ENVIRONMENT DAY:
Oceans Shipwrecked by Pollution and Indifference

Gustavo González


SANTIAGO,  (IPS) - It is virtually irrelevant for the United Nations to dedicate World Environment Day this year to the conservation of the world's seas and oceans, because there is no real awareness of the severity of pollution and over-fishing, environmental activist Marcel Claude told IPS.

Claude, vice-president of Oceana South America-Antarctica, based in the Chilean capital, said the U.N. decision was a step in the right direction, but is no more than an chance to momentarily place the plundering of ocean resources, which few seem to care about, on the global agenda.

''There is no real presence of the issue in the media, government agendas, or scientific research in the universities,'' said the economist, who specialises in the environment and development.

''Wanted! Seas and Oceans: Dead or Alive?'' is the theme of this year's World Environment Day, commemorated on Jun. 5

''The world's seas and oceans are becoming increasingly tainted by untreated waste water, airborne pollution, industrial effluent and silt from inadequately managed watersheds,'' said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a statement issued ahead of World Environment Day.

''Marine litter is killing up to a million seabirds and 100,000 sea mammals and turtles each year,'' he added. ''With more than 40 percent of the human population already living within 60 kilometres of a coast, and the proportion growing, these problems are likely only to increase.''

According to U.N. studies, 70 percent of marine species are over-exploited. That proportion is also seen in the waters around Latin America, although in Chile in particular, Oceana believes that 95 percent of species are in a critical condition, said Claude.

''The pollution of the oceans by oil spills, mercury and persistent organic pollutants is steadily increasing, and humanity, people, are not fully aware of that,'' said the expert.

In a new report, Oceana underlines the need for urgent action to prevent the continued dwindling of the population of 70 percent of all fish species, which are threatened by overfishing.

The report also states that nearly 60 percent of the world's coral reefs are endangered by destructive fishing practices, while of the 126 species of marine mammals, 88 are included on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List of threatened species.

Industrial fishing practices are the biggest culprits of predatory fishing.

''Drag fishing amounts to the veritable 'logging' of the ocean floor,'' Claude told IPS, referring to the technique by which heavily weighted nets are dragged along the ocean floor, pulling in fish and other animal and plant species, while destroying everything in their path, including coral reefs.

The bycatch, which includes large volumes of fish that are discarded because they are too small or have no commercial value, leads to the annual global loss of around 20 million tons of fish -- or a full 25 percent of the total global catch.

According to Claude, in Chile the bycatch can amount to as much as 80 percent of what is caught in the nets, and especially involves species like jurel (Caranx chrysos), Spanish sardine (Sardinella aurita), and anchovy (Engraulis ringens).

But industrial fishing is not the only threat to the seas. In addition to oil spills and other pollutants is the contamination generated by the tourism industry's cruise ships and ocean-liners, also dubbed ''floating cities''.

In six years the number of people travelling along the Chilean coastline aboard cruise ships has increased 500 percent, turning this tourist industry into a "critical environmental problem" because the preferred disembarkation points are in Patagonia and Antarctica -- which also happen to have the most pristine waters and most fragile ecosystems.

"A typical cruise ship generates around six tons of garbage a day, 114,000 litres of sewage, 965,000 litres of dirty water from showers, sinks, washing machines, bathrooms and kitchens, 57 litres of toxic waste from photo developing, dry cleaning and painting, and diesel emissions equal to 12,000 automobiles," according to Oceana.

The campaign carried out by Greenpeace, Oceana and other environmental groups against the trans-Atlantic cruises achieved some success this year, as the Royal Caribbean company installed sewerage treatment systems on all its ships and they are to be monitored regularly.

But to activists, positive steps like this might seem barely a drop in the ocean, so to speak.

For Claude and other defenders of the sea it is not a matter of only protecting ecological balance, but also of insuring sustainable use of marine resources for their contribution to the human food supply.

In this sense, support and encouragement for smaller fishing operations does not mean only focussing on what many countries identify as lower socio-economic sectors, but implies rational economic and environmental efforts in a context of sustainability, he said.

The Oceana vice-president told IPS that in Chile's case, with its 4,500 km of coastline, fisherfolk have access to just 20 percent of the catch quotas, while the remaining 80 percent is assigned to four big business groups.

"In Chile the fishing legislation is not in keeping with the free market, which ensures fair competition. Instead it protects those who pillage instead of supporting those who can carry out sustainable exploitation of the resources and contribute to resolving food shortages," said Claude.