warned. They fear that 40% cuts in the government's environment funding will hit crucial research programmes into the health of Britain's seas at a time of unprecedented pressures on marine habitats.

Conservationists believe the cuts will severely affect a marine research centre in Aberdeen, an outpost of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), where 30 scientists and support staff lead crucial surveys and scientific studies on fish stocks, marine biodiversity and the seabed around Britain.

One senior government adviser said that this would leave the UK exposed to legal action and potentially the loss of funding from the European commission for breaching its duties under EU birds and habitats directives, which require ministers to protect vulnerable species such as dolphins and sea birds.

Legal action and uncertainties about the suitability of sites could delay the offshore renewables programme and cost industry and the taxpayer more in future. "It's a double bang: it gets in the way of development and if we make mistakes we'll be clobbered by the [EU] commission. We'll get whopping great penalties, to say nothing of the reputational damage," he said.

Energy companies are installing thousands of offshore wind turbines around the British coast, while the oil industry, led by BP, is pushing for licences to drill test wells in deep but poorly studied waters off western Scotland and Shetland.

Under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 passed by the Labour government, the UK is also committed to setting up a network of marine conservation zones, dedicated to preserving the most vulnerable and significant areas of sea, as the first step towards introducing marine protection areas where tough controls on industry, fishing and pollution will be enforced.

Stuart Housden, director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, said the JNCC's work in Aberdeen played a vital role in establishing where to set up marine protection zones and where it was safest to build offshore windfarms or tidal and wave power machines, or to sink oil wells.

"These are very expensive and difficult to do, and these processes have already been starved of funds, but at the same time governments in Edinburgh and London are very anxious to see opportunities for offshore renewables and oil and gas pursued with vigour," he said. "But to do that we need to have good environmental assessments; we need to know what's out there and where to declare the best protected areas. They're trying to cut corners and save money when the pressures to do developments at sea are so fast and furious, and before the best sites are identified, with serious damage potentially being done."

Calving of large ice block from a Greenland glacier could portend the future

The entire ice mass of Greenland will disappear from the world map if temperatures rise by as little as 2°C, with severe consequences for the rest of the world, a panel of scientists has told the US Congress.

Greenland has just shed its largest chunk of ice in nearly half a century, and faces an even grimmer future, according to Richard Alley, a geosciences professor at Pennsylvania State University

"Sometime in the next decade we may pass that tipping point which would put us warmer than temperatures that Greenland can survive," reported Alley to the US Congress, adding that a rise in the range of 2°C to 7°C would mean the obliteration of Greenland's ice sheet. The fall-out would be felt thousands of miles away from the Arctic, unleashing a global sea level rise of 23ft (7 metres), Alley warned. Low-lying cities such as New Orleans would vanish. "What is going on in the Arctic now is the biggest and fastest thing that nature has ever done," he said.

Speaking by phone, Alley was addressing a briefing held by the House of Representatives committee on energy independence and global warming. Greenland is losing ice mass at an increasing rate, dumping more icebergs into the ocean because of warming temperatures, he said.

The stark warning was underlined by the momentous break-up of one of Greenland's largest glaciers which has set a 100 sq mile chunk of ice drifting into the North Strait between Greenland and Canada. The briefing also noted that the last six months had set new temperature records.

Robert Bindschadler, a research scientist at the University of Maryland, told the briefing: "While we don't believe it is possible to lose an ice sheet within a decade, we do believe it is possible to reach a tipping point in a few decades in which we would lose the ice sheet in a century."

An enormous chunk of ice, roughly 97 square miles in size, has broken off the Petermann Glacier along the northwest coast of Greenland. Photograph:Aqua/Modis/Nasa

The ice loss from the Petermann Glacier was the largest such event in nearly 50 years, although there have been regular and smaller "calvings". Petermann spawned two smaller breakaways: one of 34 sq miles in 2001 and another of 10 sq miles in 2008.

Andreas Muenchow, professor of ocean science at the University of Delaware, who has been studying the Petermann glacier for several years, said he had been expecting such a break, although he did not anticipate its size. He also argued that much remains unknown about the interaction between Arctic sea ice, sea level, and temperature rise. Muenchow told the briefing that over the last seven years he had only received funding to measure ocean temperatures near the Petermann Glacier for a total of three days. He was also reduced, because of a lack of funding, to paying his own airfare and that of his students to they could join up with a Canadian icebreaker on a joint research project in the Arctic

UK faces financing problem for its offshore wind programme

Britain will miss its target to deliver 30% of electricity generation from renewable energy by 2020 unless investment in new offshore wind capacity is increased significantly, according to the consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The current scarcity of pre-construction finance is hampering efforts to build new offshore capacity, according to PwC. Offshore wind is expected to deliver around half of the additional 27GW of renewables capacity needed to meet the 30% target. This implies an average annual roll-out rate of 1.1GW, which is significantly above the historical build rate. In 2009, 0.3GW of offshore capacity was completed in the UK. Developers will need annual funding of up to £10bn to achieve the annual roll-out rate. Annual funding would have to peak by around 2015.

"It would be highly risky for the UK to think it can plan for a significant increase in roll out towards the second half of the decade to reach the [30%] target once a recovery is in place… particularly given the reliance on a smooth supply chain, planning consent and grid access," said the consultancy. PwC recommends several options to resolve pre-construction financing issues in the offshore wind power sector. For example, the Green Investment Bank announced by the government could provide some funding but with just £2bn of capital it will not be able to make a significant contribution.

Other possible remedies include underwriting risks through new taxes such as a levy on electricity consumers, additional renewable obligation certificates (ROCs) for a limited period, or making offshore investments tax free for the public through Individual Savings Account (ISA) holders, says PwC.

Investment in the sector could also be opened up to pension funds if risk prospects were lowered, perhaps through a regulated asset scheme with capped liabilities for cost over-runs. An estimated total of £33bn is needed between now and 2020 to develop additional offshore wind capacity in the UK.

Many UK Blue Flag beaches could be contaminated by sewage

We reproduce here an extract from an article in The Guardian, 6th August 2010, which reports on a claim made by Surfers Against Sewage (www.sas.org.uk) that around one-quarter of the Blue Flag beaches in the UK are in fact contaminated by sewage originating from storm overflows, thus causing serious health risks to sea bathers at those beaches.

The Guardian states: "At least one in four of Britain's premier bathing beaches are failing to meet the strict requirements of their "Blue Flag" designation, freedom of information requests to local authorities and beach operators have found.

The result is that tens of thousands of bathers who believe they have been swimming in Britain's cleanest waters may have unknowingly been exposed to raw sewage, according to pollution watchdog group Surfers against Sewage (SAS). The beaches in question have no system in place to monitor daily sewage pollution or to warn people if an overflow occurs. SAS says they should be stripped of their status.

Only 131 beaches in Britain have been awarded the coveted Blue Flag status, an international standard that is only granted if beach operators meet more than 30 strict criteria. Local authorities, who compete to get the coveted designation, pay more than £600 a year to be allowed to fly the blue flag.

But SAS research seen by the Guardian shows that 35 of the 131 beaches cannot possibly meet criterion 28 of the Blue Flag code. This requires beach operators to warn the public during and after emergency pollution events, such as a sewage discharge. According to the Freedom of Information requests made by the group, many local authorities responsible for accredited beaches do not ask for any data from water companies on combined sewage overflow spills, where heavy rain causes sewers to flood and discharge into the sea.

The 35 beaches named by SAS include some of the most popular in Britain (see full list below). There are 20 in England, including Polzeath and four others in Cornwall, Woolacombe and one other in Devon, Margate and four others in Kent and several on the Isle of Wight. A further nine beaches in Wales, three in Scotland and three in Northern Ireland were named.

Andy Cummins, SAS director, called for the 35 beaches to lose their Blue Flag status. "It is a major concern that these 35 beaches could have the Blue Flag flying while the public could unwittingly be swimming around in raw sewage discharged from nearby combined sewer overflows. Pathogens associated with sewage polluted waters include E.coli 0157H, hepatitis A, and gastroenteritis. We have had many calls from people saying that they used Blue Flag beaches and who said they became very ill. It's impossible to prove that they have been made ill by pollution picked up there, but we have compelling cases of incidents impacting on people's health."

Cummins said he suspected that many other popular bathing beaches were regularly polluted by raw sewage: "There are more than 20,000 combined sewage outfalls (CSOs) and it is very hard to keep track of them."

List of beaches

The beaches named by SAS as having no system in place to monitor daily sewage pollution or to warn people if an overflow occurs are:

Note: The full range of pathogens and diseases which bathers may be exposed to in sewage contaminated bathing waters can be seen on the MARINET website at www.marinet.org.uk/ukbw.html.

4th August: the day the UK starts eating someone else's fish

In Britain we eat more fish than our seas can produce. UK fish supplies only last for seven months of the year, after that, the UK becomes dependent on fish from elsewhere, according to the report Fish Dependence from leading independent think-tank nef (the new economics foundation) and OCEAN2012, published this July.

The report points to the forthcoming reform of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) as a unique opportunity to turn this situation around and create a new fisheries model that will restore marine ecosystems and deliver a fair share of resources across the world

The report shows the impact of stock decline and rising consumption by mapping resources onto a calendar year and then finding the day when the EU — and each one of its member states — starts to eat the catch from the rest of the world. It shows that:

UK could show leadership on EU fisheries — The next few months will define the direction of EU fisheries reform, nef / OCEAN2012 call on the UK government to show leadership and act to secure a new EU fisheries policy that delivers sustainable and fair outcomes for all.

Scientists conduct a species census of the oceans, but warn of mass extinctions

A scientific study over the last 10 years of the diversity, distribution and abundance of life in the world's oceans, The Census of Marine Life, has attempted to paint a baseline of marine life and estimates there are more than 230,000 species in our oceans, but most ocean organisms still remain nameless and their numbers unknown.

A team of more than 360 scientists around the world have spent the past decade surveying 25 regions, from the Antarctic through the temperate and tropical seas to the Arctic in order to count the different types of plants and animals. The results show that around a fifth of the world's marine species are crustaceans such as crabs, lobsters, krill and barnacles. Add in molluscs (squid and octopus) and fish (including sharks) and that accounts for up to half of the number of species in the world's seas. The charismatic species often used in conservation campaigning — whales, sea lions, turtles and sea birds — account for less than 2% of the species in the world's oceans.

The surveys have also highlighted major areas of concern for conservationists. "In every region, they've got the same story of a major collapse of what were usually very abundant fish stocks or crabs or crustaceans that are now only 5-10% of what they used to be," said Mark Costello of the Leigh Marine Laboratory, University of Auckland in New Zealand. "These are largely due to over-harvesting and poor management of those fisheries. That's probably the biggest and most consistent threat to marine biodiversity around the world."

The main threats to date include overfishing, degraded habitats, pollution and the arrival of invasive species. But more problems are around the corner: rising water temperatures and acidification thanks to climate change and the growth in areas of the ocean that are low in oxygen and, therefore, unable to support life.

The Census of Marine Life identified enclosed seas such as the Mediterranean, Gulf of Mexico, China's shelves, Baltic, and the Caribbean as having the most threatened biodiversity. "Enclosed seas have the risk that, when you impact it and throw chemicals or other garbage into it, it will not go away so easily as it will from the open ocean," said Miloslavich. Dense coastal populations of humans also tend to be packed along enclosed seas, meaning increased pollution and extraction of more biodiversity from the water.

The Mediterranean, which contains almost 17,000 identified species, scored the maximum threat rating of five for four of the categories. Scientists studying the Mediterranean identified problems related to increased litter from shipping and munitions across the sea as well as bombs discharged during the Kosovo war. The Mediterranean also faces problems because of invasive species displacing the creatures that already live there. This sea had the most alien species out of all the 25 regions surveyed by the The Census of Marine Life, with more than 600 (4% of the all species present). Most had arrived from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal.

The most diverse regions identified by the The Census of Marine Life are around Australia and South-east Asia. "It's also a hotspot for terrestrial biodiversity as well and this has been known for about 100 years," said Costello. "It looks like that region with the coral reefs has always had a very high rate of speciation. It also has a very diverse range of habitats — from the deepest areas of the oceans to large areas of shallow seas, which can support coral reefs."

Both Australian and Japanese waters contain more than 30,000 species each and are among the most biologically diverse in the world. Next in line are the oceans off China, the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

Apart from algae and the seabirds and mammals that travel around the sea, the The Census of Marine Life identified the manylight viperfish (Chauliodus sloani) as the most "cosmopolitan" marine creature. Its presence was recorded in around a quarter of the world's seas.

"This inventory was urgently needed for two reasons," said Costello. "First, dwindling expertise in taxonomy impairs society's ability to discover and describe new species. And secondly, marine species have suffered major declines — in some cases 90% losses — because of human activities and may be heading for extinction, as happened to many species on land."

Miloslavich said the The Census of Marine Life data would "allow policy-makers to make better and more informed decisions on what areas should be protected for the better management of resources and the ecosystems as well, in order that they keep providing good services."

For every marine species of all kinds known to science the The Census of Marine Life scientists estimate that at least four have yet to be discovered. They said that around 70% of species of fish have been discovered, for example, but for most other groups likely less than one-third are known. As of February, the number of marine fish species known to science stood at 16,764, and was growing at around 100 a year. Scientists estimate that there are almost 22,000 fish species in the world.

The most fruitful potential areas for discovery include the tropics, deep seas and southern hemisphere.

"At the end of the The Census of Marine Life, most ocean organisms still remain nameless and their numbers unknown," said Nancy Knowlton, a biologist at the Smithsonian Institution, leader of the COML's coral reef project. "This is not an admission of failure. The ocean is simply so vast that, after 10 years of hard work, we still have only snapshots, though sometimes detailed, of what the sea contains. But it is an important and impressive start."

Note: For pictures of some of the species mapped by The Census of Marine Life, click here.

NAO tackles EA over Water Pollution

A report of 7th July in the Yorkshire Post entitled 'Watchdog report: Battle against water pollution 'ineffective' describes how the National Audit Office have criticised the Environment Agency as being ineffective in tackling the UK's water pollution despite spending £8m per year on addressing 'diffuse water pollution'. Millions of pounds spent on tackling water pollution each year has had little impact and has not proved value for money, the National Audit Office said today. The public spending watchdog said the Environment Agency (EA) spent £8m annually tackling "diffuse" water pollution, such as run-off from agricultural land and roads. But last year only 26 per cent of rivers, lakes and other bodies of water in England met required European levels for water quality.

According to the National Audit Office (NAO) a failure to meet the EU requirements, which demand 60 per cent of water bodies reach good standards by 2027, could potentially lead to fines of up to £250m a year.

A report by the NAO said the EA had not sufficiently identified the extent to which the failure of lakes and rivers to meet water quality standards is down to diffuse pollution, as opposed to "point sources" — single identifiable places such as a sewage works. The study said the agency was targeting the agricultural sector as the main source of diffuse pollution, which comes from multiple dispersed sources such as fields and roads. But there was limited information on the impact of different farming practices on diffuse pollution, which in the agricultural sector comes from nutrients such as phosphates and nitrogen fertilisers as well as animal waste. As a result it was not possible to know if the EA was effectively targeting its resources by encouraging certain farming practices.

The report also found awareness among farmers about the responsibility for diffuse pollution remained low, with almost three quarters (72 per cent) surveyed by the NAO saying agriculture contributed only a little or not at all to the problem.

The NAO said EA advice and voluntary initiatives across government to change farming practices had limited impact and needed to be coordinated.

Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said poor water quality had serious financial and environmental costs. "Many farmers remain unconvinced of their contribution to the problem, so the Environment Agency should intensify its efforts to raise awareness."

The National Farmers Union (NFU) give their point of view (here) that farmers are being unjustifiably blamed because the EA lacks sufficient evidence on the effectiveness of its inspections whilst those water bodies) causing most diffuse pollution (e.g. through sewage works) are not being persuaded to acknowledge responsibility. Further, that the EA has been slow to recognise the ineffectiveness of some sanctions and regulations.

MARINET responds to Defra claim of "significant improvements" in UK seas

The UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published a report on the condition of UK seas, Charting Progress 2, claiming in their press release "More fish, cleaner and greater biodiversity" and "significant improvements" for UK seas.

This Defra press release was followed by an article in The Guardian, 21st July, which we reproduce here, along with a rebuttal of Defra's claims by David Levy, chair of MARINET.

"Thousands of holidaymakers heading to British beaches this summer will be cheered by a major government report into the state of the UK's seas. Coastal waters are getting cleaner, fish stocks are improving and species diversity in estuaries is increasing, according to the most authoritative examination ever carried out of UK seas.

But while the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs study boasts of "significant improvements" since the last such report in 2005, it also paints a picture of an environment being rapidly affected by a warming world. Seas around the British Isles are higher, warmer and more acid, it says, and coastal litter levels are at a record high.

The sea surface temperature of UK waters has risen on average by between 0.5 and 1°C since the 1870s, which could affect the fish that appear on our plates in future. Of the 330 species found around the UK, cold-water species such as cod are in retreat, while warm-water fish including red-mullet, sea bass and John Dory are spreading rapidly.

Fish stocks are improving overall, partly due to fishing reductions brought about by European Union quotas, despite criticism from marine conservation groups that the quotas are set too high to maintain fish stocks. The proportion of fin-fish stocks in UK waters being harvested sustainably has risen from 10% in the early 1990s to 25% in 2007.

However, the report notes that a large majority of stocks are still being fished at unsustainable levels. Fish are simultaneously being hit by warming waters, which are causing the cold and warm water zooplankton that fish feed on to move north. The warm water zooplankton tend to be smaller and less nutritious, affecting fish larvae and stocks.

Climate change is also causing sea levels to rise, with the mean sea level rising by 1.4mm per year in the 20th century. While slower than global growth of 1.7mm per year in the same period, the rise has not always been steady — in the 1990s, it was going up by 3-4mm each year. More coastal erosion and more flooding are likely to occur as a result, says the report, with the Humber estuary and Norfolk coast particularly at risk.

UK waters are also not exempt from the global trend of ocean acidification due to higher levels of dissolved CO₂. This leads to harmful effects for marine life that rely on calcification, such as crustacea and molluscs. But the authors of the report admit the lack of a baseline for pH levels makes it hard to measure the rate of our acidifying seas.

Levels of pollution continue to drop since Defra's research in 2005, including heavy metals such as lead and mercury. However, there are still some localised problems such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) which, while stabilising nationally, are still found in places at levels that affect wildlife, including harbour porpoises. Litter levels doubled, though, between 1994 and 2007, with 2,000 items per kilometre of coastline. Litter was even found at a depth of 1,000 metres.

The picture for waterbirds and seabirds is mixed. Waterbird numbers are largely healthy, with the 2006/2007 population numbers 85% above levels in the 1970s. But seabirds have seen a 9% decrease in numbers since 2005, with herring gull numbers down over 50% since 1969. Seabirds are suffering particularly badly in north and north-west Scotland, due to the arrival of invasive species such as rat and mink, which affect nesting sites.

The evidence in the report was gathered from peer-reviewed science provided by universities, government agencies, NGOs and industry.

Marine environment minister Richard Benyon said: "The report's findings show that we are moving in the right direction, but there is more work that needs to be done, especially to protect the UK's seabirds. I am committed to improving our marine environment by delivering the conservation measures in the Marine and Coastal Access Act and hope to see further improvements in the next report as we gain the benefits from Marine Conservation Zones." In January, Lundy Island off the north Devon coast became England's first Marine Conservation Zone

David Levy, MARINET chair, writes: "Under the watchful gaze of Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Christopher Wren, DEFRA used the auspicious venue of the Royal Society to deliver Charting Progress 2 (CP2), their scientific report on the State of UK Territorial Seas. It was a venue chosen to deliver two things of note. Firstly that this report has scientific validity and is fit for purpose, and secondly that you would be intimidated to find fault with its contents.

As an interested NGO, I was prepared to approve the work done and join the throng of back-slappers in congratulating DEFRA on a fine piece of work. However the fact is that I did not find it fit for purpose, and I have a suspicion that it will turn out to be another UK smoke and mirror ploy when deadlines elapse and we have failed to deliver on our European obligations in the time period we have been allowed.

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires that we establish Good Environmental Status (GES) for our seas by 2020, with fish stocks in a sustainable position and so able to support growth in their numbers and thus feed our people.

Surely, it is essential that Charting Progress 2 records the baseline for MSFD indicators (e.g. commercial fish stocks, marine food webs). Without these baselines how can we establish progress towards good environmental status? The timeline is shrinking towards 2020 and, likewise, a willingness in government to report the truth.

We appear to have run away from the task and are currently hiding behind documentation which is claiming that facts on fish stocks don't exist, when indeed they do. The omission of the reality of the fish stocks within CP2 coloured literally the various maps provided within this report, and revealed a startling contrast between the maps and the socio-economic maps of the Productive Seas which basically show "all ahead" for British Industry. This is a fraudulent distortion of the reality.

Government's rôle is to lead, and they have been slow to realise that industry believes in partnership: symbiotic relationships that could have delivered for the marine ecosystem all the advantages of working together. For example, joint sea shipping lanes and marine conservation zones (MCZs), windfarms and MCZs, oil and gas pipelines and MCZs, and communications infrastructure on the seabed and MCZs.

Why has government not identified the standards, and helped to create these partnerships to achieve these standards? It is difficult to understand why government refuse to be honest and explore these opportunities. I really believe industries are ready and willing to assist in this task, and that they have stepped up to the mark.

Government responding in this way would protect our marine ecosystem, and provide our conservation efforts with a substantial network of MCZs and corridors for habitats and fish stocks with little interference, except for service personnel undertaking activities for those industries. Importantly, it would formalise an initial network of MCZs which the government's regional MCZ identification groups could develop.

MCZ identification groups are top heavy, loaded with industries' representatives and with few conservationists. Moreover, they have been guided to identify zones where MCZ interference would not be welcome, and are not responding as originally tasked to identify the scientific criteria for where MCZs should be created. A back to front exercise overseen by government's DEFRA.

Finally I would point to the role of NGOs and scientists maintaining integrity and independence from government. This means that they should not be locked into roles where their obedience to government overrides their will and better judgement. It is essential that their decision-making is independent from this system."

Whilst there have been improvements in some fish stocks (largely due to fishing bans via quotas and other instruments), the portrait of "significant improvements" in fish stocks is simply not true.

Defra is placing a great deal of spin on the improvements which have occurred, but the reality is that things remain in a very serious condition.

The reason for this approach by Defra is that under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (EU legislation) all commercial fish stocks and the food webs which support them have to be in a sound and healthy condition by 2020 — what is known as "good environmental status [GES]". Defra is currently working out how it cam comply with GES for commercial fish stocks by 2020.

Charting Progress 2, and its reporting of the science which puts a positive spin on the facts, is part of this process. Defra is trying to claim that the science shows a progressive improvement so that we will not be in breach of the EU law in 2020. This is the "fraudulent" aspect of their approach because reality shows that the truth is very much the opposite.

All commercial fish stocks (size of population) are massively below historic levels. Therefore to claim that they are at full reproductive capacity is not true.
The age profile of all fish stocks is heavily affected by fishing — the longer a fish lives, the more fertile it becomes (lays an increased number of eggs). For example, a cod becomes sexually mature at 6 years and can live until 25 years old. The older the cod, the more eggs it lays annually. The age profile of the cod population is such that there are no fish older than 6 years in the commercial stocks (population). The same pattern is true for other commercial fish stocks. Therefore to claim that fish stocks are at full reproductive capacity is not true. [Note: the reality of requiring the cod population to be sustained by the sexual behaviour of 6 year old fish is like asking the human population to be sustained solely by people who have just attained puberty.]
The Charting Progress 2 report on fish stocks around the UK reported that they could not assess whether the general state of UK commercial fish stocks is improving, holding steady or deteriorating because they did not have enough information — their phrase "the trend for each region could not be assessed". To say that the scientific data does not exist to enable trends to be established is simply not true. For example, the Sea Fisheries chairman for the Irish Sea (who spoke at the meeting) revealed that Defra is simply not doing the necessary work to enable GES for fish stocks to be determined. He stated that of the 48 commercial fish stocks in the Irish Sea, Defra is claiming that 29 cannot be assessed (i.e. over 50%) because the right kind of scientific data does not exist. Note: Defra are not saying that the scientific data does not exist, but that the "right kind of scientific data" does not exist. This is what leads one to believe that Defra is behaving badly, possibly "fraudulently".
Between 1998 and 2006, the tonnage of fish and shellfish from UK seas landed in the UK and abroad fell from 900,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes (Defra figures). Is this how one measures "significant improvement"?

There is much to be researched here as to the truth of UK fish stocks at the present time, but we feel that Charting Progress 2 (the scientific publication by Defra upon which The Guardian article is based) is not recording and, equally importantly, not reporting the true reality.

MARINET questions clean bill of health for East Anglian beaches

We reproduce here an article published in the Eastern Daily Press on 26th July 2010 which claims "Clean bill of health for region's beaches", and a rebuttal of this claim by Pat Gowen, MARINET member, who lives in Norfolk.
The Eastern Daily Press writes:

"The region's coastal waters have been given a reassuring clean bill of health at the start of the school summer holidays. Tourism leaders last night welcomed the biggest study ever undertaken of the state of the UK seas, which reports declining, low levels of pollution and improving marine eco-systems.

The Charting Progress report, a five-year study compiled by scientists at the government's Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) also offers hope to the region's fishermen that fish stocks are recovering. The positive messages come as a welcome boost to the region's tourism economy — worth £471m a year in Great Yarmouth alone — at the start of the main season. And the report will give extra confidence to beach-goers coming in the wake of five destinations — Hunstanton, Sheringham, Cromer, Sea Palling and Lowestoft — winning prestigious Blue Flags this summer.

Cefas chief scientist Mike Waldock said: "This is a good news story. Most of the trends information shows the input of pollutants declining year on year."

While contamination by hazardous substances such as mercury had reduced in most regions — remaining largely an issue in the sediment of certain large river estuaries — the outlook was particularly good around East Anglia due to there being no legacy of heavy industrial activity.

Dr Waldock highlighted the clampdown on the use of tributylin (TBT), a toxic antifouling compound banned for use on small boats in the 1980s and large vessels in 2008, as a good example of environmental improvement. The decline in TBT levels had seen a significant increase in the populations of oysters, mussels and dog whelks (marine snails) around the East Anglia coast.

The concentration of such pollutants was insignificant enough to pose no risk to eating shellfish, he added.

Dr Waldock said contamination of sea water from the overflow of sewage treatment works during heavy storms was also declining as facilities improved; in East Anglia it was almost entirely a winter phenomenon so there was little impact in terms of sea bathing.

One negative of the report was the presence of litter, particularly plastic, found on all beaches surveyed and on the sea bed. Dr Waldock said: "While litter is clearly an aesthetic and economic problem - who wants to go on a dirty beach? — the impact is less clear on animal health." He said efforts would be stepped up to look at the impact of offshore litter when new EU regulations came into force.

The report, which draws on evidence gathered by scientists around the UK, points to fish stocks improving but not having reached a level of complete recovery judged by the presence of really large specimens. The scientists also considered the impact of global warming and report sea levels having risen by 14cm during the past century with surface temperatures increasing by 1°C since the late 19th century.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council's cabinet member for tourism Graham Plant welcomed the report's findings on pollution as "excellent news for tourism" and said the sewage overflow problem during storms had been addressed by investment in new treatment works. Chris Wightman, one of the last fishermen operating out of Lowestoft, said he had seen a marked recovery in fish stocks over the past three or four years with levels of cod, skate and Dover sole all improving."

Pat Gowen, MARINET member, writes: "Independent expert evidence and findings do not support the optimistic enthusiasm expressed by the tourist industry over the glossy report tendered by our government through CEFAS.

As regards the health of our coastal resorts, not a single beach throughout East Anglian was proved to meet the imperative mandatory standards required by the Bathing Water Directive, as the requisite tests to determine the full microbiological parameters were not applied. At the best, the bathing water quality can be said to be unknown.

At the same time continuing offshore aggregate extraction is systematically stripping our beaches of sand, with many beaches having disappeared already. It is further destroying our offshore habitats, feeding grounds and spawning beds hence damaging the entire interdependent marine ecosystem.

Whilst a few fish species can be seen to be surviving, recent independent research from the University of York and Marine Science Scotland have warned that the seas around the UK are rapidly becoming 'marine deserts'. The ten year study 'Census of Marine Life' into world fishing and will shortly report that fisheries will be driven to extinction by 2050 unless action is taken now. Dr Alex Ford of the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Marine Sciences has just written that the level of drugs emanating from sea sewage outfalls is changing fish behaviour, just as Britain's giant utility companies have been given permission to carry on polluting beaches due to the government's Planning Inspectorate rejection of an attempt by the Environment Agency to impose regulations on 4,200 outlets that pump raw sewage into the UK's sea and rivers.

The United States National Academy of Sciences have just discovered that oceanic rising CO₂ levels are having far-reaching consequences for the sustainability of fish populations, which are therefore soon likely to become extinct, whilst the UN Environment Programme has just reported that the ever-growing level of plastic debris in the sea is causing the deaths of more than a million seabirds and more than 100,000 marine mammals every year. And now for good measure we face the environmental hazards manifested by deep sea drilling for oil and gas.

These are but a few of the many authentic reports evidencing the decline and death of our seas and its coastline. Professor Callum Roberts of the University of York's environment department recently stated "Research makes clear that the state of UK bottom fisheries — and by implication European fisheries since the fishing grounds are shared — is far worse than even the most pessimistic of assessments currently in circulation"

This is not the time for smug complacency and false assumptive optimism masking the real gravity of the situation, but the point at which we must face the facts of the ever degrading marine and shoreline environment and so deal with it before it becomes too late."

Serious long-term decline in marine phytoplankton populations

The amount of phytoplankton — tiny marine plants — in the top layers of the oceans has declined markedly over the last century according to scientists in the journal, Nature. They state that the decline appears to be linked to rising water temperatures.

They made their finding by looking at records of the transparency of sea water, which is affected by the plants. The decline — about 1% per year — could be ecologically significant as plankton sit at the base of marine food chains. This is the first study to attempt a comprehensive global look at plankton changes over such a long time scale.

"What we think is happening is that the oceans are becoming more stratified as the water warms," said research leader Daniel Boyce from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. "The plants need sunlight from above and nutrients from below; and as it becomes more stratified, that limits the availability of nutrients.

Phytoplankton are typically eaten by zooplankton — tiny marine animals — which themselves are prey for small fish and other animals.

The first reliable system for measuring the transparency of sea water was developed by astronomer and Jesuit priest Pietro Angelo Secchi. Asked by the Pope in 1865 to measure the clarity of water in the Mediterranean Sea for the Papal navy, he conceived and developed the "Secchi disk", which must be one of the simplest instruments ever deployed — it is simply lowered into the sea until its white colour disappears from view.

Various substances in the water can affect its transparency; but one of the main ones is the concentration of chlorophyll, the green pigment that is key to photosynthesis in plants at sea and on land.

The long-term but patchy record provided by Secchi disk measurements around the world has been augmented by shipboard analysis of water samples, and more recently by satellite measurements of ocean colour. The final tally included 445,237 data points from Secchi disks spanning the period 1899-2008.

"This study took three years, and we spent lots of time going through the data checking that there wasn't any 'garbage' in there," said Mr Boyce. "The data is good in the northern hemisphere and it gets better in recent times, but it's more patchy in the southern hemisphere — the Southern Ocean, the southern Indian Ocean, and so on."

The higher quality data available since 1950 has allowed the team to calculate that since that time, the world has seen a phytoplankton decline of about 40%.

The decline is seen in most parts of the world, one marked exception being the Indian Ocean. There are also phytoplankton increases in coastal zones where fertiliser run-off from agricultural land is increasing nutrient supplies. However, the pattern is far from steady. As well as the long-term downward trend, there are strong variations spanning a few years or a few decades.

Many of these variations are correlated with natural cycles of temperature seen in the oceans, including the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Arctic Oscillation. The warmer ends of these cycles coincide with a reduction in plankton growth, while abundance is higher in the colder phase.

Carl-Gustaf Lundin, head of the marine programme at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), suggested there could be other factors involved - notably the huge expansion in open-ocean fishing that has taken place over the century. "Logically you would expect that as fishing has gone up, the amount of zooplankton would have risen — and that should have led to a decline in phytoplankton. So there's something about fishing that hasn't been factored into this analysis." The method of dividing oceans into grids that the Dalhousie researchers used, he said, did not permit scrutiny of areas where this might be particularly important, such as the upwelling in the Eastern Pacific that supports the Peruvian anchovy fishery — the biggest fishery on the planet.

If the trend is real, it could also act to accelerate warming, the team noted. Photosynthesis by phytoplankton removes carbon dioxide from the air and produces oxygen. In several parts of the world, notably the Southern Ocean, scientists have already noted that the waters appear to be absorbing less CO₂ — although this is principally thought to be because of changes to wind patterns — and leaving more CO₂ in the air should logically lead to greater warming.

"Phytoplankton produce half of the oxygen we breathe, draw down surface CO₂, and ultimately support all of our fisheries," said Boris Worm, another member of the Dalhousie team. "An ocean with less phytoplankton will function differently."

If the planet continues to warm in line with projections of computer models of climate, the overall decline in phytoplankton might be expected to continue. But, said, Daniel Boyce, that was not certain. "It's tempting to say there will be further declines, but on the other hand there could be other drivers of change, so I don't think that saying 'temperature rise brings a phytoplankton decline' is the end of the picture," he said.

The implications, noted Dr Lundin, could be significant. "If in fact productivity is going down so much, the implication would be that less carbon capture and storage is happening in the open ocean," he said. "So that's a service that humanity is getting for free that it will lose; and there would also be an impact on fish, with less fish in the oceans over time."

Severe decline in Scottish kittiwake, fulmar and herring gull populations

Three types of Scottish seabirds have seen their numbers nearly halved in the past decade, according to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). The JNCC report has outlined a population drop of about 40% among Kittiwakes, Fulmars and Herring Gulls over the past ten years.

The JNCC, which advises the UK and devolved governments, said lack of food was the most likely cause due to climate change and human activity.

RSPB Scotland said it was a "worrying trend." Rory Crawford, a policy officer with the organisation, said it was necessary to build "resilience" into seabird populations. He said: "With the impacts of climate change becoming evident the new Scottish Marine Act needs to play a crucial role in building this resilience. Importantly, it promises to create marine protected areas in key locations for marine wildlife." He added: "If this breeding season turns out to be another disastrous one for sensitive species like Kittiwakes, then it's the starkest warning yet that we must implement these new laws as a matter of urgency."

The RSPB suggested that the worst affected areas are the Northern Isles where there were breeding problems for species like the Arctic Tern and Guillemot. Its initial figures this year from Orkney and Shetland suggested many seabirds were struggling because of a lack of sand eels — their main food-source.

MARINET observes: The overall trends in relative breeding success of seabirds in the UK, for the period 1986 to 2007, is recorded on the Defra publication Charting Progress 2 : The state of UK seas , published July 2010, see Defra website http://chartingprogress.defra.gov.uk. From a baseline of 100, the black-legged kittiwake has fallen to an index value of just below 40, the Common guillemot has fallen to an index value of 30, and a mean of 21 seabird species has fallen to an index value of a little of 60, ref: Figure 3.8 Charting Progress 2.

MARINET launches its Common Fisheries Policy Reform campaign

With 88% of European fish stocks currently being over-fished, and 30% of these to the point where they are now facing commercial extinction (EU Commission figures), MARINET is determined that the forthcoming Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) proposed by the EU Commission will actually succeed because experience teaches us that all previous attempts at Reform by the Commission have failed. There is no room for error this time and the actual extinction, due to over-fishing, of the world's largest cod fishery off Canada's Grand Banks in the NE Atlantic is a haunting testimony to this.

MARINET believes that meaningful CFP Reform will only come about if the European institutions of government (Council of Ministers, Parliament and Commission) actually write into the reformed Common Fisheries Policy the obligation that it must observe the statutory requirements of EU law. In other words, the reformed CFP must meet the legal obligations of the EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), 2008, which requires all commercial fish stocks and marine food webs to be in a sound and healthy condition by 2020. The CFP Reform Green Paper, which the EU Commission issued last year and consulted the public upon (see MARINET's response (http://www.marinet.org.uk/rocfp/greenpapersubmission.html), made no mention of meeting these MSFD legal obligations.

MARINET's CFP Reform campaign is built on the premise that the EU must, in its new Common Fisheries Policy, observe EU law. If the new, reformed CFP does this then the European governmental institutions will be able to guarantee to the people of Europe (and the World) that, firstly, fish stocks in the European waters of the NE Atlantic will be restored to historic population levels, and secondly, their future management will maintain these restored population levels. These two guarantees are essential, and nothing less will be acceptable.

In the past, the Common Fisheries Policy has been solely determined by the Council of Ministers. However the recent Treaty of Lisbon has ensured that, for the first time, the European Parliament will have an equal say in how the new Common Fisheries Policy is written.

How politicians, both in Brussels and in the national parliaments of Europe, perceive the CFP and the state of our commercial fish stocks is therefore important. MARINET intends to establish a web-based international symposium — Seaposium — which will record the scientific evidence about the state of the NE Atlantic fisheries and how they can best be managed. As a result politicians will be informed by the science, and their decisions on the new CFP will be tested against the facts recorded by the science.

Details about the MARINET CFP Reform and how people may contribute, both practically and financially, are recorded in the latest MARINET Newsletter, and additional information about the campaign and the condition our fisheries in European seas and the NE Atlantic is viewable on the CFP Reform page of our website at http://www.marinet.org.uk/rocfp.html.

Destruction of Norfolk's Golden Sand Beaches

The Government's new generation of Shoreline Management Plans are the pathfinder plans for the coastal defence for all England's coastline. Their policy of "Managed Retreat" is systematically destroying the golden sand beaches of most of England's coast, so they will not be available to be enjoyed by future generations.

Marine renewable energy makes progress via Wave Hub, Cornwall

The next stage of the South West RDA's (Regional Development Agency) pioneering Wave Hub project is getting underway with the start of excavation work on Hayle beach, Cornwall.

Contractors will dig a pit to house a connecting block that will join Wave Hub's offshore cable with onshore cables linked to a new electricity substation.

The work, which is being carried out by Dawnus Construction and will take two weeks, will involve piling metal sheets into the sand to a depth of some 5m to create a metal box 10m long and 5m wide, with a further 5m of sheet above beach level. The sand inside the box will then be excavated to a depth of about 3m.

When Wave Hub's 25km, 1,300-tonne subsea cable is laid later this summer, it will terminate inside the beach pit and be connected to cables threaded through two ducts that have already been drilled through the sand dunes at Hayle. These cables will lead back to a substation currently being built on the other side of the dunes, and ultimately connect Wave Hub with the National Grid.

Wave Hub is creating the world's largest test site for wave energy technology by building a grid connected socket on the seabed, 16km off the coast of Cornwall, to which wave power devices can be connected and their performance evaluated.

The £42 million project has been developed by the South West RDA and is a cornerstone of its strategy to develop a world class marine energy industry in South West England.

Wave Hub's cable, which is being manufactured by JDR Cable Systems in Hartlepool, is nearing completion and the RDA has appointed CTC Marine Projects based in Darlington, County Durham to deploy the cable and hub during the summer. The substation building is largely complete and the installation of more than £1 million of electrical equipment will begin later this month. Legal agreements have been signed with leading renewable energy company Ocean Power Technologies Limited to take the first berth at Wave Hub using its PowerBuoy wave energy converter.

Wave Hub is being funded with £12.5m from the South West RDA, £20m from the European Regional Development Fund Convergence Programme and £9.5 million from the UK government. An independent economic impact assessment has calculated that Wave Hub could create 1,800 jobs and inject £560m into the UK economy over 25 years. Almost 1,000 of these jobs and £332m could be generated in South West England.

New reports warn of global and Scottish fishing collapse

Two 'doomsday' scenario reports on the state of fish stocks, one global and the other closer to home in Scotland have just been published, reports FISHupdate.com, 12th July 2010.

Researchers from the University of York and Marine Science Scotland have warned that the seas around the Firth of Clyde have been so heavily fished that they have almost become marine deserts.

Meanwhile, the Census of Marine Life has carried out a ten years study of world fishing and is due to reveal that the world may run out of fish within the next 40 years. Both reports were highlighted in the Sunday Times.

In the Scottish situation the researchers said the Clyde was once rich in fish life with many edible varieties such as cod, halibut and herring. All that remains now of any commercial worth are langoustines, but that stock too was in danger of collapse because of overfishing. Marine Science Scotland warned that the collapse was approaching the scale of the disaster which happened off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in the 1960s when cod practically disappeared.

On a global level, the world's fishing fleets are now catching 150 million tons of seafood a years more than four times the amount in the 1950s when there were probably more fishing boats. But huge improvements in fish finding and fish catching technology in the past 50 years means stocks are being wiped out at an unsustainable rate.

Full details of the Census of Marine Life Study are due to be published shortly. But the message is already clear, says the the Sunday Times — global fisheries will be driven to extinction by 2050 unless action is taken now.

Eye on Earth

'Eye on Earth' is a two-way communication platform dealing with matters of the environment which brings together scientific information with feedback and observations of millions of ordinary people. Here you are able to view air and bathing water quality for the majority of Europe as well as to provide your feedback. You can even share this data with your friends and family using a number of social networking sites.

More Coastal Management manipulation?

Waveney District Council, Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Coastal Futures have been funded by money from DEFRA to form one of fifteen 'Pathfinder' projects across the country. This latest political manoeuvre is not to try to relocate the coastal footpaths lost to increasing erosion, but to encourage public acceptance of the changes that result from the loss of businesses, amenity, income and housing as a result of it by the appearance of consultation. Better we would have thought to use money for opposing the cause and to invest in sustainable defences.

The following article entitled 'Project to help erosion-hit villages' written by Hayley Mace appeared in the Eastern Daily Press on 1st July '10.

aerial view of the sea wall with collapsed sections

The collapsed sea wall just north of Corton, near Lowestoft, in March this year. Photograph taken by Mike Page.

A £1.5m project to help two threatened communities find ways to adapt to coastal erosion was officially launched this week.

The Suffolk Coastal Change Pathfinder Project has been set up with government funding to help villagers in Corton, near Lowestoft, and Easton Bavents, near Southwold, look at possible ways that they can change their lifestyles, homes and businesses to adapt to the changing coastline.

With about 95 homes in Corton at risk within the next 100 years and tourism businesses relying on the local beaches, it is hoped that Pathfinder will help people come up with constructive ways to limit the effects and costs of erosion.

The project was officially launched in Lowestoft on Tuesday and over the next 10 months, people living and working in the two villages will have the chance to take part in workshops and events aimed at creating ideas and planning for the future.

The scheme, which is being led by Waveney District Council with Suffolk County council and Suffolk Coastal Futures, is one of 15 Pathfinder projects across the country which was set up with money from the department for food, environment and rural affairs last year.

Ken Sale, Waveney council's portfolio holder for the greenest county, said: "The issue of coastal erosion is pressing and emotive. The government is committed to effective management of our coastline and will defend against erosion where it is sustainable and affordable. However there will be some locations where it is not sustainable to build new defence structures, or to maintain existing ones. Where this is the case, communities will need to start preparing for, and managing, change. In this current climate of tight budgets and spending cuts it is reassuring to be granted this fund, which will be used to support community engagement and planning."

A new Pathfinder website, which features information about erosion, details of the Pathfinder events and an interactive forum so that local people can put forward their ideas, has also been launched at www.waveney-pathfinder.com.

Offshore Oil Transfer menace slowly being addressed

Falmouth's campaign on the hazard presented by sea transfer of oil seen at www.marinet.org.uk/regional/stst.html and that of the concern of moored tanker oil transfers off Felixstowe at www.marinet.org.uk/latestnews.html#nmtb has been highlighted by the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, showing the true nature of the type of catastrophe that can result.

Whilst the oil companies make extra profits by avoiding port charges and by sitting on oil stocks waiting for the price to escalate, the marine and coastal environment is severely threatened by such (mal)practice. Yet amazingly Waveney MP Peter Aldous and Suffolk Coastal MP Terese Coffey seem to wish for it to continue!

The Lowestoft Journal of 9th July reports that a much-needed but now delayed review is forthcoming in an article entitled 'Offshore oil transfer laws face review'

The long-running debate over the right of tankers to transfer oil while anchored off the Suffolk coast took another turn last night (Thursday) when it emerged that a review of the regulations was to take place. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport Mike Penning announced that the review would be carried out to allow all views to be heard ahead of proposed legislation banning transfers in British waters.

The law was due to come into force from 1st October, but this has now been pushed back to 1st April, 2011, allowing local authorities, industry and environmental non-governmental organisations to all give their view by 30th September.

The news comes just days after Waveney MP Peter Aldous and Suffolk Coastal MP Terese Coffey signed an Early Day Motion (EDM) calling for the new laws banning the ship-to-ship transfers off the Suffolk coast to be scrapped.

A stretch of water between Lowestoft and Southwold has become a favourite site for tankers bringing oil from Russia to transfer their cargo to larger vessels — prompting concerns that an accident could lead to severe pollution on the North Suffolk coast.

Yesterday, Mr Aldous said he was glad to hear the decision after calling for the economic benefits of having the tankers offshore to be considered alongside any possible environmental impact.

He said: "This is good news as it provides all interested parties the opportunity to put forward their own views. I would urge them to take part in the consultation and to forward their views to me.

Doing all we can to retain jobs is most important in these lean times but I do fully understand the need to consider the safety of oil transfer from ships."

Speaking before the decision James Reeder, company secretary of business group Enterprise Lowestoft, said that offshore transfers brought valuable business into Lowestoft.

He said: "The guest houses and the tugs which take out buoys and look after the ships are all making money. This legislation would just push the tankers past the 12-mile offshore limit of territorial waters and that money would go elsewhere and the practice would be more difficult to legislate.

I understand the environmental concerns and I think this needs a full, public debate before any laws are made. I think that managing the situation would be more sensible than chasing it away."

Anti-depressants in sea may damage food chain

The Telegraph reports on July 6th that a yet further damaging input to the sea is threatening the marime food chain. Pat Gowen's experience at Hemsby could be evidential, as where ten years ago he would be able to catch two or three pints of brown shrimp Crangon crangon or Crangon vulagaris for tea with a ten minute push-net trawl, the catch is now only a few seabed stones.

Rising levels of antidepressants in coastal waters could change sea-life behaviour and potentially damage the food-chain, scientists said.

Research into the behaviour of shrimps exposed to the antidepressant fluoxetine showed that their behaviour was dramatically affected. The shrimps are five times more likely to swim toward the light instead of away from it, making them more likely to be eaten by fish or birds, researchers said. They fear this could have devastating effects on the shrimp population.

Dr Alex Ford, from the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Marine Sciences, said: "Crustaceans are crucial to the food chain and if shrimps' natural behaviour is being changed because of antidepressant levels in the sea this could seriously upset the natural balance of the ecosystem. "Much of what humans consume you can detect in the water in some concentration. 'We're a nation of coffee drinkers and there is a huge amount of caffeine found in waste water, for example. It's no surprise that what we get from the pharmacy will also be contaminating the country's waterways."

The study, published in the journal Aquatic Toxicology, found that the shrimps' behaviour changes when they are exposed to the same levels of fluoxetine found in the waste water that flows to rivers and estuaries as a result of the drugs humans excrete in sewage.

Dr Ford said: "Effluent is concentrated in river estuaries and coastal areas, which is where shrimps and other marine life live — this means that the shrimps are taking on the excreted drugs of whole towns."

Prescriptions for antidepressants have risen rapidly in recent years, according to the Office for National Statistics. In 2002, there were 26.3 million antidepressant prescriptions handed out by doctors in England and Wales but Dr Ford said the environmental effect of pharmaceuticals in sewage had been left largely unexplored.

More threatened villages take up the cudgels

Hemsby, just north of Great Yarmouth, is the latest threatened coastal village to react to the Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) 'no intervention' clause that would permit escalating erosion of an already devastated shoreline where 95 coastal homes and 90% of the frontal dune system have already been lost since offshore dredging commenced.

An inaugural meeting on 22nd June '10, addressed by group chairman Lyndon Bevan, Pat Gowen of MARINET and the and the new MP's Secretary set the scene, as reported under 'Fears raised over coastal plans' in the Great Yarmouth Mercury of 24th June '10.

Abandoning an established holiday hub like Hemsby to the waves will have a catastrophic effect on tourism and will hit hard in Great Yarmouth, it was claimed this week. With 20,000 bed spaces at risk Lyndon Bevan, chairman of the Hemsby Coastal Group, said the revised Shoreline Management Plan's suggestion that Hemsby went undefended "beggared belief."

Hemsby is the latest in a string of coastal villages to come out against the controversial blueprint which they say is unjustifiable and should be opposed.

Mr Bevan said the human and social costs were too high and would ripple through the whole of the borough, damaging tourism related income. But the document had not looked at the full picture and was based on theoretical erosion rates that might not match reality which could totally change the picture.

Social justice he added was the other sticking point with the Government offering a "derisory" £4000 to £6000 towards the costs of demolishing your own property. Even then there was no guarantee of getting on the housing list, he added."We have more holiday beds than Great Yarmouth so where does that leave them?" he said, adding: "Hemsby puts so much into the economy. We have 20,000 bed spaces, how are they going to replace them? I just cannot believe it. "The social justice issue is our main concern. They are offering a derisory amount — if the money is available. And they say they might put you on the housing list. Does that sound like social justice? Why should people in Yarmouth have protection and people in Hemsby not? "The predictions could be totally wrong. We built the Viking festival on the advice of fishermen where the highest tide had been all year and with those high winds blew half of it away. If the fisherman cannot be sure then how can anyone else?

Hemsby Coastal Group first discussed the SMP at a meeting on Tuesday June 15 after an official drop-in session at Great Yarmouth Town Hall which they say was poorly advertised saw few visitors. Representatives from Hopton, Scratby, Caister and Winterton were present.

A spokesman for the Hemsby group described the SMP as "an engineers report" that lacked compassion. Hemsby is calling on everyone — especially those in properties most at risk — to oppose the plan and back its call for an extended rock berm to Winterton, protecting Hemsby and the SSSI designated dunes.

Resistance to SMP escalating

Resistance and opposition to the dictates of the Shoreline Management Plan continues to escalate piecemeal from threatened residents. The article 'Fight, coastal action group urges' that appeared in the Great Yarmouth Mercury tells the strategy being developed by more bodies wishing to save their homes, living and businesses.

Hopton is aiming to swing a breaker's ball through a coastal defence plan which suggests no defence. Leaflets will be dropping on to more than 1,000 doormats urging villagers to take a stand against the Government's Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) at a public meeting at Potters Leisure Resort on Thursday. Its suggestion to abandon a huge stretch of the coast to the sea has caused a storm of protest. But Brian Hardisty, chairman of Hopton Coastal Action Group, says not enough people have woken up to the implications of the plan on house prices and the damage it could do to the tourist industry.

He said a flurry of information drop-in sessions, including one at Sea Palling on Tuesday and at Great Yarmouth Town Hall on Wednesday this week were too low-key and unbalanced in that there was no opportunity for debate or to hear conflicting views.

The SMP has already been rejected once by Great Yarmouth Borough Council and is currently up for review.

Mr Hardisty said: "The meeting is to discuss the SMP for Hopton which has not been changed from what it was three years ago which is no active intervention in the medium and long term. Once the SMP is accepted by the borough council it is going to be there for 100 years.

"Campaigner Malcolm Kerby told me that under no circumstances should the SMP be accepted by the borough council because there is nothing in place to stop things sliding in to the sea. Most people in the village have never heard of the SMP. Council representatives are coming to explain it to people. We have to create interest because once it's a deal and is accepted it is a done deal."

Bernard Harris and Tim Howard will represent the borough council at the meeting. MP Brandon Lewis will be at Westminster and is sending a representative.

Half of all fossil fuels now come from sources lying below the sea floor

The international oil and gas industry is taking ever-increasing risks in order to extract the Earth's last remaining fossil fuel reserves — at the expense of both mankind and the environment. That is the conclusion reached by Oekom Research AG's latest study of the industry.

The rating agency has evaluated how 27 of the world's largest listed oil and gas companies are facing up to their social and environmental responsibilities and the challenges these entail. The highest rating, on a scale from A+ (highest score) to D-, was achieved by the Austrian integrated oil and gas company OMV, with an overall score of B.

It was followed in 2nd and 3rd positions by the Italian company Snam Rete Gas and the French company Total, both of which also scored a B. The UK BP Group, which has been in the headlines for weeks due to the serious accident on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, does not feature among the top performers in the industry.

"The willingness of companies to take risks in order to exploit the remaining reserves of fossil resources is increasing in the face of dwindling reserves and steady or rising demand," says Kristina Rüter, Research Director at Oekom Research and analyst in charge of this sector. Increasingly, oil and gas drilling is taking place not on land, but in the oceans, and it is going deeper and deeper. It is not unusual for drilling to be carried out in water 1,000 metres deep.

In the case of the Deepwater Horizon, in addition to a water depth of over 1,500 metres, the borehole went down an additional 5,600 metres through rock strata under the sea bed. "If the industry does not change course, further disasters are likely," warns Rüter. Approximately half of all fossil resources now come from sources lying below the sea floor. There are currently around 3,000 drilling rigs in operation, the majority of them in the Atlantic Ocean. If all the exploration licences which have already been issued are utilised, this number will continue to rise.

EU Commissioner suggests a ban on offshore drilling pending evaluation of BP incident

EU energy commissioner, Günther Oettinger, has spoken out in favour of a "de facto" moratorium on new permits for offshore oil drilling in Europe until the causes of the BP oil spill are known.

"Any responsible government would at present practically freeze new permits for offshore drilling," he told MEPs in Strasbourg. The commissioner said there was room to improve EU legislation on liability in case of oil spills.

"Existing legislation could be made clearer and up to date," Mr Oettinger said. Europe needs an "unequivocal" liability regime that more clearly defines the territorial applicability of environmental laws and extends them "to more fully cover the issues of biodiversity and secondary damage". This includes laws on environmental impact assessments, habitats and wild birds, environmental liability and water.

The European Commission will, if necessary, propose to amend such legislation or introduce offshore-specific rules in the coming months when the cause of the BP oil spill is known, the commissioner said. MEPs have expressed frustration over the lack of clear information on the safety situation in Europe.

Mr Oettinger proposed the establishment of an EU framework "for controlling the controllers", or national authorities responsible for ensuring oil firms abide by EU laws. "The traditional division of labour between national authorities and the European level is no longer good enough," he told the parliament.

The commissioners for energy, environment and maritime affairs will meet with industry representatives and national surveillance authorities to review existing safety practices and policies. Mr Oettinger will present the result of this meeting to the parliament's environment committee.

The energy commissioner said oil companies must review and strengthen their emergency plans, and national regulators must require firms to demonstrate they can deal with unexpected events and pay for any damage caused. Such payments could be made through insurance obligations or a special European fund, he added.

How the relief oil-well is being drilled in the Gulf of Mexico

Relief wells are being drilled in order to halt the haemorrhaging of BP's damaged, leaking Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico.

"After 76 days, 190 million gallons of oil, and a $22.5bn (£15bn) clean-up and compensation bill so far" reports The Guardian, 4th July 2010 "BP is poised to plug its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico. Drilling engineers have only one chance to get it right. One wrong move as engineers break through the cement and steel pipe of the Macondo well could increase the torrent of oil into the Gulf. In the worst case scenario, it could even trigger a blow-out in the relief well.

"They pretty much have one shot," said Wayne Pennington, the chair of geophysical engineering at Michigan Tech University. "Once they hit it and they try to kill it they really just have that one chance." Pennington and other experts agree the chances of such a disaster are remote. But it cannot be ruled out entirely as BP moves into the most delicate phase of its relief well operation. Nor can the prospect of unexpected delays, due to technical glitches or forecasts for a very active hurricane season.

The first of two relief wells is within striking distance of the Macondo, about 15ft (4.5m) away from the pipe and 600ft or so (200m) above the reservoir, after weeks of drilling. The second, ordered by the Obama administration as a safety back-up, is some weeks behind. "There is a chance — a slight chance — they could nick the wellbore," Thad Allen, the coastguard commander, said. "We shouldn't come off that mid-August date until we know they've actually gone through the leaking well", he told a White House briefing.

The most important thing is establishing a clear connection with the Macondo so they can begin pumping in the heavy drilling mud according to Mark Proegler, a BP spokesman. A nick risks starting a new small leak, or possibly even a collapse of a section of the pipe, given that it was damaged in the explosion in ways still not fully understood.

Those challenges are still some days away as BP continues to find the optimal point to break into the well, a process known as ranging. "We have many days ahead of us of ranging runs," said Proegler. The process involves lowering a device down the relief well that bounces electromagnetic waves through the rock to try to measure the distance to the metal pipe of the Macondo, a target barely seven inches (18cm) in diameter. "They are homing in on that metal or iron signal from the first well," said Julius Langlinais, a former petroleum engineer and professor at Louisiana State University.

The search for the Macondo would go faster if BP were using measurement drilling tools, whereby sensors installed in the drill string send the appropriate readings back to the surface, said Langlinais. However, that equipment is hugely expensive. Instead, BP is relying on a process that involves swapping the drill bit for the line carrying the sensor.

"They have to pull the drill string out of the well and lower down this sensitive device that looks for magnetic field variations and from that they can tell where the casing of the well is," Pennington said. Then engineers remove the device, replace the drill string and begin all over again. Each shift can take up to two days.

At some point though the engineers will arrive at the right spot on the pipe, somewhere between the reservoir and the leak. They will then stop and install metal casing in the relief well, using cement to secure it in the rock. The intercept could be complicated if it turns out that the oil is flowing around the pipe, and between the pipe and the cement of the well bore.

Engineers also have to be spot-on in their calculations as to how much drilling mud — or pressure — to exert on the well to choke it off. A vessel containing 44,000 gallons of mud is on standby. The mud must be viscous enough to flow down the pipe but also dense enough to slow down the oil bubbling up from below. That balance will be crucial to gaining control over the well, so that the flow of oil is checked without having to continuously pump in more mud. "You get a dense enough mud and a tall enough column in that flow path, and the reservoir can't flow any more. It can't buck the pressure," said Darryl Bourgoyne, a petroleum engineer at Louisiana State University.

Then, if all has gone according to plan, operators will install a cement plug, sealing off the well for good.

Eco warrior's Pacific journey shows how 'dumb plastic' is killing our seas

David de Rothschild set out on a mammoth ocean crossing aboard his recycled yacht to highlight pollution of Earth's waters — but even he was shocked by what he found

The voyage has been overshadowed by the more graphic pollution of the BP oil spill, but even that is dwarfed by the scale of the problem the Plastiki highlights. While the deaths of seabirds and marine life in the Gulf of Mexico are still being measured in the hundreds, according to the UN Environment Programme, plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, and more than 100,000 marine mammals. Back in 2006, the UN concluded that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic. Since then the problem has only grown.

Plans to reform whaling regulations collapses

The Guardian reports, 23rd June 2010 : Thousands of whales will continue to be killed each year after international negotiations to redraw whaling rules collapsed following two days of secret talks.

However, anti-whaling groups hailed the collapse as a success, as it means the ban on whaling — introduced 24 years ago but ignored by some nations — remains.

A compromise agreement failed to be reached at the meeting of the 88 member countries of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Agadir, Morocco.

The acting IWC chairman, Anthony Liverpool, said that "fundamental positions remained very much apart", while the chief US delegate, Monica Medina, said: "After nearly three years of discussions, it appears we are at an impasse."

Pro-whaling countries Japan, Norway and Iceland — with backing from the US, New Zealand and some green groups — had proposed lifting a ban on commercial whaling in return for cutting the number of whales killed by using quotas that would reduce over a 10-year period. But Britain, Australia and Latin American countries opposed ending the moratorium.

The failure to reach a consensus means discussions will be suspended for a year. It also calls into question the IWC's future, with the background documents to the talks saying: "The status quo is not an option for an effective multilateral organisation." But the current situation, in which Norway and Iceland hunt whales despite the IWC ban and Japan uses a "scientific whaling" loophole to hunt 1,000 mostly minke whales, will now continue.

Wendy Elliott at WWF, expressed disappointed at the outcome of the talks. "Governments failed to find a way forward," she said. "Once again, they have put politics before science. This brings into question the integrity of the commission and its ability to make meaningful decisions that benefit whale conservation." WWF — along with Greenpeace and the Pew Environment Group — issued a statement backing a lifting of the ban under certain conditions.

The Japanese whaling commissioner, Yasue Funayama, said Japan had offered major concessions to reach a compromise and blamed anti-whaling nations' refusal to accept the killing of a single animal. "We must rise above politics and engage in a broader perspective," she said. The head of the New Zealand delegation, Geoffrey Palmer, blamed an "absence of political will".

Richard Benyon, Britain's minister for the marine environment, said: "It is hugely disappointing that the world could not come together to give greater protection to these magnificent creatures. "We in the UK have been consistently clear that any new agreement must reduce the numbers of whales that are killed each year with the aim of a complete phase-out of all commercial whaling."

Chris Butler-Stroud, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, hailed the breakdown in the talks, adding: "We must not forget that Japan, Iceland and Norway continue to whale outside of the sanction of the IWC, and that is a situation that has to change."

Normally held in public, the IWC meeting drew criticism for going into secret session. It also took place in the shadow of corruption claims, with media allegations suggesting Japan had bought countries' pro-whaling votes by paying for flights and IWC membership fees, a charge that was denied.

Japan, Norway and Iceland have reportedly killed 35,000 whales since the International Whaling Commission started a ban on commercial whaling in 1986. Japan conducts its Antarctic kills in the Southern Ocean using a loophole in the ban which allows whales to be killed for research purposes. Norway and Iceland operate commercial whaling in the northern hemisphere outside of IWC control. Those in favour of lifting the moratorium argued it would mean fewer whales were killed under a quota system, but the totemic nature of the ban for many environmentalists made it a principle they were not prepared to abandon.

Important scientific studies still absent from offshore East Anglian aggregate REA

MARINET has again repeated its earlier requests, ongoing since 2008, to the East Anglian Offshore Dredging Association (AODA) and their consultant Emu Limited that the offshore Regional Environmental Assessment (REA) include a number of important scientific studies in order to test the evidence behind the assertion that offshore aggregate dredging is not a cause of local beach and coastal erosion.

MARINET made a request earlier this year to the Minister at Defra, see www.marinet.org.uk/latestnews.html#matm to request the aggregate dredging companies to include these scientific studies. However the Minister declined, stating that the REA is a "voluntary industry initiative" and not his responsibility. MARINET observes that the government has historically supervised the process for the approval of the marine aggregate licences, and still does so via the new Marine Management Organisation.

Given the failure of AODA to respond to the requests from MARINET to include these scientific studies in the REA, MARINET has asked the British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA) to assist in persuading AODA to include these studies, see letter of 8th July 2010 to BMAPA at www.marinet.org.uk/mad/objection135.html#rea. However BMAPA has declined to meet MARINET to discuss this matter at the present time.

Therefore, MARINET has again written to AODA and its consultant, Emu Limited, repeating the request to include these scientific studies, see letter of 8th July 2010 to Emu at www.marinet.org.uk/mad/objection135.html#rea. MARINET believes that it is essential that the granting of future aggregate extraction licences offshore from the East Anglian coast is based on sound science and, therefore, it makes good sense for the scientific integrity of the East Anglian REA to be assured. At present, due to the exclusion of these scientific studies, such integrity is not assured.

New aggregate extraction licence sought in the Severn Estuary

Severn Sands Limited (formerly Crossavon Limited) has applied to the Welsh Assembly Government and the Gloucester Harbour Trustees for an application to extract sand from Areas 455 and 459 in the Severn estuary, offshore from Newport. The application is located at Northern Middle Ground (Welsh Grounds), and appears to be for a period of five years. The rate of extraction is specified at 150,000 tonnes per annum, rising to 400,000 tonnes per annum, but the date of the increase in extraction tonnage is not specified. Sand is currently extracted by the same company from a site which lies nearby to the north-east on Bedwyn Sands.

MARINET has commented to the Welsh Government Assembly on this application, see letter dated 8th July 2010 at www.marinet.org.uk/mad/objection.html#455, and has requested rejection of the application until clarity is obtained about the length of the licence and the tonnage to be extracted, about whether the adjacent licence on Bedwyn Sands is to be surrendered, and until a full study of the cumulative impact of extraction at Areas 455 and 459 is made in combination with all the other licensed aggregate extraction sites in the Bristol Channel and Severn estuary.

High CO₂ concentrations can turn fish into daredevils

High carbon dioxide concentrations in the ocean may turn fish into reckless daredevils, according to a study published in PNAS this week. When scientists exposed two different species of fish larvae to elevated carbon dioxide levels, the fish began to ignore the smell of predators, multiplying their mortality rate up to nine times the current level. The oceans are predicted to have high enough concentrations to completely impair the fishes' predator detection as early as the end of this century.

It is thought that if the affected species cannot adapt quickly to the higher levels of CO₂ then they are likely to become extinct.

Can the BP Gulf oil-spill be safely handled by oil dispersants?

The ingredients of the chemical dispersants being used to clean up the oil released into the Gulf of Mexico have been released to the public. Corexit 9527 was the first to be used. It contains propylene glycol and 2-butoxyethanol. Propylene glycol is a colourless, odourless, viscous liquid used in many common household products including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and anti-freeze. It functions as a solvent and has a low level of toxicity. 2-butoxyethanol is another clear solvent used often in cleaning products. Laboratory tests have shown that long-term inhalation of high concentrations of 2-butoxyethanol causes tumors in animals. For this reason, the use of Corexit 9527 became controversial and was replaced by Corexit 9500.

Corexit 9500 contains propylene glycol, light petroleum distillates refined from crude oil and dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate; a common ingredient in laxatives.

Both products are manufactured by Eastman Chemical, Dow Chemical and Equistar. What they do is make an oil spill go from a slick on the surface of the water to tiny droplets of oil mixed with water. Everyone knows the fact that oil and water don't mix. Dispersants help oil and water to blend together and break into particles that can be vacuumed up.

Nearly a million gallons of dispersant have been poured into the Gulf of Mexico to fight the largest oil spill in US history, even though little is known about their effects which, fishermen claim, makes them sick and kills sea life. At least nine fishermen idled by the spill during prime shrimping, oystering and fin-fishing season, have been hospitalized after working to clean up the slick.

Seafood lovers have also turned out in the thousands for a seafood festival in Louisiana, fearing the oil and dispersant in peak spawning season had killed off this year's shrimp and oyster populations and the larvae of next year's harvests.

When BP first began using dispersant in the Gulf of Mexico, it was an older version of Corexit, which contained the solvent 2-butoxyethanol, according to Ron Tjeerdema, a professor of environmental toxicology at the University of California, Davis.

Ron Tjeerdema, who has studied dispersants for 25 years, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "That surprised me. The reality is, they were trying to use up their old stocks of Corexit and then switched to the new ones, in which butoxyethanol is replaced by what they call a food-grade solvent. They changed it for two reasons — to make it a little less harmful to workers and because the food-grade solvent is a little bit better at mixing with crude oil."

Studies by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) link short and intermediate exposure to 2-butoxyethanol in monkeys, rats, mice, rabbits and dogs to several health conditions including the destruction of red blood cells, or hemolysis, which can lead to kidney, spleen or liver damage. Other ill effects noted by the CDC were breathing difficulties, skin irritation, physical weakness and unsteadiness, sluggishness, and convulsions, as well as birth defects and fewer offspring in mammals.

The nine fishermen who were taken ill in the Gulf after helping to clean up the oil spill reported symptoms including chest pains, dizziness, nausea, and a burning sensation on the skin.

Louisiana tugboat captain Kevin "Godzilla" Curole used to surf off Port Fourchon, the Louisiana oil port closest to where the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig sank in April, rupturing a riser pipe which has been spewing oil into the water ever since. "I loved surfing there. It was my way of unwinding with my buddies. But the last time I went, on Mother's Day in early May, I couldn't wait to get out of the water and get home and have a shower. My skin was burning, my lips felt like they would fall off," he told AFP, blaming the uncomfortable sensation on BP's use of Corexit.

Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen has said that nearly a million gallons of dispersant has been used.

Ron Tjeerdema, professor of environmental toxicology at the University of California, and some 50 other experts met for two days in Louisiana and unanimously recommended that dispersants still be used to fight the slick. "We all agreed — and we're talking 50 people — that dispersants were the lesser of two negative possibilities, of two bad choices," said Tjeerdema.

Essentially, the experts decided to sacrifice marine life — which would be harmed anyway by the oil gushing into the Gulf and hanging underwater in huge plumes — to protect the shoreline, including Louisiana's marshlands, home to numerous species of animals and plants.

Carys Mitchelmore, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, explained in testimony to Congress last month the trade-off that is made when a decision is taken to use dispersant. "This is an example of a known pollutant purposely added to the marine environment," she said. "It is used because its overall benefit to the environment offsets the risk. But it is an environmental trade-off, the protection of one habitat at the cost of another."

Dispersants don't remove oil from the sea, but only change its properties, said Mitchelmore, adding that little was known about the toxicity of dispersants and dispersed oil. She urged long-term monitoring of the use of dispersants.

US scientists have charted vast oil plumes from the gushing BP well beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, and warn that the impact of the "invisible" undersea oil may be felt for years. "The public is seeing just a small fraction of what is taking place out there. Most of the oil is under the surface," Larry Schweiger, president and chief executive officer of the National Wildlife Federation, told AFP.

Scientists on the vessel sent down a deep-water diving camera that records what is happening under the water. The images they saw looked "almost like an oil and vinegar mixture — just like you have in a salad dressing with oil bubbles," said Schweiger. "That's what it looks like under the Gulf where the water has been contaminated… We're looking at an area of around 150 miles that's contaminated with this sub-surface oil," Schweiger said, warning that the oil "will not go away tomorrow or anytime soon."

The area hit by the spill provides the United States with half its shrimp and oysters, more than a third of its blue crab, and a quarter of all its fin fish, said Schweiger. "We have contaminated our seafood basket," he stated.

At least four research groups from different US universities have reported finding massive plumes deep beneath the surface of the Gulf. Researchers from the University of South Florida reported that they found "a wide area with elevated levels of dissolved hydrocarbons throughout the water column, possibly indicating that a limb of an undersea oil plume has spread northeast toward the continental shelf."

University of Georgia marine scientists reported two weeks ago finding deepwater plumes thousands of feet below the surface in the Gulf of Mexico. The other two universities that have reported finding plumes are Louisiana State University and the University of Southern Mississippi.

But after the scientists went public with what they have found under the sea, BP chief executive Tony Hayward said that studies carried out by the British oil company found "no evidence" of underwater plumes of oil. BP has sprayed nearly one million gallons of dispersant on the spill, according to Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen.

Steven Pedigo, head of Oil Spill Eater International, which manufactures a product that has been used to clean up thousands of oil spills in 20 countries, without dispersing the oil, told AFP that dispersants "sink the oil into the water column."

"Saying there is no evidence of plumes when you're using dispersant is disingenuous," Pedigo said.

Fish scientist Prosanta Chakrabarty called the BP boss's statement "a disgrace. They haven't offered any evidence to counter what at least four independent teams of university researchers have found, and when you look at the difference between what BP said was coming out of the well in the beginning and what really is coming out, you have to question them," he said.

Chakrabarty warned that the oil and dispersant mix that is lurking below the surface of the Gulf could wipe out dozens of species of fish, including two different species of pancake batfish which he discovered six months ago. "Currently there are no reports about massive fish kills being sighted, but I'm afraid that a lot of damage is being done below the surface where the majority of oil is," he said.

Schweiger said that, with most of the oil hiding deep beneath the sea, "This is much more of a chronic problem than it is dramatic. It's a different kind of problem because of the way the oil has been dispersed. This is going to be a slow-motion play-out over months and years and will have enormous impact on fisheries and on bird life and on all the things we care about in this region."

MARINET observes:

The question of whether the Gulf of Mexico and its marine life is affected by the oil dispersants is a relatively short-term issue. There is a much longer-term issue from the presence of all this spilt oil. This oil will, in the course of time, "naturally" disappear because marine bacteria will feed upon it. It will in fact be a gigantic feast for these bacteria, and these bacteria will experience a population explosion.

However, these bacteria will require oxygen for their own metabolic processes and this they will obtain from the dissolved oxygen in the sea. A huge population explosion of these bacteria will therefore very likely strip all the dissolved oxygen out of the sea in the areas where the oil is present i.e. throughout the affected areas of the Gulf. This stripping of dissolved oxygen from the sea is bad news for other marine life ( e.g. fish, crustaceans and marine animals in general) which also require this dissolved oxygen. In short, it will not be there and hence they will die of asphyxiation.

This is the classic pollution event know as "eutrophication", usually caused by blooms of algae feeding on excess nutrients in the sea water which, when the blooms die, are eaten by bacteria who strip all the dissolved oxygen out of the sea. These excess nutrients originate, in many cases, from sewage discharges and agricultural fertilisers arriving in the Gulf via the region's rivers and the Gulf of Mexico already experiences this "classic" form of euthrophication, and is indeed notorious in this regard. The advent now of this massive amount of spilt oil will likely intensify the eutrophic effect, and could continue to intensify the effect until all the oil has been eaten by bacteria. This could take a substantial amount of time. In the meanwhile, there will be little spare dissolved oxygen in the sea, and the rich and abundant marine life in the Gulf will therefore be facing very dire prospects for some time.

Scientists call for worldwide system of highly protected marine reserves

More than 245 marine scientists from 35 countries are calling for the establishment of a worldwide system of very large, highly protected marine reserves as 'an essential and long overdue contribution to improving stewardship of the global oceanic environment.'

While small marine reserves are known to protect some species, large reserves comparable to large national parks on land are necessary to better protect sea life in our oceans, which cover 71% of the planet.

By signing the statement, the experts endorsed the scientific case for designating very large, highly protected marine reserves and called on policymakers to take bolder action in establishing these areas. The statement issued by Global Ocean Legacy, a project of the Pew Environment Group, has been released in conjunction with World Oceans Day.

"The need to set aside more and larger marine reserves as one means of ensuring the continued health of our oceans is well accepted among marine scientists", said Dr. Bernard Salvat, noted coral reef scientist and professor emeritus at the University of Paris' École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). "We have to work on very large trans-boundary marine protected areas with intergovernmental agreements. We now need to speak out to educate governments and the public about the crisis facing our oceans and the long term benefits of establishing large, no-take marine reserves."

Overfishing, pollution and climate change are adversely affecting the health of the world's oceans, and ultimately threatening the livelihoods, food security and economic development of millions of people. Very large reserves can help reduce these problems, according to a recently published book, The Unnatural History of the Sea, by Dr. Callum Roberts, who is with the UK University of York.

Less than 0.5 percent of the world's oceans are fully protected from extractive or destructive activities. Large, no-take marine reserves have been shown to blunt the effects of excessive commercial fishing by offering a refuge for sea life to breed and spawn, providing for healthier fisheries as the fish swim into surrounding areas, and thus ensuring more resilient coastal economies. Because the ecosystems in ocean reserves are healthier, they are also more resistant to the damage caused by pollution, climate change and a wide range of other development activities.

"More than a century after nations had the foresight to protect important landscapes like Yellowstone National Park in the United States and Kruger National Park in South Africa, they have just begun to turn their attention to protecting similarly significant places in the sea", said Jay Nelson, director of Global Ocean Legacy. "The world's leaders need to recognize what more than 245 marine scientists from across the world understand: that the designation of very large, highly protected marine reserves is critical to maintaining the health of the ocean environment.'"

Global Ocean Legacy, a project of the Pew Environment Group in partnership with the Oak Foundation, Lyda Hill, the Robertson Foundation and the Sandler Foundation, strives to protect and preserve Earth's most important and unspoiled oceanic ecosystems. Its goal is to work with local citizens and governments to secure the designation of a handful of world class, no-take reserves that will provide ecosystem scale benefits and help conserve the global marine heritage.

A copy of the science statement (available in English and French) as well as additional information about Global Ocean Legacy is available at: www.globaloceanlegacy.org.

The midway Bathing Water Directive — a retrograde step?

If one has recently visited the Environment Agency website to view the detailed analyses of the fortnightly samples taken from the UK's resorts ⁽¹⁾, it will be seen that a selective part of the dictations of the 76/160/EC Bathing Waters Directive are still displayed, but so too is a leaning to the revised 2006/7/EC Bathing Waters Directive of 15th February 2006 ⁽²⁾. Although the mandatory total and faecal coliforms are shown, as are guideline faecal streptococci per 100ml of bathing water, the full listing of 76/160/EC mandatory parameters including the actual enterovirus and salmonella pathogens are no longer listed in the columns. So is the EA trying to achieve the best from both by this construed combination?

Sampling for enterovirus and salmonella required to establish mandatory conformity has long been ignored by the environment agency, resulting in 564 of the UK's 587 designated bathing waters (96.1%) being of unknown conformity last year as to be seen in our 'Good Beach Guide at www.marinet.org.uk/ukbw/gbeachg.html.

But now it's all of UK's bathing waters, as the columns listing both enterovirus and salmonella have disappeared altogether.

Sadly, this is permitted under the rulings of the revised 2006/7/EC Bathing Waters Directive, but the EA are obviously not using this yet as this lists specific testing for Intestinal enterococci and Escherichia coli, not those as in the original Directive!

2006/7/EC now monitors and reports only two microbiological parameters — Intestinal enterococci and Escherichia coli. The original requirement to monitor for the real pathogens, salmonella and enteroviruses, has been dropped completely.

Intestinal Enterococci are a subgroup of the wider group of organisms defined as Faecal Streptococci. (note — Faecal Streptococci were listed as such in 76/160/EC Bathing Waters Directive as a recommended guideline, not as a mandatory requirement). These bacteria are excreted in the faeces of humans and other warm blooded animals, and thus, relative to their concentration, form a good indicator of faecal pollution.

Escherichia coli, a.k.a. E.Coli form the other parameter. These are thermo-tolerant bacteria proliferating in the lower intestine of mammals. They are symbiotic with the digestive process, produce Vitamin K and help eliminate the culture of pathogenic bacteria in the gut. Virtually all strains are harmless except for the cerotype E.Coli-0157 which can cause serious illness and fatality. They thus serve as an excellent indicator of the presence of untreated sewage, and were as Faecal Coliforms (F.Coli), a parameter employed in the original 76/160/EC Bathing Waters Directive.

Sadly the new Directive will again only apply to the 'bathing season' from May to September each year, ignoring the fact that wave surfers, wind-surfers, divers, jet-skiers and even brave swimmers regularly use the waters during the Spring, Autumn and Winter months. We asked for year round observance, but this request was ignored when drafting the new Directive…

Thus, the revised Directive now has a single standard which will apply to only two microbiological parameters to be monitored: Intestinal enterococci and Escherichia coli. The original requirement to monitor for the real pathogens, salmonella and enteroviruses, has been dropped completely.

A further setback is that the new Directive will allow for the discounting (ignoring) of up to 15% of poor samples (failures) at some bathing sites if it can be claimed that these failures were due to single short-term pollution events. It now becomes possible for new samples to be taken until the required pass is possible. Evidence from the recent press and TV exposures show that this clause is being very liberally translated in the sampling regime. Furthermore, instead of testing once a fortnight as before, the new regime sets a minimum of only four samples needing to be taken during the bathing season (i.e. one a month) with an additional sample just before the season opens.

The only good news is that is that factual information to the vulnerable public has to be given, and that the assessment which will be given in terms of a rather over-simplified 'Excellent', 'Good' and 'Poor' quality status may, in reality, be seen by the public as possibly being more meaningful despite it to a large extent being subjective.

The new 2006/7/EC Bathing Waters Directive is clearly the product of a much simplified compromise, doing away with the different mandatory and guideline compliance.

The route to finding the detailed analysis as distinct from the subjective assessments are convoluted and tortuous, but may be found below under ⁽¹⁾.

Compliance levels in the 2006/7/EC Bathing Water Directive have changed. MARINET has serious concerns in that many of the points for inclusion made throughout our submissions have been omitted, to the detriment of respect for the health of water recreation lists. It appears that instead of enforcement to meet the law the EC has changed the law to suit those who regularly broke it.

As the Environment Agency are obliged to make their findings openly and freely available to the public, as enterovirus and salmonella are not to be included, and as failed samples will not be indicated on the register, there is little point in MARINET now continuing to publish its Good Beach Guide, as it would be devoid of essential content and duplicative of that put out by the authority.

Sibylle Grohs of the European Commission read a draft the above treatise, and responded: "Yes, this is true. But the reasons for dropping these two parameters was not cost but their lack of effectiveness. It is a matter of fact that the EC corresponded with complainants including Marinet over a long period of time even before the beginning of the revision of the Directive".

⁽¹⁾ The route to finding the detailed analysis as distinct from the subjective assessments are convoluted and tortuous, but may be found by going to www.environmentagency.net then to click on 'New Bathing Water' on the Left Hand Side column. Go 'Bathing Waters near you', then to 'What's in your backyard' — bathing waters'. Put in the nearest Post Code, and click on the blue spot which appears on the map. Next click on 'View Data' to see the results. On a one off basis, perform this for each resort of interest.

⁽²⁾ You can read the full 2006/7/EC Bathing Waters Directive and the maximum concentrations of bacteria permitted in coastal and transitional bathing waters as a pdf file here.

Rapidly Eroding Suffolk

The Lowestoft Journal has recorded that a stretch of sea just wall north of Lowestoft has been closed because it has become unsafe. The wall below Cliff House and Tibbenham's Score in Corton is temporarily closed following the slippage of masonry in the area.

The full story 'Corton sea wall closed' by Hayley Mace can be read in the Lowestoft Journal here.

Erosion-threatened Thorpeness householders blame dredging

The British Marine Aggregate Producers Association said there's no connection between dredging at sea and the erosion on the beach, despite the fact that one of the largest current projects is providing the aggregate for the £300m expansion project at the Port of Felixstowe. "If there's any doubt that the extraction was causing an impact on the coastline, the dredging would simply not be permitted," said Mark Russell, director of BMAPA.

Suffolk Coastal District Council says it is consulted on any dredging work, but it has no powers or control over it. Yet, unlike other coastal councils, they never object to granting further dredging licences when consulted. Not that this would ever prevent it!

New evidence that noise pollution affects fish

Fish are being threatened by rising levels of man-made noise pollution, according to scientists who have reviewed the impact of noises made by oil and gas rigs, ships, boats and sonar on fish species around the world.

Rather than live in a silent world, most fish hear well and sound plays an active part in their lives. Increasing noise levels may therefore severely affect the distribution of fish, and their ability to reproduce, communicate and avoid predators.

Underwater sounds are difficult to hear by people living in air. "People always just assumed that the fish world was a silent one,"says biologist Dr Hans Slabbekoorn of Leiden University in the Netherlands.

In the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Dr Slabbekoorn and colleagues from the Netherlands, Germany and the USA report how the underwater environment is anything but quiet. So far, all fish studied to date are able to hear sounds, either by an inner ear or a lateral line that runs along a fish's side. Different fish vary in the sensitivity of their hearing. For example, Atlantic cod have "average" hearing abilities, say the authors, while freshwater goldfish can hear at higher frequencies. Generally fish hear best within 30-1000Hz, though species with special adaptations can detect sounds up to 3000-5000Hz.

80% of global freight transport takes place by motorised shipping, and the global shipping fleet comprises around 1.2 million vessels.

Fish-finding echo sounders have been used by fishing boats since the 1950s, and some exceptional species are sensitive to ultrasound, while others such as the European eel, a freshwater species that spawns at sea, are sensitive to infrasound.

This means human-generated underwater noise has the potential to affect fish just as traffic noise affects terrestrial animals such as birds, say the researchers. "The level and distribution of underwater noise is growing at a global scale but receives very little attention," says Dr Slabbekoorn.

To date, most research has focused on the impact sound might have on marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins. But noise pollution might severely affect the distribution of fish, and their ability to reproduce, communicate and avoid predators. For example, some studies have reported that Atlantic herring, cod and blue-fin tuna flee sounds and school less coherently in noisy environments. That could mean that fish distributions are being affected, as fish avoid places polluted by man-made noise.

Noise pollution could significantly impact communication between fish: so far over 800 species of fish from 109 families are known to produce sounds, generally broadband signals at less than 500Hz. Fish make sounds when fighting over territories, competing for food, within spawning aggregations and when under attack from predators.

Earlier this year, Dr Slabbekoorn published a report in the journal Behavioural Ecology that suggested that cichlid fish in Lake Victoria, East Africa produce species-specific sounds that also correlate with the size of the fish. The sounds play an essential role in mating and sexual selection among cichlids in the lake, he reports.

So as well as affecting the distribution of fish, this means noise pollution could interrupt their reproduction, by causing stress or restricting their ability to find a mate or keep them from preferred spawning sites. It could also prevent fish from hearing each other and communicating effectively, and affect their ability to detect noisy prey, or hear oncoming predators.

Coastal statistics on link between leukaemia and plutonium remain secret

The Herald Scotland, 30th May 2010, reports that Scotland's first, longest and most disputed Freedom of Information case has ended up with vital cancer statistics remaining secret.

After two investigations by the Scottish information commissioner, Kevin Dunion, plus appeals to the Court of Session in Edinburgh and the House of Lords in London, numbers that might shed light on the links between children's blood cancer and radioactive pollution have been kept under wraps.

The Scottish Green Party, which made the original request, is frustrated and annoyed. The Scottish Health Service, which fought to keep the information confidential, sounds relieved.

Back at the start of 2005, Michael Collie, a researcher for the then Green MSP, Chris Ballance, asked the Scottish Health Service for the annual incidence of childhood leukaemia in every census ward in Dumfries and Galloway from 1990 to 2003.

They wanted to test widespread suspicions that the debilitating and potentially fatal cancer could be caused by radioactive contamination. Plutonium from the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria washes up on the Solway coast, and has been detected around the shoreline.

The health service, however, refused to release the information on the grounds that the small numbers of cases in particular areas might enable individual patients still alive to be identified. So Collie lodged Scotland's first Freedom of Information appeal with Mr Dunion's office in St Andrews on 27 January 2005.

After a six-month investigation, Mr Dunion concluded that the information could be released in a way that would not identify individuals. But the health service appealed to the Court of Session.

The Scottish court upheld Mr Dunion's findings, but the health service then appealed again to the House of Lords in England. In July 2008, five law lords concluded that Mr Dunion was wrong in law, and ordered him to rethink his decision. They argued that the form in which the information would be released amounted to sensitive personal data, that should be kept confidential under the 1998 Data Protection Act.

As a result Mr Dunion has conducted a second investigation, the results of which were sent to those involved last week. This time he agreed with the House of Lords, and ruled that the information as requested should not be released. He did, however, order the health service to provide aggregated statistics for the whole Dumfries and Galloway Health Board area. But they will not show the very local effects that are suspected.

"I regret that it has taken so long to finalise this decision, particularly when your application was the first to be made," wrote Mr Dunion to Mr Collie. "I appreciate how frustrating the whole process must have been for you."

The saga had helped resolve some issues over the form in which information had to be provided, but there were still problems. "Confusion over the definition of personal data is likely to remain for some time," said Mr Dunion.

"I don't think there is anything at all for us in this," commented former MSP Mr Ballance. "We wanted to test the hypothesis that childhood leukaemia rates are higher by the coast than inland, because of radiation from Sellafield blown in on sea spray. An aggregated set of statistics for the area will tell us nothing except that they are about in line with national statistics. I think we know that already." Mr Ballance argued that local communities had a right to their own health statistics. "The small numbers at issue here are a problem, but I don't accept that there is no better way round it," he stated.

NHS National Services Scotland's medical director, Dr Marion Bain, accepted this had been a difficult request. "We are fully supportive of the fundamental principles underpinning Freedom of Information," she said. "At the same time, we have a clear duty to respect and preserve patients' right to confidentiality."

The information in the form now requested by Mr Dunion would be released. "We will continue to work closely with the information commissioner to make as much information available as possible where this is consistent with protecting patient privacy," Dr Bain added.

£2bn offshore windfarm to go ahead off north Wales

Construction work will begin next year on one of the largest offshore windfarms in the world, an energy firm has announced.

The £2bn Gwynt y Mor windfarm will have 160 wind turbines around 10 miles off the north Wales coast near Colwyn Bay and Llandudno.

Offshore energy has massive potential for the UK

The UK could become a net exporter of offshore-generated renewable electricity by 2050 by utilizing just under a third of its total offshore wind, wave and tidal energy resources. This is according to a report published by the Offshore Valuation Group, an informal collaboration of government and industry organisations. Under this scenario, the offshore energy industry would also create 145,000 jobs in the UK and provide £28 billion in tax revenues annually.

The report said that the government and industry need to make sure that the next round of offshore wind projects were able to connect to a "supergrid" to avoid locking out potential future electricity sales to Europe.

It also said that the UK needs to develop the supply chain as well as a new financing structure that can support the scale and speed that is required of the industry.

The UK, where offshore wind installed capacity has recently reached 1 gigawatt, is leading the global sector.

About £100 billion is expected to be invested in UK offshore wind projects over the next decade. However even though the potential is huge, the sector is facing high development costs, an underdeveloped supply chain, technology and engineering challenges, as well as a lack of grid infrastructure.

The report states that Britain could become the "Saudi Arabia of the renewables world" on the back of North Sea wind and wave resources, and estimates that by 2050 the UK could generate annually offshore the equivalent in electricity to 1 billion barrels of oil and gas.

"The UK is now most of the way through its first great offshore energy asset, our stock of hydrocarbon reserves. The central finding of this report is that our second offshore asset, of renewable energy, could be just as valuable. Britain's extensive offshore experience could now unlock an energy flow that will never run out," the report concludes.

The report looks at different likely scenarios for growth of the industry with even the most conservative — 13% resource utilisation, producing 78 gigawatts of power at a capital cost of £170bn — which would provide half of the UK's electricity demand. A more ambitious scenario, using 29% of resources would see 169GW installed at a cost of nearly £433bn and would make Britain a net exporter of electricity.

Problems in the Baltic Sea remain serious

None of the open basins of the Baltic Sea have reached an acceptable ecosystem health status, according to the latest scientific assessment from the Helsinki Commission (Helcom) released at a meeting in Moscow, 20th May 2010.

Reiterating similar warnings from last year, the Helsinki Commission says that despite a decrease in inputs of nitrogen by 30% and phosphorus by 45% since 1990, eutrophication has not diminished. Further upgrading of waste water treatment plants is still necessary.

Concentrations of certain persistent organic pollutants such as PCBs, DDT and dioxins have fallen following bans of these substances. But new substances such as brominated flame retardants and pharmaceuticals have also become a cause of concern.

Human-induced pressures on the marine environment are highest in areas with the highest population densities such as the Gulfs of Finland, Riga and Gdansk and the south-western sea area. The Gulf of Bothnia between Sweden and Finland is the only large area with a favourable status for biodiversity.

The findings are intended to help the implementation of Helcom's 2007 Baltic Sea action plan. Baltic Sea ministers have adopted the Moscow declaration, reaffirming their commitment to phasing out phosphates in detergents by 2015 and develop national implementation programmes by 2011.

US halts deep water offshore oil exploration

The U.S. government has ordered a temporary halt to drilling at 33 deep water exploration rigs, part of a broader response to the massive BP oil spill that threatens efforts to tap offshore fields seen as crucial to increased U.S. oil output.

The move may potentially delay project development plans by companies like Chevron Corp in the Gulf of Mexico, where rising production has helped offset shrinking domestic onshore supply.

Unlike the US administration's recently announced six-month extension of its ban on new deep water drilling permits, and cancellation of a much-anticipated lease sale offshore Virginia, this pause for existing deep-sea exploratory rigs threatens to affect proven oil discoveries rather than just untested areas.

Although the measures will not affect oil wells already in production, the 33 exploratory rigs are supposed to stop at the first safe opportunity, and implement new safety measures before resuming operations. US Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, confirmed that the halt would not apply to rigs operating in shallow waters.

This could increase costs and delay development plans for companies like Royal Dutch Shell, which is among the biggest Gulf explorers, while major contract drillers who could be left with idled rigs include Transocean Ltd and Noble Corp. Brazilian state oil company Petrobras said the suspension could slow the development of its Gulf of Mexico Cascade-Chinook fields that were originally scheduled to begin production in the second half of this year. Those areas were expected to reach 80,000 barrels a day over several years.

Energy consultants Wood Mackenzie previously estimated a six-month extension of the ban would delay 80,000 barrels a day in U.S. oil production that was expected in 2011. While that is only about 5 percent of the Gulf's total output, any delay to future development could elevate long-dated oil prices and would increase demand for imported crude, something President Barack Obama has sworn to curb.

In addition to cancelling the Virginia lease sale, the US government has also cancelled a lease sale that was planned for the western Gulf of Mexico in mid-August, an area that could have produced up to 423 million barrels of oil.

The Gulf of Mexico accounted for about 29 percent of U.S. crude oil production and 11 percent of natural gas output last year, according to the U.S. Energy Department. About 24 percent of America's total oil production came from wells in Gulf waters more than 1,000 feet deep. About 5 percent of U.S. gas output came from wells at such depths.

New exploratory drilling in water depths of more than 500 feet will be banned under the six-month moratorium.

Waste plastic is now an "environmental emergency"

In an article in The Daily Mail, 17th May 2010, the television journalist Simon Reeve reports on the severe impact that plastic is now having on the world environment, both on land and at sea. He reports that plastic waste chokes and kills at least a million seabirds every year and 100,000 marine mammals. In addition, plastic fragments release potentially harmful styrene compounds which not only contaminate the sea but also attract other chemicals in the water, such as DDT and PCBs, which adhere to the plastic. These polluted plastic fragments are so small (the size of plankton) and look like food that they are readily eaten by small fish, which in turn are eaten by larger fish, which in turn are eaten by us. Thus, the whole food chain is now polluted by plastic, much of it toxic in nature.

We reproduce his full report below.

"Hawaii is generally considered to be the one place in the world where you should be able to guarantee finding paradise. The beautiful tropical islands have been used as the setting for countless TV series, ranging from Lost to Jurassic Park. Isolated in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, distance alone should protect Hawaii's spectacular landscapes and turquoise sea from the environmental problems facing the rest of the planet. So when I arrived in Hawaii, at the end of a long journey around the Tropic of Cancer for my recent BBC2 series, I was staggered to discover beaches covered in plastic rubbish washed up from around the world.

"Pristine sand was covered by old plastic toothbrushes, combs, shoes, belts and mouldings. Sam Gon, a Hawaiian conservationist, took me to one beach where 70 local volunteers had just removed tons of garbage. Yet as soon as it was cleaned, the waves dumped another mountain of rubbish. The larger pieces of waste can be collected by hand. But when Sam and I dropped to our knees, I could see the surface of the beach was covered with millions of small plastic pellets, known as nurdles, the raw material that factories warm, shape and mould to form the almost infinite number of plastic products that surround our lives. Dumped, lost or washed out of factories into our seas in their trillions, the nurdles would be difficult to remove from the beach even with a giant sieve.

"Yet the big shock came when Sam told me to dig into the sand. Plastic doesn't biodegrade. Instead it breaks down into ever smaller pieces. Among the grains of sand, and to a depth of several feet, were billions of tiny plastic flecks, which the pounding of the sea was reducing in size. As I dug through the plastic, I realised the sandy beach was being transformed into a plastic beach. A chill went down my spine.

"During the past five years I have travelled around Earth's tropical region for three television series, Equator, Tropic Of Capricorn and, most recently, Tropic Of Cancer. On my trips I've explored and investigated some of the most pressing issues affecting us and our planet, including poverty, disease and religious fundamentalism. My journeys have left me in no doubt that the most critical challenge we face is our relationship with the environment.

"From the beaches of Hawaii to the seas around Britain, we are soiling our own nest. Since finishing my travels and returning home from Hawaii, I've taken a closer look at British beaches. It was a shock to realise how they have changed since I was a child playing on beautiful coastlines in Dorset and south Wales, where my little brother James would happily eat the sand. Britain's beaches, just like those in Hawaii, are now covered in more litter than ever before.

"The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), the charity dedicated to protecting our seas, shores and wildlife, has revealed that while total litter has increased by 77 per cent since its Beachwatch survey and clean-up in 1994, plastic litter has increased by an extraordinary 121 per cent. In September, the MCS will be organising another national Beachwatch clean-up and it needs all the help it can get. Decades ago, beach rubbish was biodegradable. Now it is mainly plastic and even beaches that seem clean can have an astonishing 5,000 plastic fibres per litre of sand. But worryingly, the plastic we see on our beaches is just a fraction of the plastic waste that is clogging our oceans.

"Apart from a tiny quantity that has been incinerated, all the plastic ever created — totalling hundreds of millions of tons — is still out there in the environment in some form. Huge amounts have been stuffed into landfills as rubbish, from where plastic can leach poisonous toxins into groundwater supplies. But vast quantities have also been dropped as litter on beaches or city streets around the world. Rivers often wash it out to sea.

"Added to that are the estimated 600,000 plastic containers dumped overboard by ships and navies every single day. In total, at least 100 million tons of plastic rubbish is thought to be sloshing around in our seas.

"The scale of the problem is extraordinary. The beaches I visited in Hawaii are being swamped by rubbish from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast accumulation of the world's plastic debris floating in the Pacific Ocean. Twice the size of France, the Garbage Patch is like a plastic soup in the sea and is doubling in size each decade. Unbelievably, it is not alone. Scientists are convinced that sea currents have created five vast swirling garbage patches in our oceans, including a huge one in the North Atlantic identified in the past few months, which has up to 520,000 bits of rubbish per square mile. Even more rubbish lurks below the surface, as around 70 per cent sinks down to pollute the seabed.

"This is an international scandal and a global problem, for which we are all responsible. From bicycle helmets to food packaging, from water bottles to toothbrushes, plastic makes our lives easier. But its production and use is completely out of control. Factories produced more plastic in the first decade of this century than in the entire 20th century.

"They are churning out a staggering 300 million tons of plastic each year, much of which will be turned into products that are used once and then thrown away.

"As rubbish on land, plastic is a scourge of our modern world. In our seas, the damage all this plastic does is terrifying. Plastic garbage traps, chokes and kills at least a million seabirds every year and 100,000 marine mammals. As if that wasn't bad enough, it could also be killing us. Plastic fragments release potentially harmful styrene compounds, contaminating the sea, and they attract other nasty chemicals in the water, such as DDT and PCBs, which then 'stick' to the plastic. Fragments of plastic collected from the sea around Japan have been found with concentrations of carcinogenic chemicals at levels one million times higher than in the surrounding seawater.

"In some areas of the Pacific there are six times more plastic bits than plankton. Because the polluted fragments are so small and look like food, they are being gobbled up by small fish, which in turn are eaten by larger fish — which in turn are eaten by us. So plastic is ruining our beaches, choking the oceans and poisoning our food chain. The consequences are still not fully understood, but they are likely to be devastating.

"This environmental catastrophe is being completely ignored by our politicians. Yet there is so much that could and must be done to help the problem. Alternatives to plastic and biodegradable plastics made from corn and soy are under development. We need to spurn and reject the main culprits: plastic bags, packaging and single-use water bottles, a wasteful obscenity. These make up the bulk of plastic garbage.

"In Bangladesh, they have abandoned plastic bags and replaced them with natural jute bags. If they can do it, so can we. At stake is the future of British beaches, our seas and the food chain. It is nothing short of an environmental emergency!"

If Jesus were to return to the Sea of Galilee today…

BBC online news, 12th May 2010, reports that fishing has been banned in the Sea of Galilee.

"The Sea of Galilee has for centuries provided a healthy living for hundreds of fishermen — the disciple Peter among them, according to the Bible. But now an unprecedented fishing ban is being enforced on the Sea of Galilee because, says the Israeli Government, chronic over-fishing has severely depleted stocks.

The Sea of Galilee is a mythical and historical place. It was here, says the Bible, that Jesus walked on water and in the hills overlooking where he fed the 5,000 with two fish and five loaves. According to the Gospels, when Jesus told Peter to cast his nets into deep water, "they caught fish in such large numbers their nets began to break". From Biblical times to the great travel writers of the 19th Century people wrote about the abundant fish stocks of Lake Galilee.

The Galilee, in reality a large freshwater lake, has supported fishermen and their communities along its shores for hundreds of years. As recently as 10 years ago there were more than 100 small boats and eight trawlers working the lake.

Today Menachem Lev skippers the last large boat on the Galilee but as he casts his nets into deep water he knows they won't come up full. There are a few mullet and catfish — but alarmingly few of the large St Peter's Fish, for which the Galilee is famous. Official figures show that as recently as 2005 almost 300 tonnes of the local St Peter's Fish were caught here. Last year that figure fell to just eight tonnes. Most of the fish I saw being caught out on the lake were small juveniles — very little worth keeping.

The Israeli Government's response to falling stocks is a blanket two-year ban on fishing. Menachem the fisherman disagrees. "It's not fishermen who are to blame," bemoans Menachem, who has been putting his boat out onto the water here for 31 years. "What good would a two-year ban do? After two years, even more fishermen and more boats would come back. In the meantime the cormorants and other birds that eat all the young fish would still be here." A fishing ban would also force Menachem, and his three man crew — all members of the En Gev Kibbutz on the eastern shore of the Galilee — to find alternative work. Another 100 or so fishermen with smaller boats, dotted around the lake, would be in a similar predicament.

Surrounded by specimen jars in his Tel Aviv laboratory, Professor Menachem Goren, an aquatic biologist, says he can come to no other conclusion. There are too many fishermen, with nets that catch too many small fish and there has been no management of fishing on the lake. A fishing ban is tough, but it's the only way to deal with the problem."

They still serve tasty, freshly-fried St Peter's Fish at En Gev restaurant to the coach loads of tourists who call in every day. It's deceptive, though. Because of declining stocks, nearly all of the fish has been bought from fish farms.

As he returns to the harbour, after a day's fishing under the sweltering sun, with yet another disappointing catch, Menachem Lev is clearly unhappy that he's being forced to hang up his nets for two years. But it may be the only way if, as in Biblical times, they'll one day again be full to bursting with fish."

Norway grapples with explosion threat in its North Sea oil rigs

The Guardian reports, 27th March 2010, that gas build-up threatens Norwegian North Sea oil rigs, with workers evacuated as Norwegian engineers pump cement into offshore wells in order to prevent explosions, thus highlighting the dangers brought to prominence by the BP incident in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Ninety oil workers have been evacuated from a North Sea rig as engineers fight to control a huge build up of pressure in a well which critics say has the potential to blow-up the platform and cause a major environmental problem. The Norwegian company Statoil has been pumping cement into an offshore well on the Gullfaks field in an operation similar to the one being attempted today by BP in the Gulf of Mexico.

The equivalent of around 70,000 barrels of oil a day of production from the Gullfaks C, Tordis and Gimle platforms has been shut down and more than 90 staff evacuated from the area, which lies in Norwegian waters. The country's industry regulator said it was the third well control incident on Gullfaks in the past six months.

Jake Molloy, offshore organiser of the RMT union in Aberdeen, said the case also highlighted the continuing dangers of oil extraction off Britain's coast. He added: "The huge gas bubble under the Gullfaks has the potential to threaten the platform."

However, Statoil said today that the well was being brought under control. "We had a build-up in pressure and the barriers through the blowout preventer worked as they should. We are now pumping cement into the well and the pressure is starting to fall," said Kai Neilsen, a spokesman for the oil group in London.

Nelson said the previous incidents on Gullfaks had not been serious but Inger Anda, a spokeswoman for Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), said a well "kick", reported in December, was serious. A further incident on 30 April this year — also a gas kick caused by high pressure — was brought under control quickly. Anda said the authority was having daily meetings with Statoil until the latest problem was resolved.

Gullfaks C started production in 1990. It is one of three large concrete-legged platforms comprising the huge Gullfaks development and stands in water 217 metres deep — much shallower than BP's Deepwater well in the Gulf. The unit taps oil from the Tordis field as well as taking in supplies from the Gimle and Skinfaks satellite fields.

The Bellona green campaign group said it was concerned about lax regulation in the North Sea. It described the Statoil field emergency as "very critical" and highlighted continued risks of offshore oil and gas exploration in the wake of BP's well blowout and environmental disaster off America.

"They have a situation in which there is uncontrolled pressure from the well, one of the barriers is gone and one barrier is left," said Frederic Hauge, head of Bellona, one of the leading environmental groups in Norway. "Uncontrolled pressure is very serious and has the capability of being a large accident," he said, adding that in the first quarter of 2010, eight incidents took place in the Norwegian oil industry that could have had huge consequences. That is very serious. Regulatory work in Norway may look nice from outside, but we have a lot of security issues in the Norwegian industry."

New evidence of sewage pollution of UK beaches

In a article in The Sunday Times, 23 May 2010, new evidence has come forward that combined sewer overflows (CSOs) — the practice of discharging sewage overflows into rivers and the sea without treatment — are being used on a widespread basis, and are even contaminating Blue Flag beaches which are meant to have attained the highest quality standards. For details of the types of illness that can be contracted from bathing in sewage contaminated water, see MARINET website www.marinet.org.uk/ukbw.html.

"On holiday in Padstow, Cornwall, last year Alex Burns and his brother Simon shrugged off England's wet and stormy summer to enjoy some surfing. After three days of crashing about in the waves, Simon became violently sick. "I started being sick at midnight and was sick eight times that night," said Simon, 14. The vomiting bug was gone within 24 hours, but two days later Alex fell ill. "It started in the late afternoon and then I was being sick probably every half-hour," he said last week.

The two brothers, from a village near Banbury, racked their brains over what could have made them so ill. They ruled out food poisoning and concluded that it could have been only one thing: dirty, bug-infested sea water. The possible source of that contamination may lie in a huge database provided last week to The Sunday Times by the Environment Agency (EA). It maps tens of thousands of sewage spills from overflow and outfall pipes into the country's bathing waters during 2008 and 2009.

In theory, pipes affecting public beaches are supposed to spill out significant amounts of raw sewage and rainwater only three times at most during the whole summer. But the data reveal that in the worst cases some are operating as often as five times a day. According to the documents, in the summer of 2008 outlets in Padstow and nearby Rock discharged sewage and floodwater more than 40 times. On July 9 that year, one raw sewage outlet at Padstow was operating for more than 17 hours.

Did similar spills in 2009 make the Burns brothers ill? The data cannot be seen — because, to the fury of many people, water companies still refuse to make all their information available.

However, even the limited EA figures paint a grim picture. They reveal that there are 15,000 sewage and floodwater overflows; of these, 457 affect designated bathing areas — including 50 blue flag beaches. The overflows are supposed to cope with emergencies, but the data show that they operate much more frequently than the public imagines. During heavy rain, they start flowing.

At Combe Martin, on the north coast of Devon, three sewage overflow pipes discharged more than 70 times during the 2008 bathing season and more than 50 times in 2009. During one test there were 23,400 faecal bacteria per 100ml of water; the recommended level for the cleanest beaches is 100 bacteria per 100ml, or fewer. Mothecombe, on the south coast of Devon, had more than 120 spills during the summer from sewage outlets that could affect the water quality. Exmouth had more than 150.

Surfers, who regularly contract stomach bugs and infections, have long suspected that overflow pipes are being used routinely to dump unprocessed sewage. But they have struggled for years to get any detailed discharge data from the water companies. Andy Cummins, campaign director at Surfers against Sewage (SAS), said: "The evidence The Sunday Times has uncovered is outrageous, but unfortunately not surprising. Sewer overflows are being used to dump sewage rather than treat it. It matches up with anecdotal evidence that SAS is receiving from water users all over the country. These shocking figures highlight the contempt that water companies are showing towards water users, bill payers and the environment."

South West Water has been credited with dramatically improving the overall water quality of its beaches with a £1.5 billion "Clean Sweep" programme. The new data reveal there is still much to do.

About 2.8m cases of illness a year are caused by swimming in dirty water, according to a 2002 study funded by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Children, pregnant women and the elderly are most at risk. A 2003 World Health Organisation report, Guidelines for Safe Recreational Water Environments, states: "Direct discharge of crude untreated sewage through short outfalls or combined sewer overflows into recreational areas presents a serious risk to public health."

Candice O'Donnell, 26, the European ladies' longboard surfing champion, who was brought up in Newquay, Cornwall, said a warning system was required on the country's beaches. "Your beach may look clean but just around the corner there might be a sewage overflow," she said. "And it might have been raining and they don't tell you that the water has a lot of bacteria in it."

Last week Southern Water, which covers the Hampshire, Sussex and Kent coast, as well as the Isle of Wight, admitted that some of its overflow pipes were discharging more than 100 times during the summer. It disclosed details of 38,000 "spills" in 2007-9, from discharges lasting a few minutes to others lasting several weeks.

On the Isle of Wight three overflow pipes each discharged untreated sewage and storm water more than 100 times during 2008. The Good Beach Guide, produced by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), recommended just seven of the island's beaches in 2009, compared with 16 in 2008. Joe Caudwell, 35, a teacher and surfer who lives at Shanklin on the Isle of Wight, said he suffered an ear infection in July last year after surfing on the island's Hope beach after rain. "I felt dizzy and sick and had really poor hearing," he said. "I lost my balance and felt disoriented. It completely drained me." The Hope beach sewer overflow pipe is located near the car park on the seafront. Caudwell has been keeping an eye on it ever since his ear infection. "Whenever there is heavy rainfall, stuff will come out," he said. "It's grey or brown liquid and has a very unpleasant smell. Sanitary items get stuck between the bars of the pipe. You see used sanitary towels and toilet paper."

On some stretches of the coast, hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of untreated sewage and floodwater are pumped out offshore from popular beaches. The Anchorsholme pumping station near Blackpool, Lancashire, operated more than 70 times between April and September last year during wet weather, sending 340,000 cubic metres of raw sewage and storm water out to sea.

A pumping station in Whitburn, South Tyneside, discharged sewage and floodwater on 40 occasions during the 2009 bathing season for nine hours on average. Robert Latimer, who lives on the seafront, said sewage debris was regularly strewn along nearby Seaburn beach and the promenade. Despite the sewage pollution, Seaburn last year achieved the highest water quality standard after EA tests. Earlier this month it was awarded the prestigious blue flag award. "This is absolutely shocking," said Latimer. "This is a beach with sewage and it should never have got a blue flag."

Thomas Bell, coastal pollution officer with the MCS, said the Seaburn test results showed the testing regime was a "blunt instrument". He added: "These tests were designed by Europe when countries were pouring out huge amounts of sewage into the sea. They are not designed to pick up sporadic discharges that might occur only a few times a month but are a hazard to health."

Even when the tests do show high readings of bacteria, water companies can claim the overflows were deluged because of abnormal levels of rain. The sample is then disregarded and another one is taken.

The water companies are resisting public requests for detailed information about spills from what are known as "combined sewer overflows". Fish Legal, which campaigns for better water quality, has been refused information from the water companies on sewage discharges affecting rivers. Company executives argue that they do not run public bodies and therefore do not have to comply with the environmental information regulations. Christopher Graham, the UK information commissioner, has backed the water companies on this issue, but Fish Legal is appealing. Guy Linley-Adams, a lawyer representing Fish Legal, said: "It's hard to think of any organisation or public body that has as big an impact on the environment as the water companies. The idea they are not covered by these regulations is frankly laughable."

The poor state of some beaches will come under closer scrutiny with the implementation of a tougher new bathing directive by 2015. The MCS estimates that as many as one in seven beaches may be rated "poor", which means that signs must be erected warning bathers against swimming.

The European commission is also scrutinising the country's use of raw sewage overflow and outfall pipes. It is taking Britain to the European Court over the discharges at Whitburn, which it believes may be in violation of the European Union waste water directive.

Paul Hickey, head of water quality at the EA, said: "There has been huge investment to improve bathing water quality and 98.6% of the country's beaches now comply with the mandatory EU standard. However, we are not complacent and where there are problems we'll investigate and take action." The agency says that in the past two decades more than 8,000 overflow and other storm sewage outlets both on the coast and inland have been improved to reduce the number of spills. Further improvements are planned and an additional 400 overflow pipes in bathing and shellfish areas will be fitted with monitoring equipment. The agency said the limit on sewage overflow of just three significant spills during a bathing season was enforced only if the sewage was likely to make the beach fail the current water quality tests. Next year more information will be provided at beaches about the locations of overflows and the possible risks.

South West Water said it was working with SAS and the Health Protection Agency to establish whether the reporting of sewage and stormwater discharges at some of its 1,500 overflows could be improved. It said overall water quality in the region had improved dramatically in the past two decades.

Southern Water said it had worked with the EA to tackle overflows with "unacceptable impacts" on the environment and all of its beaches met the mandatory standard.

Water UK, which represents the water companies, says £1 billion has been earmarked for improving overflows during the next five years.

Coming 'Shoreline Management Plan' (SMP) Presentations

A series of presentations labelled 'public consultations' on the regions coastal protection plans are about to come about, where four public 'drop-in' events will allow the public to see the various SMP documents and its supporting studies, as well as taking a direct consultative part in a part of the project called a 'strategic environmental assessment', where staff from the various organisations involved will be on hand to answer questions.

The drop-in sessions will be at Sea Palling village hall on 8th June, Great Yarmouth Town Hall on 9th June, Corton Village Hall on 10th June and the Church Rooms in Mundesley on 11th June. Each event will run from 2.30pm to 7pm.

Bearing in mind the appalling shortcomings of the initial SMP resulting in its utter rejection, it is important that these documents are thoroughly studied and contemplated, and that your arising concerns are expressed. The plans and documents pertaining can be seen at council offices and libraries in the coastal towns and villages, and are available online at www.northnorfolk.org.

It is important that the ridiculous concept of allowing the loss of coastline to the sea under 'Managed Retreat' is pointed out, and that nothing whatsoever is being done about the main cause of the erosion experienced, i.e. offshore aggregate dredging.

In the light of the heightening economic crisis and the high probability of cuts in coastal protection coming about in forthcoming budget allocations, it is even more important to address the cause rather than merely attend to the consequences and partial remediation.

Our website items listed under www.marinet.org.uk/coastaldefences.html will provide a good grounding in the limitations and shortcomings currently abounding.

Artificial surfing reefing at Bournemouth has "teething problems"

The Guardian reports, 18th May 2010 Our railways have had problems with the wrong sort of snow and leaves, but now a coastal resort has hit trouble with the wrong type of waves. A £3m artificial reef is producing surf that is too short and too difficult for the average boarding enthusiast, a report found today.

The man-made reef at Boscombe, near Bournemouth, was the first of its kind in the northern hemisphere, but has received a mixed reaction from surfers. Now the council is withholding a £150,000 performance payment from its creator, ASR Ltd, until the issues are resolved.

Problems identified in a study published today include issues with the length of ride and the frequency of waves, which need to be "slightly less challenging" to attract journeyman surfers. The findings were based on a performance assessment by experts at Plymouth University showing that the reef had only achieved four of its 11 objectives since opening in November. Created 225m out to sea and made of 55 sand-filled bags, the reef was aimed at making surfing conditions better.

Bournemouth Borough Council's summary of the report found that: "The reef does work and, in the right conditions, is producing steep, challenging waves suitable for expert surfers. But the ride is not as long as required; frequency of surfing waves is not as often as [those on] the beach; and the wave would be surfable by more people (ie intermediate as well as expert surfers) if it were slightly less challenging." The information was partly garnered from cameras monitoring the breaking waves' shape and strength.

Mark Davidson, of the university's School of Marine Science and Engineering, said today: "The results of this analysis showed that the reef was successful in producing a new wave at Boscombe which was rideable for experienced surfers and boogie-boarders. The new wave on the reef was significantly different to the waves that are available on the natural beach around the Boscombe Pier. However the wave was consistently shorter than the design criteria, which promised rides of around 65m. Additionally, it was less consistent than the neighbouring beach, when it had been hoped that the reef would increase the consistency of the surfing waves in the area. Thirdly, the wave is more challenging than was first anticipated, breaking powerfully and quickly on take-off, making it difficult for even early intermediate surfers to enjoy the wave."

The council is now looking at whether the reef has properly bedded in or needs more time to settle. ASR Ltd, a New Zealand firm, is to present a proposal for "refinements". Bournemouth council's service director for leisure, Roger Brown, told the Bournemouth Echo: "Obviously there is an element of some disappointment but I always thought the reef would probably need some modifications. Our contractors ASR have agreed with the performance assessment and are committed to carrying out this work. It's not just their final payment of £150,000 that is at stake; it's also their reputation. I'm optimistic that the ride length can be improved, the take-off speed can be reduced and surfing can be made less difficult."

The findings will be discussed publicly at a council cabinet meeting on 26 May. The authority went ahead with the plan as part of the Boscombe Spa Project — a revamp aimed at attracting new visitors. The seafront promenade now features new restaurants and apartments. The whole project is set to cost around £11.3m, exceeding last year's estimate of £10.8m. The scheme has seen a 32% increase in visitor numbers, the council added.

Deep water methane holds many secrets

Did deep water methane hydrates cause the BP Gulf explosion, and do they pose a serious problem for all deep water oil wells ?

The vast deep water methane hydrate deposits of the Gulf of Mexico are an open secret in big energy circles. They represent the most tantalizing new frontier of unconventional energy a potential source of hydrocarbon fuel thought to be twice as large as all the petroleum deposits ever known.

For the oil and gas industry, the substances are also known to be the primary hazard when drilling for deep water oil.

Methane hydrates are volatile compounds — natural gas compressed into molecular cages of ice. They are stable in the extreme cold and crushing weight of deep water, but are extremely dangerous when they build up inside the drill column of a well. If destabilized by heat or a decrease in pressure, methane hydrates can quickly expand to 164 times their volume.

Survivors of the BP rig explosion told interviewers that right before the April 20 blast, workers had decreased the pressure in the drill column and applied heat to set the cement seal around the wellhead. Then a quickly expanding bubble of methane gas shot up the drill column before exploding on the platform on the ocean's surface.

Even a solid steel pipe has little chance against a 164-fold expansion of volume — something that would render a man six feet six inches tall suddenly the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Scientists are well aware of the awesome power of these strange hydrocarbons. A sudden large scale release of methane hydrates is believed to have caused a mass extinction 55 million years ago. Among planners concerned with mega-disasters, their sudden escape is considered to be a threat comparable to an asteroid strike or nuclear war. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a Livermore, Ca.-based weapons design centre, reports that when released on a large scale, methane hydrates can even cause tsunamis.

So it is not surprising to anyone who knows about the physics of these compounds that the Deepwater Horizon rig was lost like a waterfly crumpled by a force of nature scientists are still just getting to know.

Suffolk Coastal Loss escalating

The past two weeks have seen Lowestoft lose much of its popular beach and backing cliffs, and the urgent need to move between 6,000 and 8,000 tonnes of sand and shingle in an attempt to stabilize before the onset of the holiday season. Elsewhere in Suffolk similar coastline losses continue to escalate.

Emergency measures were put into place at Thorpeness after shoreline material was swept out too sea, resulting in a serious beach level drop in early May. In just two weeks what was a gently sloping shingle beach was replaced by a sheer drop of 7 metres and homes in North End Avenue threatened by underminement.

The beach is stripped and the seawall at Corton, just north of Lowestoft, has been closed to the public as it is unsafe and insecure following underminement and slippage of masonry into the sea. Waveney District Council are asking that people keep well away from the area due to the hazard presented.

The historic Orford Ness Trinity House Grade II listed building lighthouse that has guarded the Suffolk coast for centuries could be undermined and lost to the sea within the next five years. It has emerged that in its recently published 'Aids to Navigation Review' Trinity House recommends decommissioning subject to more consultation.

However Southwold lighthouse — which was only itself saved from closure last year — will have its range extended in a bid to compensate for the loss.

Andy Smith, cabinet member for coastal protection and deputy leader of Suffolk Coast District Council said that coastal protection is a top priority for the council and that prompt, innovative action will continue to be taken. He said that he would soon be meeting with residents to explain what action is being taken and discuss what the options are for the future.

MARINET wonders, now that the evidence is so clear to see, whether this 'action to be taken' will include addressing the fundamental cause in the future by opposing to the issue of further licences to dredge offshore as is attended to by all other East Anglian Councils.

Rare box crab netted by Cornish fisherman

A Cornish fisherman has netted a rare species of deep-sea crab, normally found at depths of up to three kilometres. This particular individual measures one metre across, whilst the species itself can grow up to 2 metres.

Skipper Matthew Keast was fishing for turbot 80 miles west of Scilly when the giant box crab was hauled up in his nets. The Blue Reef Aquarium is now looking after the crab. Curator Matt Slater says: "It looks like something from another planet and has caused quite a stir here."

This particular species of crab is also known as 'shame-faced'. It's earned this name because of the way their claws fold in in front of their face, as if hiding it in shame.

When hungry the box crab uses its powerful claw to open up the shells of various small sea creatures. Despite its long journey from the depths, the crab appears in reasonable condition.

Matt Slater says: "It's one of the oddest crabs I've ever seen. It has weird eyes on stalks which look like bicycle handlebars and a strange pair of backward facing pincers. Apparently it's normally found very deep on the edge of the continental shelf which runs from Morocco to Ireland at depths of 3,000 metres," he explained.

Due to the great depths at which they live little is known about giant box crabs, however it is thought they are scavengers and live mainly off dead fish they find on the seabed.

Deepwater Horizon oil spill may have serious long-term consequences

As the United States grapples with one of the worst oil spills in its history, experts still have no idea of the extent of the damage and impacts that will be felt across the Gulf of Mexico, among coastal communities, and by marine resources. As the oil enters the currents of the Gulf, it looks possible that impacts will be experienced along the south-eastern seaboard of the United States. Three of the United States 13 National Marine Sanctuaries could be significantly affected:

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, situated 70-115 miles off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, which includes underwater communities that rise from the depths of the Gulf of Mexico atop underwater mountains called salt domes.

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, surrounding the entire archipelago of the Florida Keys and which contains some of the most extensive living coral reef in the United States.

Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, located off the Georgia coast, and which is one of the largest nearshore live-bottom reefs in the south-eastern United States.

These sanctuaries are home to some of the most important and cherished marine resources in the United States, designated and protected by federal law. Equally significantly, the human communities that are connected to these special places are likely to be severely impacted by the spill. These communities rely on the sanctuaries for livelihoods, recreation, tourism, and fishing — all activities likely to be adversely impacted in coming weeks and months.

There is also mounting evidence that the leaking crude oil has become caught up in the powerful loop current in the Gulf of Mexico, and from there could move from the Gulf up the Atlanic coast. If that were to be so the crude, which has been reported by a oceanographic research ship to be collecting in the form of a plume six miles long at a depth of 1,000 metres, could travel still further afield and enter the Atlantic circulatory systems. For further information, see The Guardian 18th May 2010.

International market for "conservation credits" proposed

The idea that nature is worth more to us alive than dead is a simple one. It is also one the new UK Government has promised to deliver, reports The Guardian, 17th May 2010.

"As the Conservative party put it in their election manifesto, they pledged to "pioneer a new system of conservation credits to protect habitats". If the detail of this idea is successfully rendered, this could transform the way we value the natural world and finance its protection. Caroline Spelman, the new Secretary of State for environment, food and rural affairs, should have the policy at the top of her in-tray."

"Under the scheme proposed in the manifesto, any property development that results in biodiversity loss must compensate for that loss by an equal investment in biodiversity and habitat conservation or restoration elsewhere. That's a good start, but if such things can be successfully priced, and if investment is at a significant scale, then conservation credits should be made available in many other parts of the global economy as well."

Diver records wealth of marine life in wrecks in Liverpool Bay

Chris Gregory, a marine diver, has told the Irish Sea Marine Conservation Zone project about his experiences as a marine diver in Liverpool Bay and the importance of wrecks for marine life. Chris Gregory has been diving wrecks in the Liverpool Bay area for 20 years.

"Hundreds of wrecks are strewn over the approaches to Liverpool," says Chris. "I've dived all sorts — paddle steamers, World War Two ships, you name it."

Liverpool Bay is one of the best places in the country for wreck diving. By the 1860s up to 70 ships a day could arrive in Liverpool's thriving docks. But the Mersey Estuary and Liverpool Bay are unusually dynamic, with dangerous shifting sandbanks. Accidents were inevitable and over 350 ships are thought to have sunk in the bay.

What surprises people is the multitude of marine life that the wrecks are home to. "The Mersey has the second fastest flowing tides in the Northern hemisphere and animals flourish in the plankton soup carried by the currents. The wrecks are covered in plumose anemones and there are huge old lobsters that have been on the wrecks for decades. There are lots of rays, big crabs, dogfish, shoals of bib, flatfish of all kinds and the occasional angler fish," says Chris.

What makes the wrecks all the more important is that they are beacons of marine life in an otherwise often featureless seabed of sand and gravel. Chris Gregory and his wife Barbara have dived together all over the world and have over 1,500 dives between them, including a 'couple of hundred' in the Irish Sea.

Recently they have been talking to Emily Hardman, local liaison officer for the Irish Sea Conservation Zones project. The project has so far visited 13 clubs and dive centres around the North West, encouraging divers to get involved with recommending Marine Conservation Zones. As Chris explains: "I'm all for marine protection because I've seen reefs around the world that are now barren. I like the idea of protecting the undersea environment and I'm especially concerned about my area, which is the Irish Sea."

Spending Cuts and Coastal Protection

John Gummer, former MP for the Suffolk Coastal constituency and president of Suffolk Coast Against Retreat (SCAR), now environment and climate change consultant, spoke of his concern that Coastal protection in the region may fall victim to deep public spending cuts, leaving people to repair their own defences, when he addressed the annual meeting of the Alde and Ore Association on 10th May '10. He suggested that people with land and homes by the sea may need to "make do and mend" because multi-million-pound "Rolls Royce answers" would be put on the back-burner.

The report on the meeting included comment from Edward Vere Nicoll, manager of the Benacre Estate including most of Covehithe where they are losing 16 acres a year over the 3.5 miles of coast and so wish to put in adaptive defence and safety measures including chestnut pale fences, marram grass, and protection, including sediment roped together and lined beneath the beach, hoping that Suffolk Coastal and Waveney district councils, the Environment Agency and Natural England would not refuse permission.

The full report by Amy Gray may be seen in the Eastern Daily Press of 11th May '10 under the heading 'Fears for the future of coastal protection funding' on the web here.

A further report appeared by Richard Cromwell in the East Anglian Daily times of the same date under 'Communities face battle to keep rising seas at bay if budgets slashed' that provided more of John Gummer's input. In this he said that there would be "no absolutes" any more and organisations such as Natural England and the RSPB would need to agree compromises to allow coastal defence and renewal energy schemes to proceed as well as saving wildlife and habitat.

He deplored the current way in which defences were designed with 100-year plans and three-year budgets arguing that there needed to be more immediacy to deal with problems occurring now, and said:

"We have a system which says where we will be in 100 years' time and then look at building something we expect to last 50 years, which is ludicrous — and we have a budget for three years, which is manifest nonsense. We don't know what is going to happen in 100 years and to base our policy on that seems to me to be plain balmy and we don't have accurate enough information to make those decisions. Twenty years is far enough away the longest period in which you could make a reasonable assumption. That's a sensible long-term".

"Communities will have to be more active, too in the future. It will be our duty to find practical ways of doing things because at the heart of it will be cost-effectiveness. We have a system which says where we will be in 100 years' time and then look at building something we expect to last 50 years, which is ludicrous — and we have a budget for three years, which is manifest nonsense. We don't know what is going to happen in 100 years and to base our policy on that seems to me to be plain balmy and we don't have accurate enough information to make those decisions"

"Twenty years is far enough away the longest period in which you could make a reasonable assumption. That's a sensible long-term. Communities will have to be more active, too in the future. It will be our duty to find practical ways of doing things because at the heart of it will be cost-effectiveness"

He said there would still be a need to protect fragile biodiversity but organisations such as Natural England and the RSPB should not have the right to simply say no when nature is threatened. "I don't want to lose the great-crested newt but I cannot agree that there should be no no-go areas — there should be compromise to find ways to keep the biodiversity but also have the energy scheme or best defences," he said.

The full report can be read in the East Anglian Daily Times here.

Singapore uses offshore dredged sand to increase its territory

Singapore, which prides itself on being one of the most environmentally friendly nations in Asia, is expanding its coastline with irresponsibly dredged sand from Cambodia, according to a report from the environmental NGO, Global Witness www.globalwitness.org

Global Witness says the lucrative sand trade devastates ecosystems, lacks regulatory oversight and enriches traders at the expense of local fishermen. The report, Shifting Sand: how Singapore's demand for Cambodian sand threatens ecosystems and undermines good governance, reveals that much of the demand is from Singapore, a small island state with big ambitions to increase its territory.

The city state of 4.9 million people has expanded its surface area from 582 sq km in the 1960s, to 710 sq km in 2008, an increase of 22%, and it has ambitious plans to reclaim further land from the sea. This requires far more sand than the island is able to provide for itself, prompting suppliers and middlemen to dredge and buy overseas.

Cargo manifests and photographs in the report suggest Singapore imported 14.2m tonnes of sand worth $273m (£184m) in 2008 from Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia. Its sourcing has reportedly expanded recently to Burma, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

The lucrative trade has alarmed neighbouring nations, which have seen chunks of their land being shipped off. After local media reported the shrinkage of several islands in Indonesia, the government there banned sales of sand to Singapore in 2008. Malaysia and Vietnam have imposed similar controls.

After the trade moved to Cambodia, the prime minister, Hun Sen, announced last May that his country too would restrict exports of sand. But Global Witness says coastal dredging operations have increased in the year since. The NGO estimates a single Cambodian province — Koh Kong — has an annual trade with Singapore worth $248m (£168m). On a single day, the NGO says its investigators have seen nine dredgers inside a single protected area — the Peam Krasop wildlife sanctuary and Koh Kapik Ramsar site.

The dredging operations threaten mangrove swamps, coral reefs and the biggest seagrass bed in the South China Sea, which is home to several rare species including the Irrawaddy dolphin, dugong and seahorses, it said. Local communities have reported a sharp fall in fish stocks and crab harvests.

The Cambodian government has denied any link with dredging operations. In Cambodia, at least 14 firms have been given dredging licenses. A tonne of sand, which costs $3 (£2) per tonne to extract, can be sold for $26 (£18) per tonne in Singapore. It is unclear how much of the revenues are returned to the people in the form of taxes.

"Cambodia's natural resource wealth should be lifting its population out of poverty. Instead, international aid has propped up basic services in Cambodia for over 15 years. Meanwhile, money from natural resources disappears into private bank accounts, and nearly 70% of the population subsists on less than $2 a day," said George Boden, campaigner at Global Witness.

The government of Singapore, which will this summer host the World Cities Summit — focusing on sustainability — denies any wrongdoing. It says the import of sand for reclamation is done on a commercial basis with safeguards for the environment.

"The policing and enforcement of sand extraction licences is ultimately the responsibility of the source country. However, Singapore will continue to play its part to ensure that sand is extracted in a legal and environmentally responsible manner," noted a statement by the Ministry of National Development. "We have not received any official notice on the ban of sand exports from Cambodia."

Cause and attempts to control the US Deepwater Horizon oil spill

The deadly blast on board the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was triggered by a bubble of methane gas, an investigation by BP has revealed. A report into the blast has said the gas escaped from the oil well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding. The sequence of events, described by rig workers, provides the most detailed account of the blast that killed 11 workers and led to more than 3 million gallons of crude oil pouring into the Gulf. The Obama administration has suspended new offshore drilling in Alaska and Virginia.

However hopes of a quick fix to stop oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig gushing into the Gulf of Mexico were dashed when a build-up of crystallised gas blocked the pipes in the huge metal containment tower, which then had to be lifted from the seabed. The metal tower, specially designed and constructed to cap the leak, is the height of a four-storey building and weighs 100 tonnes. The hope had been that it would hold the oil still gushing out of the well, which could then be siphoned out of the top, but the blocked pipes made that impossible.

The problem is blamed on methane gas, partly frozen into slush by the cold temperatures on the seabed at 1,500 metres (5,000ft). Engineers anticipated the problem, but not the volume of the gas build-up in the pipes. Engineers are now considering a "junk shot", shooting a mix of debris — including shredded tyres and golf balls — into the well at high pressure to clog it.

Whilst the well remains uncapped, oil continues gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 4,000 barrels a day or more (equivalent to 795,000 litres or 210,000 gallons).

Research into Coastal Defence Structures

'Sand and Gravel News' report that Marine Construction Planning UK were awarded a contract by Ceredigion County Council on 3rd May 2010 to undertake a 3D mobile bed physical modelling study to assist in the detailed design of coastal defence structures planned for the coast between Borth and Ynyslas, Aberystwyth, Wales. The study, promoted by Ceredigion County Council will include the examination of beach behaviour.

MARINET welcomes this approach in that it should lead to actual sand movement being studied instead of assumed.

Arctic winter sea-ice cover still shrinking

Arctic ice reached a larger maximum area this winter than in the last few years, scientists say, but the long-term trend still shows it to be declining. The 30-year trend shows that the maximum annual sea-ice cover, usually seen in March, is shrinking by 2.7% per decade.

Only 10% of the cover consists of relatively durable ice that has formed over more than two years, a record low. Scientists from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), say the thin ice is prone to summer melt.

"Thickness is important, especially in the winter, because it is the best overall indicator of the health of the ice cover," said NSIDC scientist Walt Meier. "As the ice cover in the Arctic grows thinner, it grows more vulnerable to melting in the summer.

"In the 1980s, thick multi-year ice made up 30-40% of the cover, the scientists say. The summer minimum area is changing much faster than the winter maxima, shrinking by about 0.7% per year. Last year UK researchers showed that the ice has also markedly thinned in recent years.

The Arctic sea-ice reached its maximum extent this year on 28th February, slightly earlier than usual, and remained roughly constant through March. Averaged over March, the sea-ice covered 15.16 million sq km (5.85 million sq miles). By comparison, this was 590,000 sq km (228,000 sq miles) below the average for the years 1979 to 2000, and 730,000 sq km (282,000 sq miles) above the record low of 2006.

The winter saw big variations in Arctic air temperatures, with some areas much warmer and others cooler than average. Some parts of the region including the Barents Sea experienced air temperatures 4°C above the long-term average, while others, including the Bering Sea, were as much as 2°C below the average — a pattern reflected in the areas where the thick, multi-year ice accumulated.

The maximum sea ice extent is declining by about 2.7% per decade. The data comes principally from two NASA satellites. IceSat measures the height by which the ice rises above the surrounding ocean, which can be used to calculate the overall ice thickness. Meanwhile, the Quikscat satellite can distinguish between multi-year and newly formed ice using differences in the way they scatter light.

The shrinkage in Arctic ice area and volume carries implications for climate change globally. Dark water absorbs more of the Sun's energy than reflective white ice, so the decline of sea-ice will act to amplify a warming trend. NSIDC researchers believe that a warm summer could see a major melt. "We're not set up well for summertime," said Dr Meier. "We're in a very precarious situation." Forecasts of the date by which Arctic summers will be ice-free range from five years to several decades, with natural climatic cycles playing an important role.

Note: The Catlin Arctic Survey is currently researching the impact of climate change in the Arctic region, see www.catlin.com/cgl/media/newsletter/reaffirm_research

Can Cod be replaced by fish-farming the carnivorous tropical Cobia?

A new fast-growing tropical fish that could provide an alternative to popular species for environmentally-conscious fish-lovers is being imported to the UK.

With recent studies revealing that UK's fish stocks have fallen by 94% in the past 100 years, Marine Farms (www.marinefarms.com) argues that cobia, which has white flesh and a high oil content, could be the next big farmed fish species. The fish grows three times faster than Atlantic salmon and has good taste and consistency according to Bjørn Myrseth, the chief executive of Marine Farms, based in Norway.

"For us it is a very attractive fish because of the rate of growth. It can grow from about 1g to 5kg-6kg in a year, when it takes salmon around 30 to 36 months to reach the same size. It also has good eating qualities with very firm flesh and high oil content. It is easy to prepare and has a nice mild flavour. The challenge will be to introduce the fish and convince people to eat it — we have to make it known to people," he said.

In the wild, cobia can grow up to 60kg, but it is very uncommon for the fish to be caught commercially. Marine Farms expects to produce 1,500 tonnes of the fish this year for export. There are plans to expand the site, which has the capacity to produce up to 6,000 tonnes a year, depending on demand.

The fish could also provide a viable alternative for other fish species that are under strain. Said Myrseth: "With a high oil content, it is also great raw for sushi or sashimi. It can also be used as a replacement for fish such as tuna, if people are looking for an environmentally sustainable alternative, as the texture and flavour are quite similar. The fish is currently placed at the more expensive end of the market and costs slightly more than Atlantic salmon, but we hope that as demand grows the cost of the fish will go down, and if demand is high enough it could become a relatively inexpensive fish in the future."

Cobia has been commercially produced in Asia, particularly in Taiwan where it is stocked in about 80% of ocean cages, according to the Marine Farms website. It has operated a cobia farm in Florida since 2002 and has opened operations in Belize and Vietnam.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, which publishes guides for sustainable seafood purchasing, recommends US-farmed cobia as it is farmed inland with closed recirculating systems that help prevent diseases and pollutants. However, it advises against buying cobia from outside the US as it is often farmed in floating or submerged cages and pens in nearshore and open ocean waters. "This creates a risk of disease transfer, escapes and pollution impacts on surrounding ecosystems and species," according to the Seafood Watch website.

Myrseth said all Marine Farm cobia was sustainably farmed in low-density ocean cages with site rotation to prevent disease and damage to the environment. "This is very important to us, because if the environment is impacted we are the first to feel that. The company's cobia is fed on fish oil, fish meal and vegetable protein but it aims to feed the fish on vegetable protein in the future."

Dawn Purchase, aquaculture officer at the Marine Conservation Society, said: "With 50% of global seafood now being farmed it is essential that all current and new farmed species coming into the UK market is produced in the most environmentally sustainable way possible, which ensures the health and diversity of the environment on which it depends."

Charles Clover, creator of The End of the Line — an exposé of the fishing industry — declined to comment on cobia specifically but said the farming of carnivorous fish posed significant environmental problems because of the shortage of smaller fish to provide food. Without that it is difficult to see how the aquaculture industry is going to continue to grow, unless they find some way of creating synthetic fish food, and as fish have been eating other fish for millions of years, that is not going to be easy."

MARINET observes: It is an accepted fact in the fish farming industry that it takes around 4 kg of wild fish protein in the form of fish food to produce 1 kg of farmed fish. Therefore it is difficult to see how farmed carnivorous fish can be viewed as a sustainable alternative to wild harvested fish. The real issue is how we properly manage wild fish populations.

New study documents the huge decline in UK fish stocks

Developments in the UK's trawling fleet have masked an "extraordinary" decline in the amount of fish in our waters over the past 120 years, according to a study by York University and the Marine Conservation Society.

Researchers say records of fish landings stretching back to the 1880s in the UK show falls in species such as cod, haddock and plaice have been greater and more long-term than previously thought.

Figures gathered by the UK government since 1889 show fishing vessels today have to work 17 times as hard to land the same number of fish as they did in 1889 when they were sail-powered and fished close to port.

The data, which has been analysed for the first time, suggests technological developments in the fleet and their movement to new fishing grounds enabled them to fish further, deeper and faster — masking the decline in fish in UK waters.

Overall, the UK trawl fishing fleet landed twice as much fish in 1889 than it does today, claim the researchers from the University of York and the Marine Conservation Society.

In England and Wales the amount of fish being landed in the 19th century was more than four times greater than current levels.

Landings peaked in 1937 — when the catch was 14 times what it is today. And an examination of the time and effort the vessels had to put into trawling to secure their catch showed the amount of fish available dropped by 94%.

The researchers, publishing their findings in the online journal Nature Communications, say fish stocks were in decline well before the amount of fish being caught went "catastrophically downhill" in the 1960s. They warn that fisheries have been declining more seriously and over a longer period than suggested by scientific assessments of European fish stocks, which only go back 20 to 40 years. And they call for much stronger reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) to allow for recovery of fisheries in the seas around the UK.

Dr Simon Brockington, head of conservation at the MCS, said: "Over a century of intensive trawl fishing has severely depleted UK seas of bottom-living fish like halibut, turbot, haddock and plaice. Improvements in technology and movement to new fishing grounds masked "very severe" declines in fish stocks". He warned that declines were much greater than thought — and that some species' populations were only 1% or 2% of what they historically were.

As a result, he said: "The reform of the common fisheries policy needs to set recovery targets which are much more ambitious than they currently are."

The study calculates the "landings of fish per unit of fishing power", comparing the effort trawling vessels put in with the amount of fish they were rewarded with to assess the availability of fish.

The crash has been huge for some species — with the rate at which halibut were being caught declining 500 times and haddock by more than 100 times. Both species have declined by more than 99%, while hake and ling declined by more than 95% and cod have fallen by 87%, the researchers say.

Professor Callum Roberts, from the University of York's environment department, said: "This research makes clear that the state of UK bottom fisheries — and by implication European fisheries since the fishing grounds are shared — is far worse than even the most pessimistic of assessments currently in circulation. European fish stock assessments, and the management targets based on them, go back only 20 to 40 years. These results should supply an important corrective to the short-termism inherent in fisheries management today."

The article titled "The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries" can be viewed here as a PDF file and was published in Nature Communications.

New USA policies on offshore oil exploration

In a speech at Andrews Naval Air Facility, Washington, 31st March 2010, President Barack Obama opened much of the U.S. Atlantic east coast for the first time to oil and gas drilling. Oil and gas development and exploration on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf will be expanded to enhance America's energy independence, while protecting fisheries, tourism, and places off U.S. coasts that are "not appropriate" for development.

"This is not a decision that I've made lightly," explained President Obama, who said he has been considering it for more than a year. "But the bottom line is this: given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth, produce jobs, and keep our businesses competitive, we're going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy. I want to emphasise that this announcement is part of a broader strategy that will move us from an economy that runs on fossil fuels and foreign oil to one that relies on homegrown fuels and clean energy, and the only way this transition will succeed is if it strengthens our economy in the short term and the long term. To fail to recognise this reality would be a mistake."

The Bristol Bay area of the North Aleutian Basin in Alaska is one area that is too special to drill and must be protected, said President Obama. He has issued a Memorandum withdrawing Bristol Bay from oil and gas leasing through June 30, 2017, whether for exploratory or production purposes. Rights under existing leases in this area are unaffected. Bristol Bay is one of the world's most productive marine ecosystems. Nearly half of all U.S. seafood is harvested from Bristol Bay, which hosts the largest wild sockeye salmon runs in the world, the world's largest single-species fishery for Alaska pollock, as well as red king crab and halibut fisheries.

"Today is a good day for Alaska's coastal communities, our fishing industry and our economy," said Kelly Harrell, executive director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council. "We are constantly witnessing the consequences of oil and gas development here in Alaska with spills and incidents happening continuously. The benefits of extracting a small, finite amount of oil and gas resources at the heart of our most valuable, renewable fisheries resources simply don't outweigh the tremendous risks."

In January 2007, President George W. Bush stripped away the last layer of protection for Bristol Bay, the executive ban on offshore drilling. The Minerals Management Service had scheduled a lease sale for 2011 in the same 5.6 million-acre block of fish-rich waters previously sold and then bought back with taxpayer dollars after the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

President Obama's Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has overseen the administration's re-evaluation of this and other previous energy development decisions. Salazar commented, "By providing order and certainty to offshore exploration and development and ensuring we are drilling in the right ways and the right places, we are opening a new chapter for balanced and responsible oil and gas development here at home."

American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard called the new strategy "a positive development."

"Exploring for and developing our nation's offshore resources could help generate more than a trillion dollars in revenues and create thousands of jobs to add to the already 9.2 million jobs supported by today's oil and natural gas industry," said Gerard. Jack Gerard is already seeking to open still more of the Outer Continental Shelf to oil and gas drilling. "As we move forward, we hope that consideration can be given to other resource-rich regions, such as the Destin Dome area of the Eastern Gulf and areas off the Pacific Coast and Alaska. We also need to ensure that the permitting processes are handled in an expeditious way," he said.

Environmental groups were quick to commend the President for protecting Bristol Bay, but they expressed grave concern that oil and gas development in new areas off the Atlantic coast and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico would harm the environment. Defenders of Wildlife President and CEO Rodger Schlickeisen said, "While we are pleased that the Obama administration has decided to permanently protect Alaska's salmon-rich Bristol Bay and continue protection of the California coast until 2017, we're extremely concerned about the administration's planned expansion of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, south Atlantic, and mid-Atlantic coasts. The administration's planned expansion of oil drilling risks the health of marine wildlife, fisheries, and coastal economies. It continues and expands our dependence on fossil fuels at a time when we need to reduce our dependence in order to address the harmful impacts of global warming,"

"The Virginia lease sale, just north of North Carolina and at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, puts at risk some of America's richest marine life and coastal resources, which are the backbone of many coastal economies, generating billions of dollars in revenues from tourism, recreation, and commercial fishing," said the Southern Environmental Law Centre.

"Opening the South Atlantic Coast to oil and gas drilling will do nothing to address climate change, provide only about six months worth of oil, and put at risk multi-billion dollar tourism and fisheries industries. One oil spill could devastate a coast," said Derb Carter, director, Carolinas Office of the Southern Environmental Law Centre. Drilling for oil would risk Southern tourism, rare wildlife, and fisheries for what the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service estimates would be only enough oil for six months that would take seven to 10 years to bring online, said Carter. But it would have no impact on domestic oil and gas prices until at least 2030, and even then any such impact would be "insignificant," according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

WWF's Vice President for Arctic and Marine Policy Bill Eichbaum said his group is pleased that Bristol Bay will not be subject to drilling, but he said WWF is worried that exploratory drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas will be allowed. "It is our sincere hope that Secretary Salazar will follow the science that clearly outlines the enormous risks we face if these areas are exploited before important environmental safeguards are put in place," said Eichbaum. "The hard lessons of the Exxon Valdez oil spill still haunt us."

Jack Gerard, speaking for the American Petroleum Institute, tried to assure the public that the industry has a good safety record, saying, "The oil and natural gas industry has a proven track record of safe oil and natural gas development and the majority of the American people recognize this by supporting greater offshore development for the benefit of their communities, their states and their nation."

But environmentalists are unconvinced. Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said, "The oil industry already has access to drilling on millions of acres of America's public lands and water. We don't need to hand over our last protected pristine coastal areas just so oil companies can break more profit records. Drilling areas like the Arctic threatens marine life like whales and polar bears. Where there is offshore drilling, there is a constant danger of oil spills. One oil spill is all it takes to destroy a coastal tourism economy and the jobs that depend on it. We can achieve real energy independence and economic vitality by investing in clean energy like wind and solar and efficiency," he said. "This kind of power creates good, lasting American jobs and positions our nation to become a global leader in the new clean energy economy."

Norway considers whether to start oil drilling in the Arctic

Norway faces a tough decision this autumn over whether to open up pristine parts of the Arctic for oil and gas drilling. Two recently issued reports, one by the environment ministry and the other by petroleum institute NPD, will inform its decision.

The environment ministry's report says the probability of accidents connected to oil and gas exploration around the Lofoten and Vesterålen islands in the Barents Sea is low, but their environmental consequences "may be substantial".

The NPD petroleum institute's report estimates there are about 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the Lofoten and Vesterålen region. These could be worth NOK 500bn (€63bn), the government agency estimates. This is the first-ever estimate based on seismic surveys, and compares with a previous NPD estimate of 1.5 billion barrels. Norway's oil and gas industry has estimated there are about two billion barrels waiting to be tapped. These are essential to continue Norway's oil and gas boom, the industry says.

"We will use the next six months to assess the reports," said Norway's energy minister, Terje Riis-Johansen. A spokesperson for the NPD said a third report may come out in summer that would assess the impact of drilling on regional development. The Norwegian coalition government has been divided on the issue. The dominant labour party has insisted on waiting for detailed data, but its traditional trade union ally LO supports the oil and gas drilling to create jobs. Labour's minor coalition partners from the left and the centre oppose it.

EUMARSAND — A European approach to Marine Aggregate Dredging

'Eumarsand', the European Sand and Gravel Resources site to be seen at www.azti.es/eumarsand/background.htm could prove to be a step toward responsible sanity as it directly states the environmental harm brought about by offshore aggregate mining. It further points out that there are currently no coherent policies to deal with the situation. Here follows a quote from the content.

EUMARSAND: BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Thus, need at European level, for integrated and coherent approaches to resource prospecting:

New rules for the Arctic Ocean urged by WWF

WWF has stated that a warmer Arctic cannot continue to operate under rules which assume that it is ice-covered and essentially closed to fishing, resource exploration and development, and shipping.

WWF has launched a group of reports on protecting this newly accessible, highly vulnerable environment which also has profound significance for global climate, the global economy and global security.

The International Governance and Regulation of the Marine Arctic reports were launched following a visit by Russian President Medvedev to the Norwegian capital, Oslo, for talks which include Arctic issues and just before the Arctic Council meets in Greenland.

"The melting of the Arctic ice is opening a new ocean, bringing new possibilities for commercial activities in a part of the world that has previously been inaccessible," said Lasse Gustavsson, incoming Executive Conservation Director for WWF-International and currently CEO of WWF-Sweden. "What happens in the Arctic has a global environmental and economic impact. For instance, more than a quarter of the fish eaten in Europe comes from the Arctic, and yet we do not have effective rules for fishing in newly accessible areas."

The Arctic may well be ice free during summertime within decades. Commercial ships have recently successfully sailed the Northern Sea Route above Siberia, and ship yards are getting more and more orders for tankers capable of dealing with remnant ice.

Accelerating oil and gas exploration is raising the prospects of Exxon Valdez scenarios — spills in highly susceptible environments in the absence of clean-up rules and infrastructure. A related issue is the impact on marine mammals and fish from noise generated by shipping and seismic activity to locate hydrocarbon deposits.

The first WWF report analyses how today's international legal regime meets the challenges posed by the unprecedented rapid change taking place in the Arctic. It concludes there are large gaps in governance and management regimes, with loopholes that could allow irreparable damage to the marine environment, its biodiversity and indigenous peoples.

The responsibilities and mechanisms for keeping marine resource extraction within sustainable limits are unclear and so are the responsibilities and mechanisms for preventing or responding to pollution accidents and shipping disasters.

The second report outlines the options, and the third report proposes a new Arctic framework convention as a solution that could address the urgent gaps.

"We challenge Arctic governments to advance alternatives that would work equally well to safeguard the region," said Gustavsson. "WWF shows that it is not possible to simply deny that problems exist, or to insist that there are already adequate responses to the problems. We need a new comprehensive solution for the protection of the Arctic's marine environment. The ice has protected the Arctic Ocean for hundreds of years; we have collectively removed that protection though our contributions to climate change, and now we must work collectively to replace that protection."

The WWF reports may be accessed here.

Erosion trip leaves mixed feelings

Huw Irranca-Davies MP recently visited erosion stricken sites along the Norfolk to meet coastal erosion campaigners to hear of their concerns and ideas. One group so visited, at the request of local MP Tony Wright, was Hopton, where the rate of erosion is one of the very worst since offshore aggregate dredging commenced off the coastline.

The Minister heard first hand about the fierce debate surrounding a report released by the borough council last week saying that the outer harbour was not to blame for Hopton's rapidly-dwindling beaches, as well as erosion-fighting suggestions such as the creation of an artificial reef. Others blame the placement of the Scroby windfarms, but few will admit to the obvious, the loss brought about by cumulative dredging.

The groups were left with mixed feelings following the visit. Brian Hardisty, chairman of the Hopton Coastal Action group was among those voicing concerns to the minister and was reassured that Mr Irranca-Davies had promised to do what he could for the area. He said: "I was satisfied with him coming and in terms of the reception we got we couldn't hoped for any better. He could be the man who can do something for us if they still are in power after the next election." But fellow member of the erosion group and Master Mariner Barry Collingwood said that though the visit was positive in that it had brought the issue to wider public attention, nothing concrete had emerged from it.

Also urging action sooner rather than later was local business man Brian Potter, whose leisure resort overlooks the sea. He said "It's very good that the minister came to see the problems we're facing since the outer harbour was built but whether or not in the due course of time something will be done remains to be seen. Something does need to be done because if it's not then the ground that we're standing on could be gone."

As part of his visit Mr Irranca-Davies also visited Scratby, where he discussed the Pathfinder project for which the borough council has been awarded nearly £300,000. This money comes from a national pot, and is designed to encourage new approaches to the problem of coastal erosion specifically in that area.

Mr Irranca-Davies emphasised the importance of including the community in the process, and of considering 'soft' defences like buy-to let schemes. He said: "It's one thing to look at maps but it's another to come out and meet the people involved. This is about making sure we have as many tools in the toolbox as possible to deal with this situation."

The minister also reassured the Scratby coastal erosion group that their efforts to extend the rock berm defences by 1km from California would not be compromised by the Pathfinder project. These reassurances follow the announcement in January by borough council coastal manager Bernard Harris that he was confident that the £3.1m berm defences, which would protect hundred of homes, were likely to become a reality.

Tracking the Dredgers

The first screen that appears gives the option of which type of ships of the many you may want to watch, so untick the already ticked boxes to lose those of little interest. You will then see numbers or squares on the map indicating blocks where the vessels are. Click on any one of the squares once and the map will zoom in to that specific square and show you the icons for vessels. A left click on that icon will give you more information, a right click for more details. Clicking on a vessel seen in red provides the extra information which gives considerable detail of trip, purpose, position, tonnage, photos etc.

If you are not sure which ships of the many are the dredgers, then the very low speed and the area will indicate them. A long term study could be used with landing data to help correlate position, time spent and any later arising consequences.

The world map can be adjusted in size and definition by the zoom control on the left by clicking on the plus and minus sign at the bottom of the zoom bar. The positioning of the map can be changed with the left and right arrows or by holding down the LH mouse key whilst moving it across the screen.

The maps can be seen in Satellite, Map, Hybrid or Terrain format by deciding the View control at the top right of the screen. They will refresh and update automatically about every one and a half minutes, but if long left static they will need to be refreshed, when an invitation to perform this is indicated.

Also of interest are the many potentially hazardous tankers moored off Southwold, all waiting for the oil price to go up whilst supplies are withheld. My last count of tankers on Sunday was 17 all in one small block. (See 'New moves to ban oil transfers off the east coast at: www.marinet.org.uk/latestnews.html#nmtb).

Government Planning Inspectorate backs ongoing beach sewage pollution

What is in effect a licence to continue to pollute has been given to the water companies by the government's Planning Inspectorate that will allow untreated sewage to flow to our beaches and bathing waters from combined sewage outfalls (CSOs). WaterUK, which represents the water industry, stated "We are pleased with the inspectorate's decision".
The following article by Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Maurice Chittenden appears in the Business section of The Sunday Times of 25th April '10 under the heading 'Water rats to carry on polluting'.

'Water rats' to carry on polluting

Britain's "water rats" — the giant utility companies — have been given permission to carry on polluting beaches just as families start digging out buckets and spades for the summer holidays. The government's Planning Inspectorate has rejected an attempt by the Environment Agency to impose regulations on 4,200 outlets that pump raw sewage into the sea and rivers.

It means the water companies — which together recorded profits of £1.8 billion in 2008-09 — have again escaped attempts to make them clean themselves up — 21 years after The Sunday Times first exposed what they were doing in a series of articles called the Water Rats.

Instead, Britain now faces the ignominy of being fined and ordered to purify its water by the European Court of Justice over deaths of fish in the River Thames.

The water companies say Britain's increased population and erratic weather has put pressure on an underground system dating from Victorian times that routes both excess sewage and flood water through combined sewer overflows (CSOs). However, campaigners claim that, rather than just being kept for emergencies, some CSOs are used hundreds of times a year.

The Environment Agency wanted better controls on the outlets, especially on their use during dry weather when it suspects the water companies find it cheaper to dump sewage rather than send it to treatment plants. Six water companies appealed against the move, however, and the Planning Inspectorate has ruled largely in their favour. The firms argue that if they did not discharge the sewage, it would back up into homes or flood streets. Environmental groups say the ruling allows water companies to carry on polluting beaches such as Combe Martin in Devon, judged the dirtiest beach in Britain last year, and Staithes in North Yorkshire, a previous recipient of the "award".

Combe Martin has not one but three CSOs. The Environment Agency and South West Water have launched a £70,000 investigation into the poor quality of its bathing water. The CSOs there were used 57 times between May 6 and September 4 last year. When a new European Union bathing water directive comes into effect in 2015, signs will have to be placed on the beach informing bathers of the poor water quality if the situation does not improve. Staithes also has a CSO and a storm water outfall and has the worst cleanliness record in Britain, failing the minimum water quality standard 11 times in 13 years.

Thomas Bell, coastal pollution officer for the Marine Conservation Society, which will publish its annual list of the dirtiest beaches next month, said: "We believe the water companies are in breach of European law. When the system is full, a mix of flood water and raw sewage is shot down these pipes and dumped wherever the pipe stops." Andy Cummins, campaign director at Surfers Against Sewage, said: "We are extremely disappointed. The water companies effectively have a licence to pollute. It is shameful to say these CSOs have no effect on water quality at all. Hepatitis A can survive for up to 90 days in sea water."

The European Commission is now preparing court papers to take Britain to the European Court of Justice to establish under what conditions the CSOs can operate. The Environment Agency said it was considering an appeal against the Planning Inspectorate. "The water companies have had 20 years of privatisation to sort out this issue," it said. "We are disappointed. We have challenging European targets on water quality to meet and if you have pipes pumping out raw sewage, that is going to be difficult."

WaterUK, which represents the companies, said: "We are pleased with the inspectorate's decision. We are committed to keeping the impact of the overflows to a minimum. We will spend £1 billion in the next five years improving the CSOs. But getting rid of them is beyond the bounds of possibility."

A full copy of the appeal decision is available as a large 5MB pdf file by clicking here.

MARINET observes:
Combined sewage outfalls (CSOs, see MARINET article www.marinet.org.uk/ukbw/whitburncso.html) come at a price to the quality of the environment, and also pose a serious risk to bathing water quality and thus human health. For information about the health risks, click here.

Pathogens identified in sewage-contaminated bathing water

The full range of pathogens affecting humans, ranging from bacterial diseases to virus and worms, has been recorded in a publication titled Swimming in Sewage published jointly by the US Natural Resources Defence Council (www.nrdc.org) and the Environmental Integrity Project (www.environmentalintegrity.org).

It is an established medical and scientific fact that bathing in sewage contaminated water exposes humans to a range of pathogens, and legal standards of bathing water quality are set and monitored under the EU Bathing Waters Directive, see www.marinet.org.uk/ukbw.html.

However exposure of bathers to sewage above these legal limits can still occur in bathing waters which normally comply with the EU Directive's quality standards when overflow sewers discharge untreated raw sewage into or close to bathing waters. Such overflow events occur either when the sewers are overloaded by rain from storms, thus overwhelming normal sewage treatment facilities, or when the routine capacity of the sewerage system is seriously deficient.

When such events occur, human health is placed at what is considered to be an unacceptable level of risk. The range of diseases which bathers can be exposed to is recorded in the NRDC's Swimming in Sewage publication, and is listed below. (Alternatively you may view this tabulation as a PDF document by clicking here).

This listing of pathogens present in untreated sewage complements that already resides on our website under 'Wastewater and Sewage Treatment', 28th October 2009, to be found at www.marinet.org.uk/ukbw/sewage.html.

Sea anglers fear fishing ban

Richard Cornwell reports in the Eastern Daily Press of 27th March '10 that the ancient right of sustainable beach fishing may be lost if the Marine Bill is rushed through, as follows.

One of the most ancient rights of an Englishman — to fish from the beach — is under threat. New zones to protect marine life and habitat could mean that in certain areas anglers will be banned from casting off and landing their catch from the shore. If a ban is brought in, it may not just hit the fishermen, but possibly walkers, people wanting to have picnics, sunbathe, paddle or just play on the shoreline. There could be more fishing bans offshore, too.

Conservationists stress that bans — if any are agreed — will only affect specific sites, not the whole coast. It will be to protect rare or under-threat species and habitat after years of alleged over-fishing commercially and pollution, and as yet no-one knows whether any of these sites will be in Suffolk.

Fishermen, though, are worried. Around 100 anglers were told about the possible bans at a meeting at Felixstowe's Manor Club. Gary Markham, of Markhams Fishing Tackle, Woodbridge Road, Ipswich, said the fishing community was deeply concerned about the proposals and the speed of the process. We have been told that bans could definitely be on the cards, he said. It seems proposals have to be put forward next year which means the research must be complete by November. It seems something which ought to take five years is taking five months and is going to be rail-roaded through. It seems that if there was a rare plant or habitat found close to the shore then fishing would be banned from that area. This could mean in some cases fishing actually banned from the beach. People may say, well move along the beach. But that is not always easy because there are other restrictions — swimming areas, rocks, places busy with people."

Mr Markham said there was concern over possible prohibitions in offshore areas, too. Charter boats were already facing restrictions on fertile fishing grounds because of no-go zones around the new wind farms, and a new batch of restrictions could hit small commercial fishermen, such as the small trawlers operating out of Felixstowe Ferry. The reason for the possible fishing bans is the creation of Marine Conservation Zones under new laws to protect the sea and its rich range of creatures and plants.

The coast has been divided into projects to research and develop the zones. From Felixstowe Ferry north, Net Gain is co-ordinating the work and from the Ferry south, including the Stour and Orwell estuaries, Balanced Seas is in charge.

Project officer for Balanced Seas, Sue Wells said the new conservation areas would only affect beaches below the high tide mark, the sub tidal areas, and research was taking place into the creatures and habitat of these areas.

"We are working in partnership with a wide range of organisations, users of the beaches and seas, to get everyone involved and get their views," she said. "To have a ban on fishing from a beach will be fairly rare, but we cannot say definitely, 'no, there will not be', just in case there is something which needs to be protected and action has to be taken. We want to reassure anglers but at the same time cannot say there won't be any restrictions anywhere."

She said the aim was to obtain a balanced view — with coastal users working with the scientists to look at options for responsible management.

Marine Planning Collaboration

The Eastern Daily Press columns of 21st April '10 carries a report indicating collaboration between academics and business interests in utilizing the sea.

Marine collaboration aiming to ride wave of new ideas

A collaboration between academics and marine science specialists Gardline Group has been launched to help the region's businesses harness the opportunities offered by the sea. The North Sea Marine Cluster has been set up by Great Yarmouth-based Gardline and experts at the University of East Anglia (UEA) aiming to pool the region's existing expertise and plan for future potential growth areas. The initiative follows the introduction of the Marine and Coastal Access Act which will see major changes in the management of British seas.

Possible future opportunities for business includes setting up and monitoring marine protection areas, sites in which wildlife will be protected, changes to planning regulations, wind farm development and growth in fish farming. The cluster will be open to other member organisations to join and contribute expertise in research, data collection and analysis and experience in planning, port development, marine aggregates and environmental issues.

Gardline chairman Gregory Darling said: "There is lots of activity but no one is standing up high and looking over the horizon and planning for the future. "If we don't plan for the opportunities ahead they will pass us by."

Prof Peter Liss, based in the School of Environmental Sciences at the UEA added: "The hope is that the cluster will act as a watchtower for new opportunities associated with developments such as marine protected areas, pollution monitoring and marine surveillance and energy related matters means that there is a centre of expertise available now, looking at and over the horizon, that can match resources and capability to specific needs."

Gardline was set up in 1969 to support the offshore oil and gas industry in the North Sea. The company, which employs more than 1,000 globally, has a range of subsidiary operations involved in activities including marine sciences and surveying, satellite communications, security, digital mapping and vessel charters.

Who decides whether aggregate dredging causes serious damage?

The major offshore aggregate dredging area, located off East Anglia, is currently being assessed by a Regional Environmental Assessment (REA) in order to see whether the numerous extraction sites which have been licensed there since the 1960s onwards are having any adverse effect on the adjacent coastline and offshore marine biology.

The REA study is being commissioned and paid for by the aggregate companies, and a Scoping Study (the terms of reference for the REA) was prepared during 2009.

MARINET commented during 2009 on this Scoping Study, and noted that its scientific studies lacked any scientific re-assessment as to whether the steepening of East Anglian beaches is being caused by offshore dredging; lacked any assessment as to whether sand drawn from the beaches and coastal defences is ending-up at the dredging sites; lacked any assessment of the disappearance of the wildlife-important offshore sand bank at Scroby Sands (measuring 1 mile long by one-quarter mile wide) — which before the 1960s existed above sea level during even the highest tide levels — is related to offshore dredging; and, lacked any re-assessment of the offshore wave regime which, MARINET believes, is incorrectly characterised in the EIAs that are used to secure the offshore dredging licences.

MARINET brought these deficiencies to the attention of the dredging companies and their consultant, but this failed to result in any amendment in the Scoping Study of the REA — see MARINET website record www.marinet.org.uk/mad/objection.html#rea.

Accordingly, MARINET has written to the Minister at Defra, Huw Irranca-Davies MP, who is responsible for marine aggregate issues to ask him to "call-in" the REA in order to ensure that these important scientific studies identified by MARINET are incorporated into the REA's work — see letter dated 1st February 2010 www.marinet.org.uk/mad/objection/reastephen1hid.pdf.

The Minister has now replied to MARINET, see letter dated 2nd March 2010. The Minister states that the REA is a voluntary arrangement, wholly determined and paid for by the marine aggregate companies. The Government claims, therefore, that it cannot intervene.

As a result, MARINET has now drawn this reply from the Minister to the attention of the aggregate companies, see letter dated 16th April 2010. MARINET has explained to the dredging companies that the Minister believes that it is their responsibility to ensure that the Regional Environmental Assessment has scientific integrity by ensuring that a full range of scientific studies are undertaken,. Further, MARINET has stated that if the dredging companies want people to believe that offshore aggregate dredging has no adverse impact, then the aggregate companies should commission the studies, as identified by MARINET, which will prove this.

So, the ball is once again back in the court of the aggregate companies. And, the question is very clear — if the aggregate companies refuse to include these scientific studies in the REA — as they have refused so far — who is actually determining whether aggregate dredging is damaging the coastline and the marine environment?

Scottish scallop fishermen threaten the livelihood of Yorkshire crab fishermen

Yorkshire crab fishermen have claimed their livelihoods could be put at risk by Scottish trawlers dredging for scallops in their fishing grounds.

Fishermen say over the past 20 years they have created a sustainable area for crab and lobster off the coast of Bridlington. However from now on, Scottish boats will be allowed to work a patch which includes part of the Yorkshire area.

This is legal under EU legislation but local fishermen are opposed to it. They say it will plough up the seabed and kill shellfish.

Bridlington is Britain's busiest shellfishing port and is worth millions to the region's economy. Local fishermen have cultivated an area which extends 15 miles off the Yorkshire coast in which to lay pots to catch crab and lobster. However, only the first six miles from the shore is protected by the North Eastern Sea Fishing Committee, and the sea beyond that is subject to EU fishing laws, meaning most of the fishermen's area is unprotected.

After meetings between the Scottish scallop fishermen and the Bridlington and Flamborough Fishermen's Society a 30 square mile area has been agreed in which the scallops could be caught. That decision has angered many East Yorkshire fishermen.

Skipper Tony Pockley said: "All they're doing is ploughing the crabs and lobsters into the ground and killing them. Why should we have to move all our fishing gear when we've been there for 20 years? It doesn't seem right, it doesn't seem fair." He said he was worried about how the seabed would recover from the scallop fishing. "The ships work 24/7," he said. "They can clear an area of four square miles in two days. When they're finished it's completely clear, it's like a farmer ploughing a field. It could take month and months, we don't know how long it will take to recover."

Steve Cowan of the Bridlington and Flamborough Fishermen's Society said the Scottish fishermen had given their Yorkshire counterparts a week to move their pots.

John Hermse of the UK Scallop Association, said: "There has been no increase in scalloping activity levels from previous years. Scalloping is a nomadic activity, we might work areas and then not come back to them for years. We are working closely with local fishermen in Yorkshire to ensure fishing gear is not damaged."

British campaigner urges UN to accept 'ecocide' as international crime

A campaign to declare the mass destruction of ecosystems an international crime against peace — alongside genocide and crimes against humanity — is being launched in the UK.

The proposal for the United Nations to accept "ecocide" as a fifth "crime against peace", which could be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC), is the brainchild of British lawyer-turned-campaigner Polly Higgins.

The radical idea would have a profound effect on industries blamed for widespread damage to the environment like fossil fuels, mining, agriculture, chemicals and forestry.

Supporters of a new ecocide law also believe it could be used to prosecute "climate deniers" who distort science and facts to discourage voters and politicians from taking action to tackle global warming and climate change.

"Ecocide is in essence the very antithesis of life," says Higgins. "It leads to resource depletion, and where there is escalation of resource depletion, war comes chasing behind. Where such destruction arises out of the actions of mankind, ecocide can be regarded as a crime against peace."

Higgins, formerly a barrister in London specialising in employment, has already had success at the UN with a Universal Declaration for Planetary Rights, modelled on the human rights declaration. "My starting point was 'how do we create a duty of care to the planet, a pre-emptive obligation to not harm the planet?'"

After a successful launch at the UN in 2008, the idea has been adopted by the Bolivian government, who will propose a full members' vote, and Higgins has taken up her campaign for ecocide.

Ecocide is already recognised by dictionaries, but Higgins' more legal definition would be: "The extensive destruction, damage to or loss of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severely diminished."

The ICC was set up in 2002 to hear cases for four crimes against peace: genocide, war crimes, crimes of aggression (such as unprovoked war), and crimes against humanity.

Higgins makes her case for ecocide to join that list with a simple equation: extraction leads to ecocide, which leads to resource depletion, and resource depletion leads to conflict. "The link is if you keep over-extracting from your capital asset we'll have very little left and we will go to war over our capital asset, the last of it," adds Higgins, who has support in the UN and European commission, and among climate scientists, environmental lawyers and international campaign groups.

Acidification in the Arctic threatening a catastrophe

Carbon-dioxide emissions are turning the waters of the Arctic Ocean into acid at an unprecedented rate, scientists have discovered.

Research carried out in the archipelago of Svalbard has shown in many regions around the north pole seawater is likely to reach corrosive levels within 10 years. The water will then start to dissolve the shells of mussels and other shellfish and cause major disruption to the food chain. By the end of the century, the entire Arctic Ocean will be corrosively acidic.

"This is extremely worrying," said Professor Jean-Pierre Gattuso, of France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. "We knew that the seas were getting more acidic and this would disrupt the ability of shellfish — like mussels — to grow their shells. But now we realise the situation is much worse. The water will become so acidic it will actually dissolve the shells of living shellfish."

Just as an acid descaler breaks apart limescale inside a kettle, so the shells that protect molluscs and other creatures will be dissolved. "This will affect the whole food chain, including the North Atlantic salmon, which feeds on molluscs," said Gattuso, speaking at a European commission conference, Oceans of Tomorrow, in Barcelona. The oceanographer told delegates that the problem of ocean acidification was worse in high latitudes, in the Arctic and around Antarctica, than it was nearer the equator."More carbon dioxide can dissolve in cold water than warm," he said. "Hence the problem of acidification is worse in the Arctic than in the tropics, though we have only recently got round to studying the problem in detail."

About a quarter of the carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by factories, power stations and cars now ends up being absorbed by the oceans. That represents more than six million tonnes of carbon a day.

This carbon dioxide dissolves and is turned into carbonic acid, causing the oceans to become more acidic. "We knew the Arctic would be particularly badly affected when we started our studies but I did not anticipate the extent of the problem," said Gattuso.

His research suggests that 10% of the Arctic Ocean will be corrosively acidic by 2018; 50% by 2050; and 100% ocean by 2100. "Over the whole planet, there will be a threefold increase in the average acidity of the oceans, which is unprecedented during the past 20 million years. That level of acidification will cause immense damage to the ecosystem and the food chain, particularly in the Arctic," he added.

The tiny mollusc Limacina helicina, which is found in Arctic waters, will be particularly vulnerable, he said. The little shellfish is eaten by baleen whales, salmon, herring and various seabirds. Its disappearance would therefore have a major impact on the entire marine food chain. The deep-water coral Lophelia pertusa would also be extremely vulnerable to rising acidity. Reefs in high latitudes are constructed by only one or two types of coral — unlike tropical coral reefs which are built by a large variety of species. The loss of Lophelia pertusa would therefore devastate reefs off Norway and the coast of Scotland, removing underwater shelters that are exploited by dozens of species of fish and other creatures.

"Scientists have proposed all sorts of geo-engineering solutions to global warming," said Gattuso. "For instance, they have proposed spraying the upper atmosphere with aerosol particles that would reduce sunlight reaching the Earth, mitigating the warming caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide.

"But these ideas miss the point. They will still allow carbon dioxide emissions to continue to increase — and thus the oceans to become more and more acidic. There is only one way to stop the devastation the oceans are now facing and that is to limit carbon-dioxide emissions as a matter of urgency."

This was backed by other speakers at the conference. Daniel Conley, of Lund University, Sweden, said that increasing acidity levels, sea-level rises and temperature changes now threatened to bring about irreversible loss of biodiversity in the sea. Christoph Heinze, of Bergen University, Norway, said his studies, part of the EU CarboOcean project, had found that carbon from the atmosphere was being transported into the oceans' deeper waters far more rapidly than expected and was already having a corrosive effect on life forms there.

The oceans' vulnerability to climate change and rising carbon-dioxide levels has also been a key factor in the launching of the EU's Tara Ocean project at Barcelona. The expedition, on the sailing ship Tara, will take three years to circumnavigate the globe, culminating in a voyage through the icy Northwest Passage in Canada, and will make continual and detailed samplings of seawater to study its life forms.

A litre of seawater contains between 1bn and 10bn single-celled organisms called prokaryotes, between 10bn and 100bn viruses and a vast number of more complex, microscopic creatures known as zooplankton, said Chris Bowler, a marine biologist on Tara.

"People think they are just swimming in water when they go for a dip in the sea," he said. "In fact, they are bathing in a plankton soup."

That plankton soup is of crucial importance to the planet, he added. "As much carbon dioxide is absorbed by plankton as is absorbed by tropical rainforests. Its health is therefore of crucial importance to us all."

A precious legacy tainted by politics?

On 1st April the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, acceded to worldwide demands and designated the Chagos as a marine reserve. This declaration will make it the largest marine protected area in the world, totalling more than 210,000 square miles — an area twice the size of the UK. He was responding to the demands of over 275,000 people who had written in support of the proposal to preserve this unique marine habitat from further exploitation by commercial fishing. Read a fuller version of the history here.

However, this campaign has been accompanied by the pleas of the indigenous Chagosians, forcibly removed a generation ago to make way for the building of a US Air base at Diego Garcia. Despite winning a High Court ruling to permit them to return, HM government remains intransigent and awaits an EU Court of Human Rights judgement as to whether the continued exile can stand. See the Channel 4 news report here.

One can only hope that a way can be found to respect the rights of the indigenous people in a manner which promotes the vital conservation objectives of the marine reserve.

MARINET observes: The lessons of this exercise will prove valuable to conservationists and politicians struggling with the sustainability of our own local waters, and those of the NE Atlantic, over fished to a disastrous level through the workings of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). This Policy, in the process of reform (see www.marinet.org.uk/rocfp.html) needs radical revision as a matter of urgency, and the lesson is clear — if the Chagos Islands can have all their seas out to 200 nautical miles protected from fishing and other extractive activities, why is it that UK seas cannot benefit from a similar philosophy of protection so that we can rebuild and restore our fish stocks to a healthy condition? The reality is that our fish stocks are in serious decline, and a number face commercial extinction. As things stand, the UK government can deliver protection for our seas in the Indian Ocean, but not in the NE Atlantic. Therefore, when it comes to protectcing our fish stocks and our seas perhaps it is we who are the second class citizens, and not the exiled Chagos Islanders… !

SW offshore marine energy potential to be mapped

A project to map offshore renewable energy potential around the coast of South West England has been announced. The South West RDA (Regional Development Agency) has appointed renewable energy consultancy PMSS to lead the £100,000 study, which will examine the potential for wave, tidal and offshore wind installations up to 2030.

This will inform future investment decisions by the industry, feed into the ongoing consultation about Marine Conservation Zones through the Finding Sanctuary project and help the South West retain its leading role in the development of marine renewables. The announcement was made at the RenewableUK Wave and Tidal conference in London, during an update from the RDA about its pioneering Wave Hub marine energy project in Cornwall.

Claire Gibson, director of sustainable resources at the South West RDA said, "The ability to deploy commercial installations is crucial to the development of the marine energy industry in the South West and this study will map the potential over the next 20 years. It will provide data invaluable to the industry and will help ensure that marine renewables are given due consideration in future discussions about planning for the South West's marine environment. This includes the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for marine energy confirmed by the UK Government,. We have long championed the need for an SEA as an essential pre-cursor to licensing areas of sea for commercial development, and we look forward to its swift progress."

The South West RDA's flagship marine energy project is Wave Hub, which will create the world's largest test site for wave energy technology by building a grid-connected socket on the seabed, 10 miles off the coast, to which wave power devices can be connected and their performance evaluated.

The first phase of onshore construction was completed last month and work began this month on a new electricity substation in Hayle, where Wave Hub's subsea cable will come ashore on the north coast of Cornwall. Wave Hub will be completed this year, with the first wave energy devices expected to be deployed in 2011. The £42m project is being funded with £12.5m from the South West RDA, £20m from the European Regional Development Fund Convergence Programme and £9.5m from the UK government.

Defra publishes report on "Adapting to Coastal Change"

Defra has published on 30th March 2010 a report titled: Adapting to Coastal Change : Developing a Policy Framework. Defra states that this report "represents a staging post in the evolution of a policy framework on supporting communities in adapting to coastal change." The Policy Report follows on from an announcement by Defra on 1st December 2009 that it is supporting financially, to the value of £11 million, 15 coastal local authorities — whom it terms as "coastal change pathfinder authorities" — with projects that the authorities are running in conjunction with their communities in order to plan for coastal change. This funding will run until spring 2011.
Details of the Defra Report can be obtained from their website www.defra.gov.uk/environment/flooding/manage/coastalchange.htm.
We record below the local authorities and their projects currently receiving "pathfinder funding".

CITES and Japan criticised for failing to protect Bluefin Tuna

Writing in The Huffington Post, 28th March 2010, David Helvarg, President of the Blue Frontier Campaign (www.bluefront.org), has strongly criticised both CITES (U.N.'s Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species) and Japan for failing to take action to protect Bluefin Tuna which is threatened with extinction. He writes:

"It's all over except for the name change following the March 13-25 meeting of CITES in Doha, Qatar that included a Japanese Embassy reception serving highly endangered Bluefin tuna. Its time to rebrand CITES the Corporate Inspired Termination of Existing Sealife. And hey Japan, it's not called "bashing" when you go after a criminal.

"But first, a little background. Despite our wars, homicide rates, illnesses, accidents and addictions, humans remain prolific breeders, having more than doubled our population in the last 45 years from 3 billion to almost 7 billion. We're also highly effective predators. Having wiped out most large land animals and replaced them with domesticated meat animals like pigs and cattle, we're now in the process of repeating this systemic carnage in the sea, wiping out marine wildlife such as cod, tuna and sharks faster than they can reproduce, even as we rapidly expand industrial-scale fish farming, recreating the agricultural revolution of 10,000 years ago (only in a far less sustainable manner — we're feeding the farmed fish on wild fish).

"Our atavistic urge to kill off potential competitors and turn wildlife into dead objects of wealth, status and adornment was reflected at the CITES meeting in Doha Qatar, an oil rich Arab state on the Persian Gulf though they prefer to call it the Arabian Gulf. Either way, it's the deadest sea I've ever sailed on, with little more than oil rigs, jellyfish and sea snakes. (And perhaps a model for the world's oceans in the not-too-distant future, thanks to the efforts of Japan's delegation to CITES and the quiet cooperation they received from the world's latest superpower, the People's Republic of China).

"Unlike Germany, Japan never seriously accepted responsibility for its crimes during World War Two and I'm sure after it has helped facilitate the decimation of the seas its government will find a way to again deny responsibility for this latest crime, continuing to brand any criticism of its corporate fleets and seafood companies, "Japan Bashing."

"Along with mercury-contaminated dolphins and whales, the Japanese consume over 75 percent of the world's (also mercury laden) Bluefin tuna as sushi and sashimi. These large apex predator fish can sell for $10,000 each (one huge fish once fetched $175,000). Given that kind of market incentive it's no surprise that the existing stocks have plummeted. The Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock is nearing total collapse while the Western Atlantic stock, that includes U.S. Bluefin, has declined some 80 percent since the 1970s.

"Still, the CITES meeting not only failed to enact a ban on trade in Bluefin tuna meat (very expensive Japanese sushi), but also rejected any protection for seven species of highly endangered sharks (used in shark fin soup, a gelatinous $100 a bowl status symbol in China). They also refused to protect rare pink and red corals (used for expensive jewellery) or even polar bear body parts (proof of the kill for "sports hunters").

"Following the vote on Bluefin, Japanese delegates began cheering along with some of their "friends." As with the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meetings where Japan continues to push for a renewal of commercial whaling, many of these "friends" are in fact delegates from poor developing countries who are given financial aid by Japan in exchange for their votes. Japan also pays many poor coastal and island nations fees to fish tuna in their waters.

"Unfortunately, few of these nations have their own Coast Guards to make sure that foreign fishing vessels obey the rules and don't destroy the living resources that local fishing communities also depend on. U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen recently told me he has grave concerns about the ability of emerging states to enforce fisheries laws within their 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones. The two most critical examples he cited were Micronesian (Pacific) and Southwest African states that he said, "are really at the mercy of some of these foreign fleets."

"Among the most destructive of these fleets are the Japanese, Chinese, South Korean and Spanish, though the Italians do their fair share of illegal fishing in the Mediterranean, mainly targeting the large, sleek torpedo-shaped Bluefin.

"Two major science studies on overfishing were released this decade. One reported 90 percent of the biggest pelagic (open ocean) fish — including sharks, tuna and billfish — have been eliminated by overfishing just since 1950. This study was largely based on catch records by Japan's global longline fishing fleet. The other study suggests if present trends of industrial overfishing continue without change there will be no commercially viable wild fisheries left by mid-century. This is the study Japan seems determined to prove right. Unfortunately, the U.N. has now become its accomplice in this short-sighted rush to end our last great hunter-gatherer activity on our last great wilderness commons.

"After that comes to pass, we'll just have to start tightening our belts and hanging on tighter as twenty percent of our animal protein is eliminated from the global diet and the benefits and natural services provided by living marine ecosystems and their keystone species like shark and tuna begin to fade away. We'll also have to start adjusting some of our cultural references. After all, there's always more fish in the sea.

The TED prize sponsors "The Mission Blue Voyage"

The TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Prize, see www.tedprize.org/about-tedprize, is supporting Sylvia Earle, the 2008 TED Prize winner, in her efforts to protect the world's oceans.

The first step in granting Sylvia Earle's wish is The Mission Blue Voyage. On 6-10th April 2010, TED will host a one-of-a-kind conference on the National Geographic Endeavor, sailing across the Galapagos Islands to raise awareness about the urgency of ocean conservation issues, and to call for governments to establish more Marine Protected Areas. TED is bringing together marine scientists, deep-sea explorers, technology innovators, policy makers, business leaders, environmentalists, activists, artists and celebrities for this epic adventure into the blue.

The world's oceans are in trouble. They've become a dumping ground for pollutants; acidity levels are on the rise. 90 percent of the big fish have disappeared. Destructive fishing practices are killing countless numbers of marine mammals each year. Although environmental groups have done impressive work toward making the world greener, up until now the blue part of our planet — 71 percent of the Earth's surface — has been largely ignored.

Today, less than one percent of the ocean is protected — while over twelve percent of land is. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are defined as "areas where natural and/or cultural resources are given greater protection than the surrounding waters." Mission Blue's focus is to begin securing MPAs in a few crucial areas. Sylvia refers to these places as "hope spots," because, in her words, "If we can embrace them and protect them, there is hope — not just for continuation of these wonderful, extraordinary places — but there's hope then for humankind."

The goal of the Mission Blue conference is to create content that will change minds and shift perception of the vital importance of our ocean's health. TED will use its platform to inspire the diverse high-profile attendees (who have credible voices on these issues), to advocate for Marine Protected Areas and the urgency of ocean conservation, to spread ideas and information to the public, and to incite action and influence policy makers.

The voyage is only the beginning. The conference will serve as a launching pad for the larger Mission Blue Campaign to do what is only possible if everyone is on board: save the oceans. Public support is the first step in pressuring governments to secure protection. The talks from the Mission Blue Voyage will be released on www.TED.com and www.Mission-Blue.org.

House of Commons Crown Estate Inquiry input from MARINET

MARINET submitted evidence of our concern on licensing Offshore Aggregate Dredging to the recent House of Commons Treasury Committee Inquiry on the Management of the Crown Estate, which paper was published on 22nd March '10. Our input to the inquiry may be seen in the Marine Aggregate Dredging listings under 'MARINET contributes to HoC Treasury Sub-Committee inquiry on Crown Estate'

Sea Shepherd reports on whaling in the Southern Ocean

The environmental group, Sea Shepherd, has sent this report to The Guardian on whaling currently being undertaken in the Southern Ocean by Japan's whalers. The report is filed by the engineer, Wietse Van Der Werf, on the Sea Shepherd vessel "Steve Irwin".

"When I rolled back into port this month with the Sea Shepherd team and our ship the Steve Irwin, it had been an eventful few weeks at sea, chasing Japanese whalers around the Southern Ocean in a bid to stop their annual whale hunt. I joined the ship in August as part of an international crew of volunteers, eager to work with an organisation willing to physically intervene against the poaching.

"As an engineer, working in the engine room fills an important role in the campaign effort. Having an older vessel, the success of our operation very much depends on us keeping the engines running smoothly and ensuring we have enough speed and durability to catch up with the whaling ships and stay with them for as long as we can. On the one hand we have a team of very experienced engineers, officers and seafarers on board. On the other, a part of the crew learns along the way. Their commitment to take risks, dedication to work and the personal sacrifices they have made to come on board make them much valued members of the team.

"The Southern Ocean is an unforgiving place. Many of the new crew get hit by the wave of seasickness which spreads through the ship during the first few days out of port. Although people get used to the life of rolling and pitching pretty quickly, it is far from comfortable. Sleeping becomes quite difficult when your bunk is rolling back and forth or you sleep in one of the forward cabins with near zero gravity. Imagine trying to catch up on some much needed sleep after a long day at work when you get thrown up against the ceiling every 10 seconds. Life at sea made me appreciate the comfort and ease of life on the land.

"At first sight, the sea is a pretty cold and empty place. But after a closer look, you find the place crawling with life. Albatrosses fly gracefully across our bow and occasionally land on deck for a quick rest stop. Seals lie dotted around on the ice floes and our presence has on some occasions been responded to with angry growls from those we awoke from their afternoon nap.

"A couple of centuries ago, whales were considered a shipping hazard with the need for careful navigation around enormous pods of whales. Now we are happy to get quick glimpses of breaching humpback, piked or fin whales.

"One day, about 50 metres from the ship, two humpback whales jumped out of the water, throwing their huge bodies up in the air, and crashing back down, causing huge eruptions on the surface. We all rushed up to the deck and stood there in awe. Up until that point we hadn't seen many whales at all. Quite a discouraging observation when you consider a vast industrial whaling fleet looming about. But here they were and happy to show off their tricks. Amid the cheering and clapping from the growing crowd of spectators on deck, they continued to breach, flip and dive back down. When you see these animals in the free, open ocean, their wilderness, their world, it gives you strength to carry on.

"During this year's campaign we were in many confrontations with the whaling ships. Blocking their slipway, trying to stop them from entering the whale sanctuary area and ensuring the harpoon ships stayed close by to keep an eye on us instead of going off over the horizon in a bid to resume whaling. Standing outside on the deck and seeing a ship bearing down upon you at speed is a thrilling sight and we have needed to take greater care in looking out for the movement of the whalers. With two — what we believe deliberate — rammings, of which one resulted in the sinking of the "Ady Gil", Sea Shepherd's trimaran, they have shown themselves to be prepared to use violence against us. It seems that with increasing value put on threatened animals in the wild, poachers are willing to go to extremes in defending their lucrative operations.

"After having followed the factory ship Nisshin Maru for over three weeks while no whaling could take place, we were forced to head back to land. Low on fuel, food and fresh water we turned the ship and set course for Australia.

"During the last night with the whaling fleet I stood outside on deck and looked out at the factory ship in front of us for one last time. I felt a great sense of pride, to know that in the 21st century it is still a committed, dedicated, and hard working group of ordinary people that can bring about the change needed to keep this planet healthy and sane. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has."

C.O.A.S.T. and Lamlash Bay launch their first newsletter

The Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST), which has pioneered the creation of Scotland's first "no-take" marine reserve in Lamlash Bay, Isle of Arran, West Scotland, has launched its first newsletter with a declaration that C.O.A.S.T. is seeking to help set up a coherent network marine reserves in the Clyde area. Howard Wood, C.O.A.S.T. Chairman, comments:

"Use of the Clyde's marine environment has been transformed over the past 50 years. We have seen traditional fish stocks crash, sea-angling boat-hire companies vanish and our renowned fishing festivals wane. With these changes has grown a sense among coastal communities that we need more say in the way our local waters are managed. For too long important decisions affecting the sea have been influenced by a top-heavy industry, far removed from these local impacts.

"On a rising tide of unrest, C.O.A.S.T. was formed and after over a decade of campaigning, Lamlash Bay finally became Scotland's first No Take Zone (NTZ) in 2008, protecting an area of seabed in an important small step towards the regeneration of the Clyde. But this mini-breakthrough sadly does not paint the full picture. The full proposals for the Lamlash Bay Community Conservation Area — only complete once a Marine Protected Area is established in the rest of the Bay — are being stalled after four years of talks. This is now a matter of real urgency for our political representatives.

"Once the MPA is in place, C.O.A.S.T.'s work will not stop there. Our organisation wants to help build a network of communities around the country who are now waking up to the importance of local control over their marine environment. Members of C.O.A.S.T. are not single-minded environmentalists. C.O.A.S.T. is a campaign organisation dedicated to localising decision-making where appropriate. C.O.A.S.T. believes the health of a coastal economy is closely linked to the health of the marine environment.

"It is for these reasons we will continue to try and influence government policy and legal interpretation. We will work with Marine Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage, the fishermen of the Clyde and all interested parties to develop a coherent network of MPAs in the Clyde with Lamlash Bay at its heart. We also hope to appoint a marine ranger in the future, be actively involved in marine education, research in the NTZ and the intertidal zone and assist in developing a truly sustainable marine environment around the island and in the whole Clyde. In short there is still a lot of work to be done."

Scottish Government offers "prize" to encourage the generation of marine energy

A £10m prize for taming the stormy Scottish seas by building a working marine energy station has been opened for entries. The global competition, funded by the Scottish Government, aims to replicate the success of bounties such as the Ansari X prize which in 2004 led to the first private space flight.

The Scottish energy minister, Jim Mather, said the £10m Saltire prize was the world's most valuable government-funded prize for technology innovation, but critics complained that it was a wasteful "vanity project".

The status of the competition was boosted by the disclosure that the Crown Estate, the agency that owns the UK's seabed out to 12 nautical miles, will enable the shortlisted entries to be tested at sites off the west coast of Scotland.

Jim Mather also clarified the rules for the prize: the winning entry, harnessing the power of tides or waves, will have to generate 100GWh of electricity over a two-year trial period sometime between 2012 and 2017, enough to power 10,000 homes.

The prize was first proposed in Washington DC by Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister and Scottish National party leader, in April 2008, to boost investment and expertise in marine renewables and to promote the significant potential of Scottish coastal waters. So far, there have been 140 registrations of interest.

The competition will be open to existing designs and established marine energy firms, including the Edinburgh-based firms behind the "sea snake" wave machine, Pelamis, and the "oyster" wave machine, Aquamarine power. New entrants to the industry will have to fund their new designs independently.

Alex Salmond and the Crown Estate announced last week that 10 tidal and wave power schemes had been chosen for deployment around the Orkney Islands and the Pentland Firth in what they described as the world's first fully fledged commercial marine energy programme. Scotland's coastal waters have the potential to generate up to 25% of Europe's marine energy, experts suggest.

Shellfish as nutritional food

The Shellfish Association of Great Britain has produced a series of publications which explain the potential nutritional benefits from eating shellfish. For further details, see www.shellfish.org.uk/SAGB_Publications.php?thisfolder=15

Reversing Beach and Shoreline Erosion

Peter Waller found a good video to share with you, demonstrating how low cost tried and tested methodology not only stops erosion in its tracks but actually builds by bringing back the lost sand. It can be seen by the film selected by going to http://savenorthtopsailbeach.com/html/video.html

Three versions are available according to your choice of 56K dial-up modem, 1,000-1400 Kbps cable DSL or 1500 Kbps high speed cable.

Beach litter increasing says Marine Conservation Society survey

Litter on our beaches is still unacceptably high, with more plastic rubbish washed up than ever before. Those are the findings from the Marine Conservation Society's (MCS) Beachwatch Big Weekend 2009 report. It also reveals that while total litter has increased by 77% since the first Beachwatch in 1994, plastic litter has increased by a staggering 121%.

MCS Litter Projects Officer Rachel Bailey said: "Our seas and beaches are becoming overwhelmed with plastic litter, which not only looks horrible, but kills and injures many of our fantastic marine animals every year. Over 260 species of marine wildlife become entangled in litter or mistake it for food. The solution is to stop litter getting into the sea in the first place and the Marine Conservation Society is delighted that government and political parties have announced their commitment to drawing up action plans to reduce marine litter."

Fishermen meet UK Government to discuss Marine Reserves

Scottish and English fishing leaders have recently met government and environmental groups as part of a high level engagement over the creation of the new marine protected areas around UK waters.

The recently formed coalition of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation and the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO) held its first talks with Defra, Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The fishing industry does not oppose these new zones in principle (also called MPAs) - the first came into existence off Lundy a few weeks ago - but is anxious to ensure that a proper balance is struck and the interests of the industry are maintained.

The fishing coalition says that along with the arrival of offshore wind-farms, the establishment of MPAs represents the biggest potential threat to fishermen's access to their fishing grounds that the industry has faced in its entire history. "There are now legal obligations on ministers both at European level and domestically to introduce MPAs in UK waters. The statutory nature conservancy agencies at present have a massive budget to provide advice to Government on the implementation of both European and domestic MPAs. They are driving the MPA agenda forward at breakneck speed."

The coalition said that inevitably for a first engagement, this meeting was a ground clearing exercise for all involved when some important points were clarified, which included recognising the coalition as the principal body for engaging with statutory advisors and Government decision makers.

New marine species and habitats threatened with destruction

Weird and wonderful new discoveries are continually being made in the unexplored depths of our oceans, but could disappear forever - before we even learn of their existence, warns one of the foremost marine biologists, the University of Plymouth's Dr Jason Hall-Spencer.

Dr Hall-Spencer explained his research into the dangers facing pristine habitats and new species discovered on seamounts* in a presentation to the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting in San Diego.

For the very first time, through the Census of Marine Life, researchers are assembling a comprehensive picture of what lives in the ocean.

As part of the group's symposium, Dr Hall-Spencer explained how 98% of all known marine species live on the sea floor, yet we have mapped so little of the ocean that amazing discoveries are constantly being made as he says; "Less than 1 per cent of the estimated 50,000 seamounts have ever been surveyed and our research visits have revealed pristine coral reefs and many species that are brand new to science. However, over the past five years, these surveys have also worryingly revealed that all over the world, deep sea habitats are suffering severe impacts from bottom trawling down to depths of 1000 metres and more."

Dr.Hall-Spencer's findings on the reef damage caused by bottom trawling, which include stripped boulders and smashed corals of over 4500 years old, have succeeded in influencing public policy with new UN and FAO recommendations now being implemented as a direct result. The research has also seen four areas so far designated as Marine Protected Areas and closed completely to bottom trawling.

His presentation also described the first ever submersible dives on the world's largest (40km long) cold water reef of the Arctic waters off Norway and discussed the alarming fact that just as we have discovered these reefs, they are threatened by the corrosive effects of ocean acidification.

* A seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island. These are typically formed from extinct volcanoes, that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from a seafloor of 1,000 — 4,000 metres depth.

New design for offshore wind turbines

A radical windmill design could hold the key to making offshore wind power more economical and helping the UK meet its ambitious renewable energy targets.

The Aerogenerator turns conventional windmills on their side, with a 100m tall V-shaped blade rotating on a vertical, rather than the usual horizontal, axis. By building all the moving parts and machinery at the base of the windmill rather than the top of a tower, its designers claim it will be easier to build and maintain, making its renewable electricity cheaper. Nova (Novel Offshore Vertical Axis Demonstrator)— which came up with the design — is one of three projects being funded by the government-backed Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) as part of a project to find ways of bringing down the cost of offshore wind power.

The UK has the biggest wind resource in Europe — some estimates put the UK's share at one-third of the continent's total. Taking advantage of the country's potential wind power will be critical in meeting the targets set by government for the UK to meet 15% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.

In January, the government announced a £75bn programme to build 25GW of offshore wind turbines. The nine sites in line for development in the Crown Estate's programme — including Dogger Bank, the Bristol Channel, the seas off Norfolk and the Firth of Forth — are all further away from the coast and in deeper waters, around 30m, than any existing offshore project, and therefore more challenging to build.

"The current cost of electricity by offshore wind is somewhere between 12-15p per KWh, that's about double the cost of onshore wind and three times the cost of conventional generation. Our job is to significantly reduce that. By 2020, we want it to be comparable to onshore generation. As we move to 2050, we want it to be comparable to conventional generation," said Grant Bourhill of the ETI.

He said that traditional offshore windmills seemed to have reached their economic limit with the huge 10MW turbines that are planned for the next few years, but Nova could potentially deliver more. "No one understands the economic limits for vertical-axis and it may be the economic limit is significantly better than a 10MW can provide, so we will be able to generate electricity at a much lower cost. The design could be more reliable and the maintenance costs could be significantly lower because the main components are actually closer to sea level than they are with the horizontal-axis design," said Bourhill

Nova, which has collaborators from Cranfield, Sheffield and Strathclyde universities, is being developed by OTM Consulting Limited. The team aims to have 1GW of offshore vertical axis turbines installed by 2020, with a demonstrator Aerogenerator turbine built offshore by 2015. Each windmill would be designed to generate between 5MW and 10MW of power but, because each would be cheaper to build than an equivalent modern turbine, the overall cost of an offshore wind farm, and the electricity, should be lower.

The ETI's strategy for offshore wind is to find ways to make this source of energy much cheaper and more reliable. The other two projects funded by the institute's £20m offshore scheme are Helm wind, a consortium led by energy company Eon that is focused on examining how conventional windmill designs can be made more cheaply, and Project Deepwater, a design for floating windmills out at sea led by Blue H Technologies and which includes collaborations from BAe Systems and EDF energy.

The ETI's funding for the three projects so far is aimed at producing detailed design specifications for the three ideas. Bourhill said that, once these plans have been evaluated by the institute, one of the ideas will be in line for a multi-million pound demonstration project.

IUCN says marine reserves are essential for the survival of the planet and humankind

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (www.iucn.org) has produced a statement dated 1st February 2010 which states clearly why we have to establish marine protected areas (marine reserves) on a widespread basis throughout the world's seas and oceans if life as we know it, both terrestrial and marine, is to survive. We provide here the text of that statement.

"Oceans cover more than 70% of our planet. They include some of the most fragile ecosystems and species on Earth, but are continuously abused. More than 60% of the human population now lives on or near a coastline and 80% of tourism is concentrated in coastal areas. Exploited by over-fishing and subjected to pollution and oil and gas extraction, marine resources have been seriously affected in many regions.

"One of the most effective means for protecting marine and coastal biodiversity is through the establishment and proper management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

"IUCN's definition of a Marine Protected Area is: "Any area of intertidal or sub-tidal terrain, together with its overlying water and associated flora, fauna, historical and cultural features, which has been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment," (Kelleher, 1999). Marine Protected Areas cover many different types of protection. Some are "no-take zones" that are essential to enable fish stocks to recover while others allow multiple use of their resources.

"MPAs protect key ecosystems such as coral reefs. Not only do they act as safe breeding grounds for fish, they also generate tourism, which in turn brings jobs. Unfortunately, most tourism revenues are held by big companies with little benefit going to the local population. Creating more Community Managed MPAs would enhance the flow of benefits to local people.

"More than 90% of the world's carbon dioxide is stored in the oceans, and they remove 30% of the carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere. MPAs, which often encompass 'barrier' ecosystems such as coral reefs or mangroves, can also reduce the impact of damage from natural disasters such as hurricanes. Waves are slowed by the reefs while mangroves are effective windbreaks that reduce soil erosion. Examining the destruction caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, there was ample evidence that in areas with healthy coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, the human population was protected and the impact of the disaster reduced. Mangroves also absorb pollutants and act as a natural water filter, preventing many pollutants from reaching the sea.

"Close to 25% of fishing in developing countries is carried out near a coral reef and more than 70% of the world's fisheries are in danger. Studies have shown that the knock-on effect of "no take" marine protected areas, not only doubles the amount of fish but also their size in a very short period of time. MPAs including in the High Seas, are key to replenishing biodiversity and nourishing the growing human population. They also serve as nurseries for key threatened species including whales and turtles whilst protecting a variety of marine ecosystems and the rich biodiversity they sustain.

"But despite the important role of MPAs for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, only 1% of the ocean is protected. The goal of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and of the Convention on Biological Diversity of establishing a global, representative system of MPAs by 2012 is far from being met. Protected Area managers face a wide range of challenges, from lack of governmental funding and support, to antagonism from local communities. With good communication and awareness programmes, this trend could be reversed. Involving the local population in the protection of marine protected areas would help generate sustainable livelihoods through revenue from fishing and tourism.

"An effective MPA system is needed to ensure that the oceans recuperate, continue to store carbon dioxide, that fish stocks recover and that coastlines are protected from harsh climatic conditions. It is no longer a technical question but a matter of survival for the planet and humankind."

EU supports ban on trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna

The 27 EU members announced on 10th March 2010 that they would vote to list Atlantic bluefin tuna on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), joining a growing list of supporting countries, including the United States of America.

"WWF welcomes the EU announcement, which will give this devastated species the possibility to recover," said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. "Other governments must back the ban when they meet for CITES later this week."

"The EU is a major trade and development partner in many key regions of the world, and some countries may have been hanging back on Atlantic bluefin tuna to see what the Europeans would decide to do," Tudela said.

"With the two largest holders of bluefin tuna fishing quota on either side of the Atlantic — the U.S. and EU — now supporting the trade ban, other countries should follow suit," Dr Tudela said. "Our only remaining concern is that we do not understand the continuing need on the part of the EU for conditions to be attached to the Appendix I listing. WWF believes this trade ban should be implemented immediately, without conditions or delay. The EU must now push for widespread support of this proposal during the CITES meeting."

The proposal to list Atlantic bluefin tuna on CITES Appendix I was submitted by the Principality of Monaco in October. Atlantic bluefin tuna is at serious risk of commercial extinction because of decades of unsustainable and illegal fishing in the Mediterranean Sea, driven by demand from Japan's luxury seafood markets.

The eligibility of Atlantic bluefin tuna for the CITES Appendix I listing proposal is backed by independent experts including a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation panel, and the scientific committee of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the regional fisheries management organisation in charge of this fishery.

The 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP 15) will take place March 13-25 in Doha, Qatar. The Convention is an international agreement between governments that aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival in the wild.

MARINET observes: As welcome as this ban is, it is a sad indictment on the EU Common Fisheries Policy and European Governments that they are only prepared to act with any serious resolve to protect a commercial fishery (bluefin tuna in this instance, but the same is true of all other commercial fish species in the NE Atlantic) when it reaches the point of extinction. The time has come for a fundamental Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy based on the adoption by all governments of the strong version of the ecosystem-based approach to marine management for our seas (for the definition of the "strong version", see www.marinet.org.uk/eatmm/definition.pdf) along with the adoption of a new default position by all governments whereby all extractive activity, including fishing, is prohibited in the seas of the NE Atlantic unless that activity can demonstrate that it is capable of contributing to the restoration of the health of the marine ecosystem (as defined in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, see www.marinet.org.uk/marinebill/euframeworkdirective.pdf) or will cause no adverse impact to the marine ecosystem. In short, the Common Fisheries Policy must be reformed to be subordinate to the requirements of EU law and be obligated to actively implement the legal requirements of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and associated legislation.

Obituary — Blaise McArdle of Sand-RX

Jerry Berne of Sustainable Coastlnes, our fellow group in the USA, writes to tell us the sad news that Blaise McArdle died this past December.

Blaise was a great fighter for holding our coastlines and did much research into the sound scientific methodology of accomplishing this, coming up with his very own 'Sand-Rx' treatment that can be seen on our web site here by visiting our treatise on coastal defences entitled 'Why Canute Failed at www.marinet.org.uk/coastaldefences/canute.html

Blaise offered to come to Britain to treat any given kilometre of one of our eroding beaches for free in order to prove the efficacy, but sadly his offer was never taken up. It's too late now. He was in the middle of a French beach reclamation using his 'Sand-RX' when he died, so was probably unable to see this project to a successful conclusion.

The loss of such knowledge and expertise is a sad blow for those who are fighting to hold our shorelines.

Humber Estuary & Coast — Another Independent report

A previously undiscovered November 1994 study entitled 'Humber Estuary & Coast' has just been found by our Dr. Harry Buckland. This work was commissioned by the Environment Sub-Committee of Humberside County Council and prepared by the Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies at the University of Hull. It can be read in full at www.hull.ac.uk/coastalobs/media/pdf/humberestuary&coast.pdf

Whilst being of particular interest to those directly concerned with the rapid erosion along the Holderness Coast, from Flamborough Head to Skegness. it also shows how the wider coastline right down to North East Norfolk and beyond is effected.

"The Bridlington beaches are, however, merely the shoreward extremity of the vast deposit of the Smithic Sand stretching far out into the Bay — on stormy days the waves can be seen breaking on this sand bank a mile out from the shore. Without the Smithic Sand, Bridlington's beaches would disappear with disastrous results both for tourism and the fishing industry — the sand being an important nursery and feeding ground for several fish species. Any attempts to remove the sand, as valuable aggregates for example, should be considered extremely carefully before any irrevocable decisions are reached".

Is catching wild fish more humane than farming fish?

The author of the book "Eating Animals", Jonathan Safran Foer, asks the question whether catching wild fish is more humane than farming fish in an article for The Guardian, 23rd February 2010. He states:

"So are wild-caught fish a more humane alternative? They certainly have better lives before they are caught, since they do not live in cramped, filthy enclosures. That is a difference that matters. But consider the most common ways of catching wild tuna, shrimp and salmon. Three methods are dominant: longline fishing, trawling and the use of purse seines.

"A longline looks something like a telephone line running through the water suspended by buoys rather than poles. At periodic intervals along this main line, smaller "branch" lines are strung — each branch line bristling with hooks. Now picture not just one of these multihook longlines, but dozens or hundreds deployed one after the other by a single boat. And, of course, there is not one boat deploying longlines, but dozens, hundreds, or even thousands in the largest commercial fleets.

"Longlines today can reach 75 miles — that's enough line to cross the Channel more than three times. And longlines don't kill just their "target species", but 145 others as well. One study found that roughly 4.5 million sea animals are killed by longline fishing every year, including roughly 3.3 million sharks, 1 million marlins, 60,000 sea turtles, 75,000 albatross and 20,000 dolphins and whales.

"Even longlines, though, don't produce the immense bycatch associated with trawling. The most common type of modern shrimp trawler sweeps an area roughly 25 to 30 metres wide. The trawl is pulled along the ocean bottom for several hours, sweeping shrimp (and everything else) into the far end of a funnel-shaped net. Trawling is the marine equivalent of clear-cutting rain forest. Whatever they target, trawlers sweep up fish, sharks, rays, crabs, squid, scallops — typically about 100 different fish and other species. Virtually all die. The least efficient operations throw more than 98%, dead, back into the ocean. There is something quite sinister about this scorched-earth style of "harvesting" sea animals.

"Modern fishing techniques are destroying the ecosystems that sustain more complex vertebrates (such as salmon and tuna), leaving in their wake only the few species that can survive on plants and plankton, if that. As we gobble up the most desired fish, which are usually top-of-the-food-chain carnivores such as tuna and salmon, we eliminate predators and cause a short-lived boom of the species one notch lower on the food chain. We then fish that species into oblivion and move an order lower. The generational speed of the process makes it hard to see the changes (do you know what fish your grandparents ate?), and the fact that catches themselves don't decline in volume gives a deceptive impression of sustainability.

"Trawling and longline fishing aren't only ecologically worrisome; they are also cruel. In trawlers, hundreds of different species are crushed together, gashed on corals, bashed on rocks — for hours — then hauled from the water, causing painful decompression (this sometimes causes the animals' eyes to pop out or their internal organs to come out of their mouths). On longlines, too, the deaths animals face are generally slow. Some are simply held there and die only when removed from the lines. Some die from the injury caused by the hook in their mouths or by trying to get away. Some are unable to escape attack by predators.

"Purse seines are the main technology used for catching tuna. A net wall is deployed around a school of target fish, and once the school is encircled, the bottom of the net is pulled together as if the fishers were tugging on a giant purse string. The trapped target fish and any other creatures in the vicinity are then winched together and hauled on to the deck. Fish tangled in the net may be slowly pulled apart in the process. Most of these sea animals, though, die on the ship, where they will slowly suffocate or have their gills cut while conscious. In some cases, the fish are tossed on to ice, which can actually prolong their deaths.

"Does all this matter enough that we should change what we eat? What conclusion would most selective omnivores reach if attached to each salmon they ate was a label noting that 2.5ft-long farmed salmon spend their lives in the equivalent of a bathtub of water and that the animals' eyes bleed from the intensity of the pollution? What if the label mentioned the explosions of parasite populations, increases in diseases, degraded genetics and new antibiotic-resistant diseases that result from fish farming?

"Although one can realistically expect that at least some percentage of cows and pigs are slaughtered with speed and care, no fish gets a good death. Not a single one. You never have to wonder if the fish on your plate had to suffer. It did."

MARINET observes: The above are not the views of MARINET, but of Jonathan Safran Foer. These views, and their proselytising approach, are recorded in Mr. Foer's recent book "Eating Animals" , published by Hamish Hamilton.

Does fish farming make sense?

The author, Jonathan Safran Foer, offers the following thoughts in an article in The Guardian, 23rd February 2010, on fish farming following on from his recently published book "Eating Animals".

"Factory-farmed chickens, turkeys and cattle all suffer in fundamentally similar ways. So, it turns out, do fish. We tend not to think of fish and land animals in the same way, but "aquaculture" — the intensive rearing of sea animals in confinement — is essentially under-water factory farming.

"The Handbook of Salmon Farming, an industry how-to book, details six "key stressors in the aquaculture environment": "water quality", "crowding", "handling", "disturbance", "nutrition" and "hierarchy". To translate into plain language, those six sources of suffering for salmon are: water so fouled that it makes it hard to breathe; crowding so intense that animals begin to cannibalise one another; handling so invasive that physiological measures of stress are evident a day later; disturbance by farmworkers and wild animals; nutritional deficiencies that weaken the immune system; and the inability to form a stable social hierarchy, resulting in more cannibalisation. These problems are typical. The handbook calls them "integral components of fish farming".

"A major source of suffering for salmon and other farmed fish is the abundant presence of sea lice, which thrive in the filthy water. These lice create open lesions and sometimes eat down to the bones on a fish's face — a phenomenon known as the "death crown" in the industry. A single salmon farm generates swarming clouds of sea lice in numbers 30,000 times higher than naturally occur.

"The fish that survive these conditions (a 10% to 30% death rate is seen as good by many in the salmon industry) are likely to be starved for seven to 10 days to diminish their bodily waste during transport to slaughter then killed by having their gills sliced before being tossed into a tank of water to bleed to death. Often the fish will be slaughtered while conscious, and convulse in pain as they die. In other cases, they may be stunned, but current stunning methods are unreliable."

Scott Landsburgh, chief executive of the Scottish Salmon Producers' Organisation (SSPO), responded to Jonathan Safran Foer in an article of his own in The Guardian on 2nd March 2010. He stated:

"Jonathan Safran Foer's opinions on the salmon industry are misguided." he states.

"I am chief executive of the SSPO which represents 95% of Scottish farmed salmon production and it is recognised as a leader in animal welfare best practice. Last month the RSPCA reported that Scottish farmed salmon was top of its Freedom Food charts, with an impressive 60% of production participating in its stringent animal welfare scheme which includes standards for husbandry, stocking density and harvesting.

"Of the 532 million farm animals that are reared under the RSPCA scheme, some 440 million are Scottish farmed salmon. More broadly, salmon farming is one of the most highly regulated sectors of the food industry, complying with national and international legislation as well as with retailer standards and the independently audited Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture.

"Contrary to Foer's claims that "salmon spend their lives in the equivalent of a bathtub of water", the average underwater pen is, by volume, the size of two Olympic swimming pools — meaning that fish have ample room to swim freely. As salmon only occupy a maximum of 2% of the space available in the pen, the remaining 98% of water is available for swimming. Therefore it is simply not true to imply that salmon are somehow packed into a confined space and constricted in their movements.

"Foer describes the marine environment in which salmon are grown as "filthy water" and goes on to suggest that "animals' eyes bleed from the intensity of the pollution". These statements are nonsense. Excellent water quality is essential to grow quality salmon. The clean, clear coastal waters on the west coast and islands of Scotland, with excellent tidal flows, are ideal growing conditions.

"It is in the farmers' interests to respect and safeguard the quality of the marine environment on which the fish depend. Furthermore, the release into the water of anything produced as a result of fish farming activity must be permitted by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

"The health of the marine environment and the welfare of the animals in the farmers' care are crucial to the production of a healthy, high quality product which has made the industry one of the foremost food sectors in the UK today. This iconic Scottish industry produces high quality food products — the result of painstaking development and improvement over more than three decades.

"It concerns me that an American author of fiction purports to write a factual account of a major, successful food industry with little regard for the implications of his lack of research."

MARINET observes: Whilst there is clearly an important issue about the standards to which farm fish are reared (e.g. pen size, water quality, disease control and so forth), there is a wider issue.

Fish are being farmed largely because wild populations have collapsed. They have collapsed primarily due to over-fishing of the wild populations, salmon included.

These fishing practices not only over-fish the target species but also do so to a degree where the species is unable to breed productively and thus replace itself. In the case of some species, adult fish are being caught before they are barely sexually mature whilst, at the same time, the entire older population of that species is caught and marketed. The reality that faces these fish is analogous to the human population being culled at the age of ten, and then expecting the survival of the human population to be dependent upon the sexual behaviour of ten year olds.

In addition, some fishing practices, notably trawling, damage the seabed and severely disrupt the whole marine ecosytem and food chain.

More importantly still, fish farming does have an enormous impact on wild marine populations of fish. Salmon, to take the example being examined here, are carnivores. They live by eating other fish. They therefore need to be fed, and to do this fish farms have to rely on the capture of fish protein from the wild oceans. This fish protein consists of fishmeal and fish oil which are obtained by grinding up herring, mackerel and sardines caught from the wild ocean. Thus to grow a salmon in a fish farm requires three to four pounds of smaller fish to produce one pound of a larger one, thus effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul. Consequently, although the salmon may be farmed, the farmed salmon is still placing substantial fishing pressure on the wild oceans.

It is therefore essential to remember that salmon in fish farms need to be fed wild fish; and, how this wild fish protein is captured remains a crucial question. At present, farmed salmon are dependent on the same fishing practices that are currently causing the major slide towards a collapse in global commercial fish populations.

It is these fishing practices that have to change. If they do not, there will be little to feed the farmed fish — and without food for the farmed fish, there will be no fish farms.

UK 1, MARINET & Environment 0

UK polluters won a round, but not the war on 18th December 2009, when the EU Court came a decision on the UK meeting the requirements of the EC Urban WasteWater Directive, 91/271/EEC. (See earlier mention of this on our website at www.marinet.org.uk/ukbw/uwwd.html and www.marinet.org.uk/archive/archivelatestnews2005.html#ugf and other previous news by a Google Search.)

The European Court of Justice has thrown out the European Commission's case against the UK for failing to fulfil its duties under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.

The long-running case had two components. First, the Commission claimed the UK had failed to identify several bodies of water as sensitive to pollution.

Second, it claimed that the UK had failed to meet stringent treatment standards for discharges into those bodies and into two water bodies in Northern Ireland - Lough Neagh and the Upper and Lower Lough Erne.

The court judged that the first complaint "must be rejected in its entirety". It is thought this will save £5-6 billion that would otherwise have to be spent.

On the second complaint, the court said the UK had failed in some of its obligations by not stringently treating discharges from Craigavon and Magherafelt in Northern Ireland. "As to the remainder, the second complaint must be rejected as partly inadmissible and partly unfounded," it judged.

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "We are pleased with this decision. Water quality in England and Wales is better than at any time since the industrial revolution and we are still working on improvements."

Rapid ocean acidification raises new concerns

Ocean acidification could be rising at the fastest rate for tens of millions of years, Britain's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) reported on Monday. The warning follows the publication of a study in Nature Geoscience at the weekend.

Comparing current conditions with the greenhouse gas event of 55 million years ago, known as the Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), scientists at the University of Bristol found "a geologically unprecedented rate of acidification". A UN report published in December last year raised similar concerns.

During the PETM, high temperatures and CO₂ levels of carbon dioxide appeared within a few thousand years and subsided after several hundred thousand. "The change observed today is occurring at the scale of hundreds of years — and this might be too much for marine life to handle," Andy Ridgwell told NERC.

MARINET appeals to Minister over East Anglian marine aggregate dredging

The marine aggregate dredging companies with licences off the East Anglian coast are currently undertaking, at the behest of the UK Government, a Regional Environmental Assessment of the impact of the extraction licences upon the coastline and the ecology of the sea.

The first stage of the Regional Environmental Assessment (REA) is to draw up a Scoping Report which defines what scientific studies are required.

MARINET has informed the consultants undertaking the REA that the Scoping Report needs to include a historical study of the change in beach profiles along the coast up until the present day related to the date when licences were first granted (1960s), a tracer study to determine whether material on the beaches is being eroded and ending up at the dredging sites, a study to establish whether there is any correlation between offshore aggregate dredging and the disappearance of the offshore sandbank at Scroby Sands which used to be permanently above high water and measure 1 mile long and one-quarter mile wide (supporting marram grass sand dunes, breeding terns and seals) but which now lies permanently below high water mark, and a study to determine whether the wave model which calculates the erosive force on the coast of the offshore wave regime has been formulated using the correct meteorological data.

The Scoping Report has decided not to include any of the above issues identified by MARINET. An appeal has been made by MARINET to the consultants against this decision, but the appeal has been turned down.

Following the recent debate in the Houses of Parliament on offshore aggregate extraction, see www.marinet.org.uk/latestnews.html#cotw, it has been stated by the Minister of State at Defra who is responsible for the licensing regime that no further consideration can be given to MARINET's claims that aggregate dredging is causing coastal erosion in East Anglia and damaging the marine environment until " new scientific evidence" is available to support these assertions.

MARINET has now written to the Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies MP, to point out to him that the very scientific study his Department of State has commissioned — the East Anglian REA — is failing to include the key scientific studies which might provide this scientific evidence. Accordingly, MARINET has requested the Minister it "call in" the REA and to amend its Scoping Report so that these studies are included. The text of the MARINET letter to the Minister can be seen at www.marinet.org.uk/mad/objection.html#rea with the date of 1st February 2010.

Quite simply, the industry cannot have it both ways — claim that the scientific evidence does not exist and then block the scientific studies which would establish whether the evidence does or does not really exist.

Tyne contaminated dredge disposal trial the subject of a Defra report.

Defra has produced a report, titled The First UK Offshore Contaminated Dredge Material Capping Trial, which records the outcome to date of the controversial trial to dispose of contaminated dredge material taken from disused docks in the Port of Tyne and dumped at a seabed site in the outer estuary near Souter Point.

This controversial project, involving highly contaminated dredged material, was to be made safe at the offshore site by a process of capping. In other words, once the dredged material had been dumped on the seabed, it was to be capped with clean silt and sand in order to prevent its dispersal by currents and storms into the wider marine environment. If such dispersion were to occur, the polluting effect would be considerable.

The ability to create a cap of sufficient thickness at the disposal site proved far more complicated than anticipated, and the full nature of the whole project can be read in the Defra Report, available here as a pdf file.

The significance of this project lies in the fact that other Port Authorities around the UK have similar disposal problems with contaminated silt in disused docks and, if the docks are to be redeveloped, this contaminated material requires a disposal site. The Port of Tyne project has been designed to test the proposition that such contaminated material can be safely disposed at an offshore seabed location.

Seagulls and animals become radioactive at Sellafield

The Times reports, 25th February 2010, that the Sellafield nuclear plant is Western Europe's most heavily contaminated industrial site, and is facing an unexpected environmental challenge.

The 262-hectare (645 acres) plant in West Cumbria is being overrun by seagulls, mice and stray cats, and managers are battling to contain the problem. Things have become so serious that a cull of seabirds is being considered. There are concerns that some have been swimming in open ponds containing plutonium and radioactive waste, some of which date back to Britain's atomic weapons programme of the 1950s and 1960s.

"It's a coastal site so there are thousands of seagulls around," said Martin Forwood, of Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (www.corecumbria.co.uk). "They fly in and float around on the open waste ponds and act as a gateway to poison the wider area."

Ali McKibbin, media relations manager at the plant, confirmed that 350 animal carcasses were being stored in an industrial freezer on the site, mostly birds but also some small mammals.

Under Environment Agency rules, any animal that dies within the perimeter fence must be treated as nuclear waste, because it may have been exposed to radiation. The carcasses could not be allowed to decay naturally, Ms McKibbin said, because they were considered "putrescent" nuclear waste, and so were kept frozen until they could be disposed of in a special landfill facility on the site.

One of the open-waste storage ponds contains significant quantities of plutonium. About 30 new carcasses are collected every month. One source said that bird-control was subcontracted to a company called Avian, which employs two full-time staff at the site to control numbers and deter birds from nesting in and fouling buildings. "It's a big contract — egg-pricking, pigeon trapping, nest disposal — the lot," said the source, who works for a rival pest control company in the North of England.

Ms McKibbin added that discussions were under way about an intensive culling programme. Drugged bait would probably be the method, although she emphasised that no final decision had yet been taken. The seagull problem was "under control", there was no danger to the public and any methods used to control bird numbers would be humane, she said.

The sprawling site, which contains hundreds of buildings — many of which are scheduled for demolition — lies along coastline bordering the Lake District National Park. As well as birds, various other animals are frequently found on site. "It is a large industrial site so there are quite a number of stray cats," Ms McKibbin said. A company called Mitie won a contract in 2006 to supply Sellafield with services including pest control. Mitie employs 450 staff at the site, although few of these are involved in pest control.

Ms Mckibbin said: "A professional pest control organisation is employed to manage the number of gulls. All activities are done under licence in a safe and humane manner that causes the gulls minimum distress and suffering."

The site, which used to be known as Windscale, is where Britain developed the technology to build the atomic bomb and is the location of the world's first civil nuclear power station. Britain's high-level nuclear waste is stored at the site, which is owned by the Government through the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Scientists trying to invent a means of listening more carefully to marine mammals

The increasing exploitation of the oceans for power generation, shipping and mineral extraction is bad news for wildlife. Human offshore activity can cause underwater noise that affects marine mammals such as seals, whales, and dolphins, as well as disturbing the fish that they feed upon.

In order to protect sea life, many offshore regions have laws that require dedicated visual observers to watch for marine life and signal when human activities, such as exploration, construction or offshore power generation, should be slowed down or even stopped in order to avoid disturbing it. This is costly for the companies involved, and doesn't work well in poor weather or at night. The answer may be to listen more carefully to the local wildlife.

Scientists now want to use passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) systems to listen for these vocalisations, and so ensure the creatures' safety while also eliminating unnecessary delays to sea-borne work.

'Wave glider' can collect key scientific facts about the oceans

Known as Wave Gliders, a new piece of technology in the shape of a platform can travel around the oceans collecting scientific data.

The Wave Glider can travel long distances, hold itself in one place like a buoy, and patrol areas and collect information without ever needing to refuel. This means it can travel to a distant area, collect data, and return for maintenance without ever requiring a ship to leave port.

The Liquid Robotics Wave Glider is a configurable platform designed to support a wide variety of sensor payloads. It can keep station or travel from point to point. Data is transmitted to shore via satellite, and its continuous presence at a location means data can be delivered as it is collected. Payload power is provided by two solar panels, lithium-ion batteries and a charging optimisation system.

A unique two-part architecture and wing system directly converts wave motion into thrust allowing the Wave Glider to travel long distances, hold station, and patrol vast areas without ever needing to refuel.

There are many areas where it could be used because this is a surface vehicle that can station-keep. It harnesses the wave energy and it can operate in a small watch circle, so it is suitable to replace a buoy out in the middle of an ocean.

"This is a pretty compelling technology," says Justin Manley of Liquid Robotics. "I wish I could say that I invented it. I didn't, but I'm proud to say that I think I can advance it into new applications."

"The world has also been talking about fleets of unmanned vehicles that will work together — a network of robots for a while now. Obviously, any undersea component is going to need a surface element to reach satellites for communication and the connection to the Internet that we all rely on. Because the Wave Glider has essentially an infinite endurance, I think this could become the equivalent of a cellular phone tower in the ocean for underwater vehicles."

Justin Manley adds: "A major science question with ocean acidification has to do with the flux of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the ocean. The way to start learning about this is if we could acquire lots of measurements of carbon dioxide levels just above and below the water surface over large areas. This is the platform that will enable that type of scientific programme."

Subsea 'cat's eyes' could save dolphins' lives

Whales and dolphins might avoid being inadvertently trapped in fishing nets if a marker developed for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) can win commercial backing. Marine scientists estimate that nearly a thousand dolphins, porpoises and whales die every day as a result of being caught unintentionally by fishing equipment.

Scientists at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) have completed sea trials of the device, which can be used to identify the location of high-value underwater objects such as oil field equipment and cables to sonar systems. It could also be detected by creatures, such as dolphins, that use sonar to navigate.

Described as a nautical version of 'cat's eye' road markings, the spherical units, in which an elastomer core is surrounded by a rigid shell of glass-reinforced plastic or steel, reflect tuned sonar signals at specific frequencies depending on their composition. DSTL says the units could be attached to fishing nets so that whales and dolphins picking up the signal could avoid the area.

Unlike existing location devices used by oil and cable companies that continually pulse a signal, this is a passive system that only returns a signal when an attempt is made to identify it. And because it doesn't require a battery, DSTL says maintenance costs are significantly reduced.

Historically, passive devices have relied on chlorofluorocarbons housed in metal discs. The DSTL system's physical properties mean it doesn't need the potentially harmful chemicals.

Subsea Asset Location Technologies, a company set up to commercialise the technology, is seeking venture capital funding to complete the development phase and bring a product to market.

"This is another example of DSTL technology being directed outside its original military application and making a difference to industry," said the laboratory's head of technology transfer, David Harris.

Marine & Fisheries Agency (MFA) British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA) Support

The MFA website content seen under 'Marine Environment' leaves us with little doubt of its full support of the dredging industry. The exploitation of the environment obviously takes full priority over and above concern for our sea, seabed and coastal environment in their eyes. See more at www.marinet.org.uk/mad/mfabmapa.html.

'Ideas for protecting Norfolk and Suffolk's coastline'

That's the title of an item by Hayley Mace that appeared in The Lowestoft Journal of 23rd February '10, which can be read in full on their web page at here.

But inspection reveals that it's not really protection at all, merely that East of England Minister Barbara Follett voiced the governments £5m funded 'Pathfinder' programme at a 22nd February '10 meeting of coastal councillors and 'environmental experts' at the second Coastal Initiative Conference, dealing mainly with the reimbursement compensation opportunities available to those who abandon their homes and businesses.

Hopton Residents battling for sea-defence cash

A 'Google Search' for 'Hopton' on this website will reveal our earlier input of the rapid erosion threatening housing and infrastructure at Hopton, just south of Great Yarmouth. This continues to escalate, now six times that wrongly earlier predicted by the 'experts' because they did not take the impact from offshore dredging into account. Now the residents are up in arms fighting the demands of the Shoreline Management Plan which did not provide for defences by recommending ".

The Last of the Many

Just one fishing trawler of an original one thousand now remains based at Great Yarmouth. The last herring drifters left in the 1970s and by the 1980s only about 20 fishing boats remained in Yarmouth.

And now just one fishing trawler, the 'Eventide', is now to be seen going out from Great Yarmouth, where in the 1900's there were over one thousand boats catching over 2,000 million fish in just one season. A combination of pollution, dredging and overfishing and catch limitation quotas have wreaked havoc on the once thriving industry.

'Clouds get in the way'

An interesting local micro climate phenomena around the Scroby Sands windfarm was captured by local aerial photographer Mike Page from his Cessna-150 aircraft, showing the mist created by the 40 metre blades set above the 60 metre high turbines so giving low level clouds around them.

No doubt the change of dew point between frontal and rear air pressures coupled with the mixing of the damp warmer air near sea level with the upper colder and drier air produced the visible evidence of the 'fog' around the turbines whilst at the same the sky beyond and the coastline itself remained perfectly clear.

But an interesting consideration is that this provides visible evidence that the interception of the wind over such a wide area must be taking a degree of energy from the wind that would otherwise add to eroding wave heights at the shoreline. This indicates a further potential environmental advantage of wind farm installations in that they may be helping to slow down the rate of loss of our disappearing coastline.

Pollution creating acid oceans

For the full story see the Guardian of the 17th February 2010

The world's oceans are becoming acidic at a faster rate than at any time in the last 65 million years, threatening marine life and food supplies across the globe, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Bristol looked at how levels of acid in the ocean have changed over history.

They found that as ocean acidification accelerated it caused mass extinctions at the bottom of the food chain that could threaten whole ecosystems in the future.

The rapid acidification today is being caused by the massive amount of carbon dioxide being pumped out by cars and factories every year, which is absorbed by the water. Since the industrial revolution acidity in the seas have increased by 30 per cent.

The last time such a fast change occurred is thought to be 65 million years ago, when some natural event caused ocean acidification and the dinosaurs died out.

The study looked at sediments from around 55 million years ago, when temperature rose by up to 6C and acidification was occurring at a similar rate as today.

British native oysters threatened by an underwater snail

Native oysters, considered to be one of the finest delicacies produced in Britain, are under threat from a vicious underwater snail called a tingle.

Stocks of the oysters have fallen to dangerously low levels around the Solent, an area that used to provide about half of all of Britain's home-grown oysters.

Fisherman and some shellfish experts have blamed the tingle, a tiny sea snail or whelk that bores a hole into the oysters and sucks out the flesh. They have given warning that the pests could spread from the Solent to Essex, or Cornwall, the two main oyster growing areas in Britain.

At its peak 20 years ago, the oyster winter season in the Solent was worth £2 million a year when about 160 boats collectively hauled in more than 1,500 tonnes — about half the British catch. But now fewer than ten boats trawl the oyster beds and the Solent produces no more than about 5 per cent of natives, according to the Shellfish Association of Great Britain. Terry Lankford, a shellfish merchant based in Hythe, said he was convinced the tingle was responsible for killing the oysters. "The industry will collapse unless we make some changes immediately. There will always be some oysters there, but it will become economically unviable for the fishermen to work" he said.

The length of the regulated oyster season was cut this winter from 11 weeks to just five, starting on November 2 and finishing on December 4. David Jarrard, assistant director of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain, said: "At the moment the tingle is a localised problem around the Solent, but all stocks could be affected if it spread down the south coast or around to Essex."

Other oyster experts pointed out that over-fishing and dredging of the seabed was equally to blame for the troubles of the industry.

Most seafood ecolabelling schemes are deficient says WWF

In a new report commissioned by WWF the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) comes out on top, but the report reveals poor performance among other assessed seafood ecolabelling schemes and calls for improvements across the board to strengthen their effectiveness.

Accenture's non-profit practice, Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP) compared and ranked seven fishery certification schemes that use ecolabels on seafood products against a set of WWF criteria that focus on the schemes' effectiveness in addressing the health of fisheries and oceans.

The MSC is ranked the highest in the ADP report, Assessment of On-Pack, Wild-Capture Seafood Sustainability Certification Programmes and Seafood Ecolabels, with a score of just over 95 percent compliance to the assessment's criteria requirements.

The report finds that except for the MSC, the other assessed schemes — Naturland, Friend of the Sea, Krav, AIDCP, Mel-Japan and Southern Rocklobster — do not evaluate fisheries across all criteria to the extent required to support sustainable fishing and healthy oceans.

"The findings of this assessment reveal serious inadequacies in a number of ecolabels and cast doubt on their overall contribution to effective fisheries management and sustainability." said Miguel Jorge, Director of WWF International's Marine Programme. While the assessment shows the MSC comes out best in class using the most rigorous programme out there, it is not perfect. Improvements are needed across the board to ensure all seafood ecolabels deliver on their promise."

The assessment points to significant differences in transparency, information availability, structure and accuracy of claims made by each scheme. Aside from the MSC, all other schemes assessed have substantial shortcomings in the area of transparency and information provision.

"The growth of seafood ecolabels over the last ten years attests to the strong demand from consumers and seafood companies who want seafood from better fisheries." added Jorge, WWF Director. "But with the proliferation of ecolabels and the variability of these schemes there is a real risk of confusion, or worse still a lack of confidence in seafood ecolabelling among buyers and consumers."

New UK licensing round for oil and gas exploration breaks acreage record

A Press Release from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced that a new round of offshore licensing will give a further boost to the UK's offshore oil and gas industries. For the first time since 1998, this round also offers blocks in all areas of the UK seas for new licensing.

The blocks offered include a number relinquished under the Government and industry's 'Fallow Initiative', which stimulates activity on blocks where there had been no significant activity for three years. The DECC Minister, Lord Hunt, said: "This record-breaking 26th Round includes areas of the Continental Shelf not as yet explored, and will provide a new boost to activity in the basin. The round will help to secure the future of the UK's oil and gas industry which still provides three quarters of our energy needs and some 350,000 jobs. Estimates suggest there are still around 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or possibly more, to be produced, and this latest licensing round will help ensure we realise this potential. As we make the transition to a low carbon future, we must ensure we have secure energy supplies by making the best use of our indigenous energy resources in a safe and environmentally sound way."

14 blocks that were classified as "fallow" in 2009 have either been fully, or partly, relinquished in time to be on offer in this round. In addition, the majority of areas licensed in the 1st Round in 1964 that have not been allowed extensions have been relinquished and are included for offer in the 26th Round.

The Government has also introduced a new Frontier licence with an extended nine year exploration term for the West of Scotland area, which aims to encourage oil and gas exploration in an area in which geological data is as yet scant. In deciding which areas to offer for licensing, DECC conducted a thorough Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of UK waters. DECC has accepted the SEA's recommendations that licensing may proceed subject to some areas being withheld from licensing for the moment due to lack of information.

Before any licence awards are made, an environmental assessment under the Habitats Directive will be carried out.

Fishermen and Natural England in talks over conservation off Dorset coast

Natural England has held the meeting in Lyme Regis to consult on plans to designate certain areas in Lyme Bay as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) to protect rare habitats and species.

Some fishermen boycotted what they said was a 'pointless' meeting because they believed the decision had already been made. But other worried sea users were eager to find out how the move might affect them.

Natural England's marine advisor Louisa Knights said: "It's an opportunity for all the stakeholders to see the proposals and ask questions. It's not a done deal, this is a consultation and that is one of the reasons we are having the meeting, to encourage people to feed into the consultation. But it's their decision if they don't want to come."

Harry May, who operates two deep sea and mackerel fishing boats out of Lyme, said: "I'm interested to see what's going on and if the plans affect me. I don't think they will, but you never know quite what the powers that be have plans for a few years down the line. They might bring in rules that will stop my kind of fishing, but I don't think they will at the moment."

The plans come just over a year after the Government closed around 60 square miles of the bay to scallop dredging and trawling, and it is those fishermen who it is feared will suffer the most. But Natural England said introducing the SACs would help repair the reefs damaged by trawling and dredging.

Static fisherman Angus Walker believes it is too early to tell if the original closure in 2008 has had any impact. "I had hoped what they had implemented to start with would remain until they had time to make a proper assessment if it was working," he said. "It's probably going to give us more sleepless nights."

Martyn White, from Seaton, is backing the proposals. He said: "I would like to see the fish numbers back to how it was 30 or 40 years ago. I wouldn't want to see the fishermen going out of business, especially the local guys, but I think it has been handled very carefully and with them in mind as well."

A retired static fisherman, who did not wish to be named, is eager to see the seabed in better condition but said imposing more restrictions would cause problems between fishermen. He said: "It will increase the amount of towed activity outside the box because they will all try and fish as close to the box as they can. The moment any static boys move outside the box they are at risk. You will get conflict between the towed gear and static boys."

Measures to protect the oceans from the dumping of rubbish have failed

Thousands of tons of rubbish are thrown into the sea each year, endangering humans and wildlife. The news service, Spiegel Online, reports that it has obtained a classified German government report which indicates that efforts by the United Nations and the European Union to clean up our oceans have failed entirely.

Since the world's oceans are so massive, few people seem to have a problem with dumping waste into them. But plastics degrade at very a slow rate, and huge amounts of them are sloshing around in our oceans. Wildlife consumes small pieces causing many of them to die, since the plastics are full of poisons. And, as experts warn, we've reached a point where it's even getting dangerous for humans to consume seafood.

Given these conditions, the international community has been pushing for four decades for massive bureaucratic efforts aimed at clearing the oceans of waste. In 1973, the United Nations sponsored a pact for protecting the oceans from dumping. Additional provisions have been added to the so-called Marpol Convention — short for "marine pollution" — on six different occasions. And nine years ago, the European Union put directives on the books that forbid any dumping of maritime waste into the ocean while in ports.

According to a classified German government strategy paper, if you add up all the good such measures have done, you still end up with zero. In fact, according to the confidential paper, international efforts aimed at protecting the oceans have failed across the board. Our oceans have devolved into vast garbage dumps.

Even strict laws have yet to do anything to help the oceans, the paper states. Take the case of the North and Baltic seas. Although dumping into them has been illegal since 1988, the amount of waste found in these seas has still "not improved." The German government also estimates that, each year, 20,000 tons of waste finds its way into the North Sea alone, primarily from ships and the fishing industry. The paper concludes that all related international agreements have been "unsuccessful".

Norway signs up to North Sea offshore supergrid

Norway is to participate in a joint initiative between nine EU countries on developing an offshore energy grid in the North Sea region. The initiative's idea is to link up wind farms in the region to address problems such as intermittence.

The Norwegians bring to the project a great potential for wind power, said Norwegian energy minister Terje Riis-Johansen. This potential is largely unexploited to date. Norway also has extensive experience in offshore construction.

Signatories to the North Sea declaration are Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. A strategic plan will be agreed at a high level meeting to be held in the second half of 2010. The goal of the cooperation is to coordinate the development of an offshore grid in the North Sea and connecting it with installations on the mainland. There are plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the continuing work on this initiative later in 2010.

New moves to ban oil transfers off the east coast

New legislation could soon be put in place to ban the controversial transfer of oil between ships anchored off the east coast.

For the last year, the sea between Lowestoft and Southwold has become a favoured site for tankers bringing oil from Russia to transfer their cargo to larger vessels, with up to 50 boats being moored offshore at a time.

Now the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has launched a six-week consultation on proposals to regulate the practice, which had raised concerns that any accident could lead to oil pollution ruining the region's coastline as the sea off north Suffolk is the only place in British waters where the transfers are still allowed.

Full article at EDP 10th February 2010

Fishermen's Response to pSPA

A well worded response to the Outer Thames (OT) Potential Special Protection Area (pSPA) Consultation by Fisherman Chris Wightman acting on behalf of the Anglian Fishermen's Association can be seen here.

European Justice and Dredging

Although the emphasis is on port dredging, the following European Court of Justice ruling on the application of The European Habitats Directive could have a decisive bearing on aggregate dredging and its impact of our offshore and coastal areas.

From 'Sand and Gravel News' of January 18th 2010 under 'Environmental Issues' comes this news that the European Court of Justice has upheld the thrust of an environmental directive aimed at conserving natural habitats across Europe.

The EU Habitats Directive, a conservation framework, includes the Natura 2000 network of protected sites. For the network, member states submit sites to the European Commission for conservation consideration. The port city of Papenburg feared that the environmental initiative might affect the Meyer-Werft, a shipyard on the Ems River in Lower Saxony. Despite having approved dredging there in 1994, Germany in 2006 submitted downriver areas for consideration under the Habitats Directive. Meyer-Werft specialises in building cruise liners, and the river must be specially dredged every time a deep ship navigates from the shipyard to the North Sea.

Papenburg sought to prevent the German government from agreeing to the European Union's placement of the area in the protected sites network, or an exemption to the requirement for an environmental assessment at the site if it did make the network.

The German court asked the European Union's high court to clarify when a member state may refuse to agree to a draft list of protected sites, and if pending Ems River dredging should be subject to an environmental assessment. The Court of Justice ruled that conservation objectives must direct the treatment of a proposed site; member states may only refuse their inclusion based on environmental grounds, and not for economic, social or regional reasons.

If the pending dredging, though approved before the EU directive, is distinct from other dredging projects on the river, it must undergo environmental review, the Court of Justice ruled, as that would likely affect the environment.

If the upcoming work is part of regular maintenance for the purpose of navigability, it could be considered a single project. If such a project was federally authorised before passage of the EU directive, no assessment would be required.

Any project proposed at a place on the list of protected sites must not cause harm to the natural habitats there. Once a site is listed, ecological risks must be assessed and avoided, the court concluded.

UK government to invest £22m in new marine energy technologies

Marine energy will be ready for mass scale deployment and an important new commercial UK industry by 2020 said the Carbon Trust as it announced that the six most promising technologies that will receive new funding to speed up the deployment of full scale prototypes of their leading designs.

The Carbon Trust announced that the six most promising technologies will be supported with £22m of new funding. Designed and managed by the Carbon Trust, the Marine Renewable Proving Fund (MRPF) uses new funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The MRPF marks a new level of commitment to developing wave and tidal technologies by helping the UK's most promising technologies to progress towards early stage deployment and accelerating the first commercial projects in UK waters.

The Carbon Trust has selected Atlantis Resources, Aquamarine Power, Hammerfest Strom UK, Marine Current Turbines, Pelamis Wave Power and Voith Hydro to receive support. Set against a shortage of funding in the sector, the new finance will bridge a funding-gap that was stifling progress, creating more certainly around the technical performance of each technology which will trigger increased confidence in the sector.

Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said: "The UK must urgently diversify, decarbonise and secure its energy sources and marine energy could over time provide up to 20% of the UK's electricity. Generating electricity from the UK's powerful wave and tidal resource not only plays a crucial role in meeting our climate change targets but also presents a significant economic opportunity for the UK. Wave alone presents a £2 billion economic opportunity for the UK. The demonstration of full scale devices at sea is central to realising the full potential of marine energy and getting the first commercial projects in the water is critical to 'de-risk' the technology and attract the necessary private sector investment. This is the start of major new industry that will generate jobs and wealth across the UK."

Carbon Trust analysis shows that 25% of the world's wave and tidal technologies are being developed in the UK. Marine energy is an emerging industry with massive growth potential and each successful technology is competing for a stake in what will be a major growth industry. All of the devices receiving MRPF funding will be deployed in UK waters, which will stimulate supply chain opportunities associated with construction and deployment of these technologies. Over 75% of the funding released through the MRPF will go to the UK supply chain.

URGENT — The Chagos Marine Reserve

Since last November, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has been running a consultation on a proposal to set up a marine reserve around the Chagos Islands. You can see the full document here.

Greenpeace and others are organising an on-line petition to persuade the FCO to set up a reserve. Instead of responding to the FCO consultation, you can go directly to http://protectchagos.org and simply sign up there. This petition has an endorsement from Professor Callum Roberts.

Two recent news stories add background to the issues. The Guardian on 27th January gives a gallery of images, and includes a piece by Tony Juniper, where he says "Protecting the Chagos archipelago is a rare opportunity for the UK to create a conservation area as important as the Galapagos islands or Great Barrier Reef". The story also makes clear that the consultation process has excluded the inhabitants of Diego Garcia, evicted by the British to make way for a US air base years ago.

However, The Times in an article on the 22nd January adds another twist, by pointing out that "A company belonging to the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser is opposing plans to create the world's biggest marine reserve. His company holds a government contract to manage fishing in the area, which would be banned if the reserve were created."

Major Norfolk Landowner concerns on our Coastline

Directors David Horton-Fawkes and Mark Little of the 6,100 hectare Holkham Estate in North Norfolk are expressing their 'real concerns' over the Shoreline Management Plan due to the serious impact that this would have on farmland and freshwater habitats of the protected Holkham National Nature Reserve.

They state in a letter that protection of farmland should be a higher priority, while assumptions relating to tidal effects should be revisited, writing "We have real concerns that a number of the parameters within which the SMP has been based are flawed. In particular, we are concerned that long-term records of marshland accretion and the impact of tidal forces in the area have been misinterpreted. Local knowledge indicates that some of the assumptions made will not be realised in practice."

The Holkham Estate letter says: "We are of the view that insufficient weight has been applied to the protection of agricultural land, with loss of such areas being disregarded within the cost/benefit analysis. This is particularly short-sighted in view of the future need for increased food supply and the associated food security issues" also pointing out that there is no indication as to what compensation would be available if the proposals become policy'

Water Companies face Legal Challenge over CSOs

Water companies have been accused of demanding a "licence to pollute" in a row over the control of sewage outfall systems. Campaigners are incensed that the wealthy firms are trying to wriggle out of Government orders to monitor thousands of overflow pipes that can be used as emergency outlets.

Six of the biggest water boards are launching a legal appeal against the Environment Agency which imposed restrictions on 4,193 overflows around Britain. The judicial hearing, which starts in Cardiff on 19th January 2010, is seen as a crucial test of will with ecologists and pressure groups concerned that the Agency will be outgunned by the water companies' financial firepower.

"What they are asking for is, effectively, a licence to pollute," said Thomas Bell, of the Marine Conservation Society, which has campaigned to clear up pollution from the outlets. These outlets are known as Combined Sewer Overflows, designed as a fail-safe when sewers flood. The conditions imposed were reasonable and for the water companies to appeal them en masse is ridiculous. They claim they are low-risk so if that is true they should have no problem with them being regulated. They are supposed to be used only in emergency conditions when the sewers are flooded but we are becoming increasingly concerned that they are being used as a regular means of sewage disposal.

Britain has a network of 22,000 CSOs providing relief to the nation's largely Victorian sewer system and the Environment Agency regulates the number of times they can be used, see MARINET report www.marinet.org.uk/ukbw/whitburncso.html.

The water industry has spent £2.5billion over the past 20 years rebuilding the most polluting overflows and water quality in rivers and coasts has improved. But campaigners believe that rogue CSOs still pose a threat to marine life and swimmers.

France and United States sign joint marine partnership

On 17th November 2009, the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) signed a partnership agreement with its newest international partner, France's Agence des aires marine protégées (AAMP).

The US and France have the two largest Exclusive Economic Zones in the world, and cooperation between the two nations on MPA work is a natural link and will yield significant marine resource protection in American and French waters around the world.

The agreement was signed by ONMS and AAMP representatives on Moorea Island at the recent Pacific Marine Managed Areas Conference.

The signing was celebrated with chants in Hawaiian and Tahitian, as well as an exchange of traditional Polynesian gifts between the ONMS's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument and representatives from various French Polynesian MPAs.

"We have enjoyed working with NOAA sanctuaries for a year now," said Christophe LeFebvre, AAMP's Coordinator for European and International Affairs, "and we are confident that the experience and capacity of the sanctuary program will help our MPA Agency achieve its ambitious goals."

"AAMP has been such a pleasure to work with," stated Elizabeth Moore, ONMS's Chief of Staff for International Activities. "They have demonstrated tremendous knowledge, enthusiasm, and professionalism, and we are very much looking forward to working together in the coming years."

The agreement provides for a five-year program of work between ONMS and AAMP, focusing on exchanges of experience and expertise in various realms of MPA designation and management, as well as partnering on major MPA projects.

The US will support France in its organisation of the Second International Marine Mammal Protected Area Conference (Guadaloupe, 2011) and the Third International Marine Protected Area Congress (Marseilles, 2013); ONMS organized the prior of each of these meetings in 2009 and have happily and confidently passed the torch to AAMP.

Separate projects will also be developed for the Pacific and Caribbean regions within the next year. Pacific projects are already being discussed and will include a series of exchanges between the Monument, Fagatele Bay NMS, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale NMS, and their partners, and their French Polynesian counterparts, focusing on traditional Polynesian culture and management methods, MPA experiences, and World Heritage co-operation. The first exchange is tentatively scheduled for summer of 2010 between Hawaii and the Marquesas.

MARINET observes: This exceptional and most encouraging act of international co-operation leads us to the question, will Britain join forces with Commonwealth countries to do the same? If Britain were to combine with Commonwealth countries, we could create the largest managed area of seas in the world, with enormous potential for restoring health and well-being back to our oceans. The chart below gives a glimpse of the scale of this joint British and Commonwealth enterprise:

The question is : Will the British Government and The Commonwealth Office take the initiative? Indeed, is this on the agenda for the UK Parliamentary election in 2010?

Burial at sea can create new reefs, suggests Dorset diver

An artificial reef made of concrete "bereavement balls" containing the cremated remains of the dead could bring new life to the Channel and help to revive an industry in decline. A 200m reef is planned for the Dorset coast, where the diving industry has slumped in the past few years. The intention is to build a structure that would provide a permanent memorial to the dead as well as a breeding ground for marine life that would attract divers back to the area.

The project has won the backing of the Environment Agency, which has pledged £10,000 towards the cost of a survey of 1 sq km of seabed off Ringstead Bay, between Weymouth and Lulworth Cove. The Crown Estate, which owns the seabed, has also given approval in principle, provided that a public body can be persuaded to take statutory responsibility for the project.

A non-profit company has been set up by local businesses. The project co-ordinator, Neville Copperthwaite, said that the Dorset dive industry had been hit by a "double whammy". Divers have been lured away by competition from the Scylla, a former warship scuttled near Plymouth, and put off by the closure, on safety grounds, of a Second World War wreck that was one of the area's most popular dive sites.

Mr Copperthwaite said: "In 2003 there were 24 dive charter boats operating in the area. Today there are just six. There used to be five or six dive shops. Now there is one. Divers have been attracted to the Scylla like iron filings to a magnet. The closure of the wreck of HMS Hood on safety grounds has not helped either. Hardly anyone one noticed what was going on because all the attention and funding has been focused on the 2012 Olympic sailing events, which will be taking place nearby."

The scheme will initially be aimed at the families of dead fishermen, divers and other seafarers. It would give them an appropriate send-off and a permanent underwater grave. The basketball-sized "bereavement balls", which are more of a dome shape, would be hollow and have a plaque with the name of the person whose remains they contain.

They would provide a home for lobsters, fish and other marine creatures, allowing new life to grow. Initial work on the reef is being funded by local businesses who have set up a company, Wreck to Reef, but ultimately it will be paid for by the families of the bereaved. Wreck to Reef has yet to reveal the likely cost of being buried at sea.

Mr Copperthwaite said: "A lot of people have their ashes scattered at sea but using this method they would always be in the same place so relatives can have somewhere to visit and pay their respects. We have been talking to staff at the Weymouth crematorium about how to market the project sensitively. We want to make sure that whatever we do it will be done with dignity. We have approached various undertakers and have received quite an enthusiastic response. Dorset is a seafaring county and scattering ashes at sea is very popular. The reef balls are made out of concrete, which will either be mixed with the ashes or a container holding the remains will be stored inside the ball. The ball will be lowered into the water and a diver will then place it on the bottom in order to build up the reef. The water there is 20m deep and it will take thousands of reef balls to build it up."

Members of Dorset County Council are being asked to decide next month whether the local authority will be the reef's statutory leaseholder. So far 22 business that will benefit from the reef, such as diving schools, hotels and restaurants, have signed up to the project and provided £25,000 for initial survey work. Southern Sea Fisheries has promised 6,000 baby lobsters in the hope that the reef will prove a vital restocking ground and support the commercial fishing industry. Derek Sargent, a member of the Weymouth Lifeboat crew, said: "It would be a nice resting place for the deceased and the families could remember where they put their loved ones."

The reef, which will be a mile out to sea, will be the first of its kind in Britain, although similar structures have been popular off the East Coast of America for the past 30 years.

Coral Reefs can recover from Climate Change damage if protected by marine reserves

A study by the University of Exeter provides the first evidence that coral reefs can recover from the devastating effects of climate change. The research shows for the first time that coral reefs located in marine reserves can recover from the impacts of global warming.

Scientists and environmentalists have warned that coral reefs may not be able to recover from the damage caused by climate change and that these unique environments could soon be lost forever. Now, this research adds weight to the argument that reducing levels of fishing is a viable way of protecting the world's most delicate aquatic ecosystems.

Increases in ocean surface water temperatures subject coral reefs to stresses that lead quickly to mass bleaching. The problem is intensified by ocean acidification, which is also caused by increased CO₂. This decreases the ability of corals to produce calcium carbonate (chalk), which is the material that reefs are made of.

Approximately 2% of the world's coral reefs are located within marine reserves, areas of the sea that are protected against potentially-damaging human activity, like dredging and fishing. The researchers conducted surveys of ten sites inside and outside marine reserves of the Bahamas over 2.5 years. These reefs have been severely damaged by bleaching and then by hurricane Frances in the summer of 2004. At the beginning of the study, the reefs had an average of 7% coral cover. By the end of the project, coral cover in marine protected areas had increased by an average of 19%, while reefs in non-reserve sites showed no recovery.

Professor Peter Mumby of the University of Exeter said: "Coral reefs are the largest living structures on Earth and are home to the highest biodiversity on the planet. As a result of climate change, the environment that has enabled coral reefs to thrive for hundreds of thousands of years is changing too quickly for reefs to adapt. In order to protect reefs in the long-term we need radical action to reduce CO2 emissions. However, our research shows that local action to reduce the effects of fishing can contribute meaningfully to the fate of reefs. The reserve allowed the number of parrotfishes to increase and because parrotfish eat seaweeds, the corals could grow freely without being swamped by weeds. As a result, reefs inside the park were showing recovery whereas those with more seaweed were not. This sort of evidence may help persuade governments to reduce the fishing of key herbivores like parrotfishes and help reefs cope with the inevitable threats posed by climate change".

Reef facts

The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is dedicated to conservation and restoration of living oceans and pledges to champion their preservation through research, education and a commitment to Science Without Borders®.

Norfolk fishermen boycott coast meeting

Fishermen are becoming progressively more angry as their living is being taken away from them by the unopposed destruction of the marine environment due to aggregate dredging and the imposition of exclusion zones caused by windfarm installations, cable routing and other impediments, this on top of fish quotas considered unnecessary.

As a result they are boycotting meetings planned by the government's 'Net Gain' and Natural England consulting those impacted by the marine conservation zones planned in and around The Wash, the first meeting of which was held at King's Lynn Town Hall on 18th January. This event followed the collapse of prosecutions said to cost a million pounds of taxpayers money made against two King's Lynn skippers, Lee Lake and Gregory Campbell, who were accused of dredging cockles on a sandbank closed to fishing.

It is difficult to envisage the vital mutual cooperation of the fishermen in establishing sustainable fishing and conserving the marine environment unless the vested authorities take into account and begin to understand the needs and livelihoods of the small dependent fishermen instead of just representing the vested interests of those huge commercial concerns that cause the main damage.

The emotive side of erosion

Billion Pound Sea Wall for Norfolk?

An ambitious idea for an enormous 27 mile long offshore protective sea wall enclosure extending from Great Yarmouth has been proposed by Mike Evans, Chairman of the Royal Yachting Association and current President of the Norfolk and Suffolk Boating Association, who also represents private boat owners on the Broads Authority.

The proposition is claimed to protect The Broads and low laying inland villages and communities, provide fresh water for irrigation and prevent salination of the inland waterways, create jobs and provide windfarm emplacement and further protect our shoreline, beaches and sand cliffs from further erosion. It is not unprecedented as major projects such as Holland's Flevoland was reclaimed from the sea together with the Dutch freshwater Islemeer, a 400-plus square mile shallow lake in the central Netherlands, both of which were once the saline inland Zuiderzee.

But The Netherlands has a very different attitude towards such forward planning, whilst in the UK the defeatist principle embodied by 'Managed Retreat' and permitting the continuity of offshore dredging is in vogue. Indeed it is this, as well as Britain's serious economic situation that may defeat the proposed project. The needed support and financial backing for such a strategy is highly unlikely in the UK's current economic climate and the continued government policy of aiding and backing continued erosion under the dictates of the 'Managed Retreat' and 'Shoreline Management Plan' policies are set in concrete at this time. Sadly, we do not live in Holland or coastal Europe with their progressive positive and protective policies, but suffer a negative and defeatist attitude from all the myopic bodies that have power over our disappearing coastline.

Furthermore, sea rise alone is a relatively minor component in the threat to our coastline, Broads and inland villages. We have a far greater and more meaningful threat, that of erosion due to huge seabed mining offshore. We currently have sea-level rise of 3.2mm per annum, this added to by 2mm of sinkage annually, giving an equivalent of a sea rise of 5.2mm per year. One would thus have expected an effective sea rise of (3.2 + 2) x 35 = 182mm, i.e. 18.2 cm over 35 the years since 1972 when east coast dredging began in earnest. This level could be slightly increased due to the degraded climate that is producing more erosive waves due to more frequent stronger and longer lasting northerly winds. On an average 1 in 20 beach slope the 35 year 18.2cm sea rise would have produced a sea incursion of the mean high tide mark of 18.2 cm x 20 = 3.64 metres, perhaps allowing that little more for the worsening climatic conditions of global warming. In fact the mean rate of approach has been between six and twenty times this, now with far deeper water offshore and waves right to the sea wall and dune front at many points along much of the East Anglian coastline.

So it is not so much that the sea has risen but that the beaches have dropped, so permitting the sea over them giving a far nearer mean tide mark. This has been brought about directly by the impact of government backed offshore aggregate dredging, as is given on this website under 'Marine Aggregate Dredging' to be found at www.marinet.org.uk/mad/madbrief.html and our treatise on Coastal Defences 'Why Canute Failed' to be seen by going to www.marinet.org.uk/coastaldefences/canute.html.

Between three and five metres of sand and shingle have been stripped from a massive area of the sea bed off the greater Great Yarmouth area. This correlates with the exposure and fracture of the Scroby Wind Turbine power feed cables, once trenched and covered three metres deep in the seabed, which were left exposed and dangling two metres above it following nearby seabed mining. Such underminement, as already evidenced by the base scour of the Winterton to Happisburgh concrete sea wall and the loss of our beaches, dunes and sand cliffs along the vast majority of the East Anglian coastline would undoubtedly come about to an even greater extent seriously undermining any wall built in even closer proximity to the dredging sites.

Thus, whilst we might well approve of the brave concept, we must fear that in practical terms there will be found not only little support but much opposition. The rewards to be gained by the dredging companies, the Crown Estate and the Treasury by the continuing release of aggregate supply from our beaches, dunes and sand cliffs act as a distinct impediment to any plan that prevents their demise.

The original 12th January '10 press article on the subject entitled "Could £1bn sea wall plan be the salvation of Norfolk?" can be read on the EDP24 website and you can take part in a web poll by going to the Anglia Afloat website by logging on to www.angliaafloat.co.uk.

Oilrigs should be used for homes in areas at risk of flooding, report says

Decommissioned North Sea oil platforms should be towed to the waterfronts of coastal cities at risk of flooding and converted into homes, shops and universities protected from rising sea levels, a study recommends.

Britain should not retreat from the waves but embrace them, adapting to climate change and consequent flooding by building new communities, either on stilts or floating platforms.

A team of senior architects, engineers and civil servants, appointed by the Royal Institute of British Architects and Institution of Civil Engineers, considered the options for responding to a 6ft 6in (2m) rise in sea levels by the end of the century.

More sea-derived energy — 'Neptune Proteus NP1000'

From 'The Engineer' of 11th January '10 comes this story by Siobham Wagner entitled 'Humber rides the Wave' of a demonstration of a new tidal-energy machine called 'Neptune Proteus NP1000' soon to be deployed in the Humber Estuary.

Proteus is a moored device built with a square-turbine cross section designed to work in shallow waters. It has patented flow-control shutters to maximise the area of water hitting the turbines, thus increasing torque and power output, designed to function efficiently, generating 30% more electricity per unit channel than circular turbines, generating at least 1,000MW total.

Latest figures published on radioactivity in food and the environment

The latest in the annual series of reports, Radioactivity in Food and the Environment for 2008 (RIFE-14), has been published by the UK government monitoring agencies. The monitoring assesses the exposure to the UK public from natural and man-made sources of radioactivity, and assesses levels experienced both in the environment generally and in food. The man-made sources of radioactivity include those resulting from discharges from nuclear installations (e.g. nuclear power stations and defence establishments) and the fall-out from Chernobyl.

For example, if one were to catch and eat seafood in the Morecambe Bay area (Heysham) throughout the year (2008), it is estimated by RIFE-14 that a person would experience an annual dose of radioactivity amounting to 0.042 mSv (milli-Sieverts), with 0.013 mSv of that dose arising from the seafood and 0.029 mSv arising from being in the intertidal area and handling fishing gear (e.g. 0.013 + 0.029 = 0.042 mSv). The annual dose limit of exposure for a member of the public (fisherman) is 1 mSv. This annual dose limit is set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection, www.icrp.org.

RIFE-14 reports that if a person were to eat 1 kilogramme of cockles picked during 2008 from Morecambe Bay (Flookburgh), then that 1 kilogramme of cockles would contain the following radioactivity (Note: 1 Becquerel is one radioactive disintegration/emission per second emitted from a radioactive element/radionuclide).

RIFE-14 monitors food in the marine, coastal and terrestrial environment, covering food from both the sea and farms. RIFE-14 also records the impact and presence of the fall-out from Chernobyl.

Public consultation on new nuclear power station at Bradwell, Essex

The Dept. for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has recently held a public consultation, involving a public meeting, at Maldon in Essex in order to consider the proposed new nuclear power station at Bradwell, sited on the coast of the Blackwater estuary, Essex. The full transcript of this public meeting, covering both the issues raised by the audience and the replies by DECC officers, may be read here as a pdf file, and it is still possible for the public to contribute to this public consultation by writing to energynpsconsultation@opm.co.uk

For further details about the campaign against a new nuclear power station at Bradwell, contact Mid Essex FOE (www.foe.co.uk/groups/midessex).

Lundy Island is first MCZ under new Marine Act

It has been announced by Natural England that Lundy Island, one of England's most spectacular marine habitats, has become England's first Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ).

The new Lundy Marine Conservation Zone will cover the same area as the former Marine Nature Reserve (and is being created by the automatic legal transition from MNR to MCZ). A timetable for developing conservation objectives, and for carrying out public consultation on them, is currently under consideration by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The existing management of the island's waters, including the No Take Zone, will remain in place unchanged.

The seas around Lundy are home to an impressive range of wildlife, such as grey seals, red band fish, crawfish and at least eight species of coral (which include pink sea fans, red sea fingers and sunset cup corals). Lundy is also the only place in the UK where five cup corals exist together. Its importance was recognised by its designation as a Marine Nature Reserve in 1986 and it was also designated as a Special Area of Conservation in 2000 in recognition of the significance of its special habitats, which include reefs, sea caves and sandbanks.

Lundy's designation accompanies a much wider project to identify and designate new MCZs elsewhere. Through an ambitious, nationwide initiative, the MCZ Project is inviting people who use and value the sea to recommend the locations of future MCZs. No other country in the world has attempted to engage so many people in developing plans for marine protection on such a large scale before.

There are currently four independent, stakeholder-led MCZ Projects — Balanced Seas (south-east), Finding Sanctuary (south-west), Irish Sea Conservation Zones (Irish Sea) and Net Gain (North Sea). Each regional project has a stakeholder group made up of representatives of sea users and interest groups, which will submit its recommendations for MCZs to Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) by June 2011. On receipt of these recommendations and any further advice provided by Natural England and JNCC, DEFRA will draft designation orders, and carry out a formal public consultation in early 2012. The aim is for DEFRA to complete the MCZ designations by December 2012.

10 new nuclear power stations proposed around English and Welsh coasts

The Government has approved 10 sites in England and Wales for new nuclear power stations, most of them on locations where there are already nuclear plants. In Scotland, where there are already two plants, the Scottish Government is saying that no new nuclear plants are needed.

The 10 sites deemed suitable for future nuclear plants are: Bradwell in Essex, Braystones, Kirksanton and Sellafield in Cumbria, Hartlepool in Cleveland, Heysham in Lancashire, Hinkley Point in Somerset, Oldbury in Gloucestershire, Sizewell in Suffolk and Wylfa in North Wales. The sites at Braystones and Kirksanton in Cumbria are in the locations where no nuclear plants exist at present.

These 10 new sites will now be considered for planning permission by the new national Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC). It is expected that the IPC will consider some of these planning applications within the next twelve months so that the first new nuclear power stations can become operational from 2018 onwards.

MARINET makes submission to EU Fisheries Reform public consultation

The EU has commenced a process which will lead to reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Up until now, the CFP has been determined by the Council of Ministers, with MEPs and the Parliament having no say in the matter. However, following the passing of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament is now a party in constitutional terms to the formulation of the Common Fisheries Policy. This means there there is now a wider democratic input, and the new Common Fisheries Policy will have to reflect the wishes of the European Parliament.

MARINET's submission to the European Commission has spelt out the issues very clearly, and has expressed concern that at present the Green Paper on CFP Reform appears neither to recognise fully the primacy of law over policy, nor the essential need for the reformed CFP to be firmly grounded in the ecosystem-based approach. Until both of these matters are fully incorporated into the CFP, any attempt at reform will fail and the serious decline in European commercial fish stocks (over 80% of commercial fish stocks are being overfished beyond their maximum sustainable yield, and 30% of these stocks are beyond their safe biological limit and thus in danger of permanent, irreversible collapse) will, disturbingly, remain unaddressed. The MARINET submission may be seen at www.marinet.org.uk/rocfp/greenpapersubmission.html.

Starfish and other marine animals are a major absorber of CO₂

Scientists publishing in ScienceDaily, 9th January 2010 believe that the impact on levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere by the decaying remains of a group of marine creatures that includes starfish and sea urchins has been significantly underestimated.

"Climate models must take this carbon sink into account," says Mario Lebrato, lead author of the study.

Globally, the seabed habitats occupy more than 300 million million square metres, from the intertidal flats and pools to the mightiest deep-sea trenches at 11,000 metres. The benthos — the animals living on and in the sediments — populate this vast ecosystem.

Calcifying organisms incorporate carbon directly from the seawater into their skeletons in the form of inorganic minerals such as calcium carbonate. This means that their bodies contain a substantial amount of inorganic carbon. When they die and sink, some of the inorganic carbon is remineralised, and much of it becomes buried in sediments, where it remains locked up indefinitely.

Lebrato and his colleagues provide the first estimation of the contributions of starfish, sea urchins, brittle stars, sea cucumbers and sea lilies — all kinds of echinoderm — to the calcium carbonate budget at the seabed. They estimate that the global production from all echinoderms is over a tenth (0.1) of a gigatonne of carbon per year — that is, more than a hundred thousand million kilograms.

This is less than the total biological production in the main water column, or pelagic zone, which scientists believe to be between around 0.6 and 1.8 gigatonnes of carbon per year. But echinoderms apparently deliver more carbon to the sediments than do forams, for example. These microscopic animals live in vast numbers in the oceans and are traditionally regarded along with coccolithophores (single-celled marine plants surrounded by calcium carbonate plates) as one of the biggest contributors to the flux of calcium carbonate from the sunlit surface waters to the ocean's interior — the so-called 'biological carbon pump'.

"Our research highlights the poor understanding of large-scale carbon processes associated with calcifying animals such as echinoderms and tackles some of the uncertainties in the oceanic calcium carbonate budget," says Lebrato: "The realisation that these creatures represent such a significant part of the ocean carbon sink needs to be taken into account in computer models of the biological pump and its effect on global climate."

There is a worry that ocean acidification due to increased carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels could reduce the amount of calcium carbonate incorporated into the skeletons of echinoderms and other calcifying organisms.

However, different echinoderm species respond to ocean acidification in different ways, and the effects of rising temperatures can be as significant as those of rising carbon dioxide. How this will affect the global carbon sink remains to be established.

Lebrato concludes: "The scientific community needs to reconsider the role of benthic processes in the marine calcium carbonate cycle. This is a crucial but understudied compartment of the global marine carbon cycle, which has been of key importance throughout Earth history and it is still at present."

The work was done by Mario Lebrato when he was at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) and affiliated with the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science (SOES); he is now at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Science in Germany.

The joint authors are: Mario Lebrato (NOCS/SOES), Debora Iglesias-Rodríguez (NOCS/SOES), Richard Feely (Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle), Dana Greeley (NOCS/SOES), Daniel Jones (NOCS), Nadia Suarez-Bosche (NOCS/SOES), Richard Lampitt (NOCS), Joan Cartes (Institut de Ciències del Mar de Barcelona), Darryl Green (NOCS) and Belinda Alker (NOCS).

Mega-windfarm coming to offshore Norfolk

Approval is imminent for a £100 billion investment into third-generation windfarms that will include 1,000 turbines to be placed by Scottish Power and Sweden's state-owned Vattenfall 15 miles off the Norfolk coast. But construction of the massive project may not start until 2018.

The wider story is told by Stephen Pullinger in the Eastern Daily Press of 5th January '10 in an article entitled 'Off-shore wind farm plan heralded as green power step change'.

Marine Conservation Society launches voting campaign for MCZs

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has launched a new campaign on their website which seeks to ask the public to identify and vote for those sites which merit marine protected area (MPA) status.

MCS has identified 73 sites around the coasts of the UK, mostly in inshore waters, which they believe merit conservation protection. The public can view these sites, and their particular conservation merits, by visiting www.yourseasyourvoice.com. The public are also asked to identify sites that are not listed by MCS.

The sites are organised by region (North East England, South East England, Southern England, Channel Isles, South West England, Wales, North West England & Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, West Scotland, East Scotland), and may be viewed overall on a UK map.

New Briefing Note on Ocean uptake of CO₂

The UK Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) has produced a Briefing Paper which covers all the issues relating to the uptake of CO₂ by the oceans, and assesses the current state of scientific knowledge.

It is estimated that the oceans remove about a quarter of the atmospheric CO₂ emissions due to human activities. However there is some doubt as to whether the oceans will continue to possess this removal capacity as sea temperatures rise due to global warming. Also of concern is the increased acidification of the oceans due to the increased levels of CO₂ that are being absorbed. It is feared that increased acidity will impact on those creatures, many of which are very small and at the base of the marine food chain, which possess calcium carbonate shells. These shells are at risk of being dissolved by increased seawater acidity.

London Array offshore windfarm to start construction in early 2011

Partners in the London Array offshore windfarm, Thames estuary, have signed contracts worth almost €2bn to cover the first phase of construction. Work to install the first 630 megawatts of generating capacity is scheduled to start in early 2011.

A contract worth around €1bn was signed in May 2009 and will see Siemens Wind Power supply 175 turbines. In December 2009 a further five contracts were awarded for the construction of undersea foundations, offshore substations and transmission cables.

If approved, a second phase of the project will add more capacity to bring the total to 1 gigawatt (GW), according to project partners DONG Energy, E.ON and Masdar. This would make the London Array the world's largest offshore wind farm.

Meanwhile British energy regulator Ofgem has announced a shortlist of six firms vying for contracts to connect nine other planned offshore wind farms to the mainland. The contracts are worth over €1bn. The winners will be announced in May 2010.

New Marine SACs and SPAs announced by Natural England and JNCC

In connection with a public consultation lasting until 26th February 2010, Natural England, in conjunction with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW), has announced that a new raft of marine Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas for wild birds (SPAs) are to be created under the Natura 2000 Habitats Regulations (EU Habitats Directive).

There are currently 81 SACs with marine components, covering 2% of the UK sea area. A list of the SACs and their qualifying marine features is available, see www.jncc.gov.uk/page-4658. 76 of these SACs are in inshore waters, 5 are in offshore waters. There are four marine habitats and four marine species present in UK waters offshore from the coast for which the European Commission has stated that SACs may be designated.

The offshore marine SACs are being identified by the UK Government in conjunction with their legal commitment under the OSPAR Convention (www.ospar.org) to create an ecologically coherent network of marine reserves by 2010. For the exact location of the existing and proposed UK marine SACs, see www.jncc.gov.uk/page-1455.

MARINET welcomes these new additions to the UK marine SAC and SPA network, both inshore and offshore. They are an essential improvement on the marine conservation network. However, these new and existing sites are entirely linked to the European Habitats Directive (four types of habitat: Sandbanks which are slightly covered by seawater all the time; Reefs; Submarine structures made by leaking gases; Submerged or partially submerged sea caves ) and take no account of the vast number of other types of marine habitat that exist, all of which are important and many of which are being severely damaged.

Therefore MARINET observes that it cannot be said by the UK Government that these new and existing marine SAC sites are representative of the marine ecosystem as a whole — a key characteristic required by the OSPAR Convention comittment to create an ecologically coherent network of marine reserves by 2010. In addition, it is not clear either how these new and existing marine SAC reserves are linked to each other in any coherent ecological manner to sustain the four different marine ecosystems which they are protecting.

Further, MARINET observes that none of these marine SACs are focused on fish species and commercial fish stocks which are under very severe pressure in all UK seas. MARINET observes that a network of marine SACs which takes no account of fish species and fish stocks — a key, dominant feature of the whole marine ecosystem — simply cannot be said to comply with the UK Government's OSPAR Convention commitment to create an ecologically coherent network of marine reserves by 2010.

Thus, whilst MARINET welcomes these new SACs and SPAs, it advises that we must be under no illusion as to the serious shortcomings that these actions represent when considering the urgent need to be creating and ecologically coherent network of marine reserves in order to protect the marine ecosystem as a whole throughout UK seas. These recently announced actions to create new SACs and SPAs fall woefully short of the real action which is required. Over 80% of European commercial fish stocks are being overfished at the present time, and 30% beyond their safe biological limit (see CFP Reform Green Paper).

Vulnerability of Sizewell

Despite our earlier warnings, the risk of erosion is now heightened at the Suffolk Sizewell nuclear power station plant as the government has given permission for further aggregate dredging offshore. See items on this concern at www.marinet.org.uk/mad.html.

It needs to be asked if the authorities are aware of Chapter 22 of Agenda 21 from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, adopted in 1992, a binding legal agreement which reaffirms the paramount importance of the safe and environmentally sound management of radioactive waste. This is a relevant Joint Convention legal document regarding consultation on Nuclear Power Stations and Justification. (see #32 of the DECC Document "The arrangements for the management and disposal of waste from new nuclear power stations: a summary of evidence" November 2009)

Section (c) states:
(that states should) "Not promote or allow the storage or disposal of high-level, intermediate-level and low-level radioactive wastes near the marine environment unless they determine that scientific evidence, consistent with the applicable internationally agreed principles and guidelines, shows that such storage or disposal poses no unacceptable risk to people and the marine environment or does not interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea, making, in the process of consideration, appropriate use of the concept of the precautionary approach".

Correspondence with Anne McIntosh

MARINET wrote to Anne McIntosh, who has been Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs since 8th September 2009, to express our concern of the ongoing impasse regarding continuing Offshore Aggregate Dredging. She in turn wrote to Huw Irranca Davies who is the existing Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in DEFRA.

The Ministers reply to her consisted of the usual output as regards dredging as seen earlier on our website, so a follow-up was sent to Anne McIntosh to cover our response to the content, some quotes and points of which our members might find useful when dealing with the matter.

Threatened Coast Dweller refuses 'handout'

A brave 65 year old lady who's three bedroom bungalow is now only a few metres from the eroding cliff face at Happisburgh has stated emphatically that she will refuse to vacate her home and will not take the thousands of pounds compensation offered to have it compulsory demolished.

She feels that it would be totally immoral of her to take any money at all, and says "I am worried that while the compensation issue is being fought, the idea of preserving the coastline, which I think is very important, is being lost."

Starfish Deaths

Mass grave: More than 10,000 starfish died after a storm washed them onto Norfolk's Holkham beach

In the first few days of December '09 many tens of thousands of starfish, some alive, many damaged, but mostly dead, along with much shellfish debris, were washed up along a wide stretch of the north and north-west Norfolk coastline. The strong southerly gales had brought about a shorebound undertow bringing the corpses in to litter the beaches.

The knowledgeable mussel fishermen of the area were quick to blame Offshore Aggregate Dredging, whilst others blame the mussel fishermen themselves for scraping the seabed for mussels.

An Anglia TV video showing the carnage strewn along on just one Norfolk beach can be seen by going to: www.itv.com/anglia/starfishgraveyard15831 … whilst The Daily Mail reports the issue here.

Fuel from the seabed

Possible undersea coal burning scheme off Norfolk to provide synthetic gas fuel.

Rohan Courtney, who is Chairman of 'Clean Coal', a British-American company with a degree of expertise in Clean Coal Technology (CCT) and Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) speaks of plans to reintroduce that methodology by gently burning coal deposits under the seabed of North and North-East Norfolk and other UK coastal areas to produce a synthetic fuel gas that could be scrubbed and piped to customers. They are later seeking to develop other projects in Europe, Asia and North America.
The UCG system involves pumping a mixture of water and either air or oxygen into a coal seam, which is then ignited and gently burned to produce diesel fuel that can be used for transport, heating, aircraft fuels, fuel for power stations and even the basis for plastics and fertilizers. The technique was first invented by a canny Scotsman in Durham over one-hundred years ago. It was employed in the USSR in the 1970's, but has never been developed or used since until now, apart from in Australia. But now advances in drilling technology, depletion of coal and oil resources and rising gas and oil prices have brought about a revival here in the UK

The Government estimates that there are 50 billion tonnes of un-mineable coal reserves off and onshore, and that the five mentioned sites could provide one billion tonnes, enough to provide 5% of the nation's energy needs. The result is that undersea coal seams in offshore areas between Overstrand and Happisburgh (near Cromer), off Grimsby, Sunderland, Swansea and Dumfriesshire in Scotland will be initially explored using seismic survey techniques by the Clean Coal company to see if they are commercially viable, with the results known in about one years time from now. The site off Cromer is one of the five that have just been given licences for test drilling commencing in 2010, along with a prior public meeting to explain the project.

In order to prepare a dossier for consultation at the coming public meeting, which Pat Gowen will attend o.b.o. MARINET and the NSAG, your comments, ideas, backing or criticisms of the plan are invited. Please send by e-mail to pat@marinet.co.uk or to pat.gowen@ntlworld.com.

Sea Drop?

BBC News Online's correspondent Damian Carrington reports a US geologist as stating that Global warming can lead to a dramatic fall in sea level:

This suggestion is the very opposite of the generally expected effect of rising temperature. And while he says that this is unlikely to happen in the near future, Dr John Bratton of the US Geological Survey says the process behind it could offset the sea level rises which are predicted to flood so many low-lying areas of the world. It could also explain mysterious plunges in sea level in warmer periods in the Earth's geological past.

The sea level drops could be caused by the melting of clathrates. These are sea-floor crystals of water ice and gases such as methane. When the crystals melt, the gas bubbles away to the surface and other gases trapped in the ocean sediments below could also be released. In the worst circumstances, the 'hole' left behind could result in a sea level drop of 25 metres but Dr Bratton told BBC News Online that his more conservative estimates suggest a drop of up to 1.5m.

"Any temperature rise will start to melt clathrate," he says. "The apparent massive hydrate melting about 60 million years ago was triggered by an increase in bottom water temperatures of about four degrees centigrade. Therefore, it appears that the process could get going with an increase of even one or two degrees, especially in the polar regions where gas hydrate is abundant". He reports that such is quite possible. but any actual drop in sea level would be countered by the simultaneous melting of the Earth's polar ice caps. The rising temperatures would also cause ocean waters to expand. Dr Bratton goes on to say that the predicted drop resulting from clathrate melting "is of the same order of magnitude as those associated with thermal expansion of the oceans, melting of non-polar ice and melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet."

If correct, this could be good news for threatened coastal areas, but, Dr Bratton warns that the release of methane, a greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere could itself have a significant effect in driving further climate warming. When asked if this is a worry, Dr Bratton says: "Yes, definitely, although not everyone agrees the effect would be that significant relative to anthropogenic forcing by carbon dioxide emissions. Almost everyone agrees that hydrates melt when climate warms. The debate is now about whether hydrates may actually drive natural climate warming or whether they just go along for the ride."

Dr Bratton's research is published in the journal Geology, so should not automatically be taken as being part of the conspiracy to dismiss global warming and attempting to debunk the results of reputable climatologists world-wide.

The full BBC report may be seen here.

Concern grows over oil storage tankers in UK coastal waters

Concern is growing over the number of oil tankers moored offshore. These tankers, which are essentially acting as offshore storage tanks, are being used in a monetary game of speculation involving the future selling price of oil in the UK. Concern arises out of the fear that these storage tankers could either come to grief in bad weather or, in the case of those tankers moored off the Suffolk coast where ship to ship transfer of oil is permitted, the possibility of an accident that leads to oil pollution of the coast.

We record below the news item printed in the Daily Mail in November and covered also by the online news service Sea Rates www.searates.com/news/4885.

"More than 50 oil tankers are anchored off Britain — pieces in a game in which the only winners are market speculators. The losers are the millions of British motorists paying over the odds for their petrol and diesel. After yesterday's report in the Daily Mail on how several so-called 'oil shark' tankers were moored near the Devon coast, dozens more vessels were revealed to be loitering off-shore.

"Some are carrying aircraft fuel or fuel for homes. Others are empty, waiting to be restocked before setting off around the globe. But according to industry experts, a significant number are 'oil sharks' — tankers that have been cynically told to wait for crude prices to be driven up before they unload their cargo. With values soaring on the international markets, fuel made from their oil is unlikely to appear on a petrol station forecourt any day soon.

"Paul Watters of the AA said: 'Tankers are off the UK coast and also off the U.S. They are acting as storage tanks. As always, motorists are the victims in this. They are at the end of the food chain.'

"The Daily Mail has learnt that 54 tankers are anchored around the British Isles. Six are off the Essex and Kent coasts, five are moored in Lyme Bay, while four are lurking next to the Isle of Wight. But the biggest fleet — around 30 ships — lies around ten miles from Southwold, Suffolk in the only waters around the UK where ship-to-ship transfers of oil are allowed. They come from as far afield as Malaysia, Liberia and Singapore — and include 1,000ft vessels capable of carrying more than 300,000 tons of oil.

"Southwold Tory councillor Simon Tobin said: 'There have been ship-to-ship transfers of oil going on off the coast here for around 15 years. But there began to be a huge increase in the number of these tankers around seven months ago. We are massively concerned. These tankers are treating the coast like a car park while they wait for the right time to take their oil to shore. There is nothing to stop them staying here as long as they like. There might be a catastrophic oil spillage which could ruin our beautiful coastline.'

"Small tankers bringing oil from Russia often use the spot to transfer their cargo to larger vessels. Others drop anchor there while waiting for business because it is cheaper than tying up in a port. The price of a barrel of oil has risen from $40 to $80 over the last year. It is expected to soar even further over the next few months as the world eases its way out of recession and demand rises.

"The supply of oil is strictly controlled by producers and owners — to ensure that prices remain as high as possible. In the course of its journey from wells to the refineries, a barrel of oil may be bought and sold by different traders many times on the international markets.

Source: Daily Mail 20 November 2009, and Sea Rates www.searates.com/news/4885.

Comment on the Westminster Offshore Dredging Debate

The much heralded Parliamentary debate on Offshore Dredging (see 'Graham Stuart MP has HoC debate on off-shore dredging' in our Latest News at www.marinet.org.uk/latestnews.html#gsmh) duly took place from 1.29 - 2.00 pm on Tuesday 1st December '09 at Westminster Hall. It was responded to by the DEFRA Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies and was attended by Great Yarmouth MP Tony Wright, but surprisingly not by Lowestoft's Bob Blizzard, North Norfolk's Norman Lamb, Suffolk Coastal's John Gummer, nor a number of other coastal constituency MPs who could and should have involved themselves in this major threat to the inhabitants they are supposed to represent.

MARINET was mentioned and quoted eight times in the space of 29 minutes (without the prefix of an explicative at that) which must be an all time record. It was further claimed by the Minister that he had "met MARINET representatives regularly about a range of issues" — yet the two requests by Pat Gowen to meet that Minister were both declined.

The entire half-hour transcription is to be found under 'Offshore Dredging' in the House of Commons Official Report Vol.501 No.8 on page 103, this some half way down the pages that may be read by going to www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmhansrd/chan8.pdf.

"We do not contest the fact that poorly managed aggregate extraction from the marine environment could cause a range of physical impacts, which may ultimately contribute to coastal erosion. That is why all marine mineral dredging applications are required to assess by way of a coastal impact study the physical effects of the proposed operation and its implications for erosion"

"Modelling and field studies on the impact of individual offshore dredging licences, and their cumulative impacts, have concluded that UK offshore dredging has not contributed to coastal erosion."

… can be seen as an admittance that, despite the vital need of this measure already expressed by a number of astute scientific bodies, no empirical research has ever been put in place to back up the assumed simulative computer modelling by those performing the studies on behalf of and rewarded by the dredging companies.

To conclude that UK offshore dredging has not contributed to coastal erosion is purely an over-optimistic assumptive hope. To prove or disprove this hypothetical claim we would need see the institution of post dredging studies, because several years can result before beach draw down results, as to seen in the 'Correlations of Offshore Dredging levels with Coastal Losses' graph at the end of our briefing on this topic at www.marinet.org.uk/mad/madbrief.html.

Furthermore we would need the backing evidence of practical findings such as tracking the transport of labelled sand and gravel from the shoreline, beaches, dunes and sand cliffs to the dredged areas, which have never been attempted by those determining the post-dredging erosive impact, apart from the study instituted by Blackpool Council, who discovered that the sand being lost to their beach was going into the holds of the dredgers. (See AODA Report at www.marinet.org.uk/mad/objection/reapat1aoda.pdf)

These questions are currently not being considered by the MAREA study, despite our repeated requests that they be so.

And one other point — it was openly admitted that they take no heed of distance from the shoreline nor of the water of depth when granting licences. But we know from previous research that even at the current depth and beyond there is still considerable sediment movement, especially off the East Anglian coast where the tides are so strong, and even greater in surges. Many items lost on the beach have much later been trawled up by fishermen around the dredging areas.

Unless they have repealed Isaac Newton's Laws of gravity, the government Minister should recognise that we are fully aware (as given in the 'Sandpit Report' see www.marinet.org.uk/mad/sandpit.html) that any mobile material migrates from a high point to a lower, the lower points in this case being the evacuated pits left following dredging. These evacuated sea bed areas exist over vast areas off our coastlines. They are between three and five metres deep, but slowly filling.

The basic report on the replies and comments given by Huw Irranca-Davies would be 'Could do better' — much better in fact.

Norfolk and Suffolk Local Authorities Secure nearly 50% of National Fund Allocated to Manage Coastal Erosion

East Anglian local authorities North Norfolk, Waveney & Great Yarmouth have been awarded a total of £5m of a national fund of £11m allocated to address the penalties imposed upon those living by the coastline from accelerated erosion.
North Norfolk has been given £3m, Waveney £1.5m and Great Yarmouth £296.500, these authorities now have 18 months to spend these grants in this pilot study project.
The money will be used for compensation for people in selected areas who lose their homes to coastal erosion, or for government purchase and lease back options for threatened homes, relocating communities and coastal defence measures.
The selected Authorities will act as pathfinders for the UK government to test a range of measures and feed back lessons learnt to the government.

This is the first positive move by the Environment Agency/Government towards recognition of the problem created by accelerated coastal erosion along the Norfolk and Suffolk coastline since the introduction of the do nothing Shoreline Management Plan (SMP 3b) in 2005.
Although I (as many others) have campaigned that the EA/Government should provide adequate sea defences for all at risk areas instead of compensation, by introducing this part compensation and other measures pathfinder study grant they (the government) are finally admitting that we have a problem and it is great news that our three local authorities (North Norfolk, Waveney & Great Yarmouth) have been selected to receive a significant portion of these pathfinder grants.

It is morally correct that the government should compensate people who lose their homes if they do not provide or do not allow them to provide sea defences, and this is an encouraging first move by the government (their admission finally that we have a problem and that there must be a cause) — but we need to point out:
Although we are thankful for these pathfinder study grants and the governments final recognition of this problem we still need SMP3b amended from its policy of no active intervention or managed retreat for the majority of areas to a policy of full sea defence protection for all at risk areas.

We also recommend that these grants are spent on actual sea defence projects — not frittered away (as previous grants) on further reports by "so called experts" who are only lining their own pockets.

We also suggest that part of each Authority's grant should provide for an independent study (which is not part funded by the offshore dredging companies) on the affects of Offshore Aggregate dredging along the adjacent coastlines — as historic events, studies and evidence point to the removal of seabed material over large areas being the major contributory cause of our accelerated coastal erosion.

Ocean acidification rates pose disaster for marine life, major study shows

Report launched from leading marine scientists at Copenhagen summit shows seas absorbing dangerous levels of CO₂

The world's oceans are becoming acidic at a faster rate than at any time in the last 55m years, threatening disaster for marine life and food supplies across the globe, delegates at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen have been warned.

A report by more than 100 of Europe's leading marine scientists, released at the climate talks this morning, states that the seas are absorbing dangerous levels of carbon dioxide as a direct result of human activity. This is already affecting marine species, for example by interfering with whale navigation and depleting planktonic species at the base of the food chain.

Ocean acidification — the facts says that acidity in the seas has increased 30% since the start of the industrial revolution. Many of the effects of this acidification are already irreversible and are expected to accelerate, according to the scientists.

The study, which is a massive review of existing scientific studies, warns that if CO₂ emissions continue unchecked many key parts of the marine environment — particularly coral reefs and the algae and plankton which are essential for fish such as herring and salmon — will be "severely affected" by 2050, leading to the extinction of some species.

IUCN urges politicians to recognise the importance of oceans in climate change

Failure to recognize the ocean in climate change discussions will have profound consequences for humanity, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in a report published 10th November 2009 and titled The Ocean and Climate Change — Tools and Guidelines for Action

The report has been published to help decision-makers understand the importance of the ocean in the global climate debate, and provides a comprehensive view of the mitigation and adaptation strategies available, as well as a clear set of action recommendations.

"Maintaining biodiversity and restoring degraded ecosystems are cost-effective strategies for disaster risk reduction and will help poor communities adapt to climate change while ensuring the continued provision of vital services," says Dorothée Herr, lead author of the report and IUCN's Global Marine Program Officer.

The ocean is the earth's most significant global heat buffer, and absorbs up to one third of the CO₂ released by human activities. The ocean covers over seventy percent of our planet's surface yet much less than one percent of the ocean is effectively protected. Marine ecosystems such as salt marshes, coral reefs and mangroves are among the most vulnerable to climate change, with millions of people relying on them for food, protection, tourism and development.

The report urges global leaders to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions and to set reduction targets based on the latest science on ocean acidification and marine ecosystems. The report welcomes the development of sustainable marine renewable energy sources and promotes the use of coastal ecosystems as natural carbon sinks. The report however also carries an important warning to world leaders:

"We should explore all possible ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," says Carl Gustaf Lundin, Head of IUCN Global Marine Programme. "But proposed actions such as ocean fertilization to increase carbon capture and storage need to be approached with caution as the possible impacts on the atmosphere and marine biodiversity may be severe and have not been fully evaluated."

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