Information & Meetings
	Conferences & Events
	Vacancy

Organisations
	New hyperlinks

Environment
	Wildlife Trusts assessed damage to UK coastal and marine ecosystems
	Virus outbreak kills considerable numbers of Common seal

Development & Trends
	First CO2 ocean dumping experiment planned off Norwegian coast
	Worldwatch Institutes notices some positive "Vital Signs"

Policy
	UK offshore Natura 2000 pages launched on JNCC Website
	Trilateral Wadden Sea Forum meets for the first time

Events recently announded

Vacancy

Staff Vacancies at HR Wallingford HR

Wallingford is one of the leading organisations in specialist consultancy and research in civil engineering and environmental hydraulics. Vacancies for high calibre engineers and scientists:

• Principal Metocean Scientist, Hydrodynamics and Metocean Group: An experienced scientist is required to develop further capabilities in metocean design and operation, with a particular focus on the Oil and Gas Industry and Marine Renewable Energy projects;
• Principal/Senior Environmental Manager, Ports Estuaries and Industry Department: An experienced environmental engineer/manager with a strong track record in industrial water projects is required to develop further business in assessment and appraisal of the consequences on the water environment of engineering developments;
• Senior Numerical Modeller, Hydrodynamics and Metocean Group: An experienced numerical modeller is required to join a team specialising in the application and development of numerical models to civil engineering and environmental hydraulics projects.

Applications, stating clearly which vacancy is of interest, with full CV either in writing or by e-mail (kat@hrwallingford.co.uk) to Kim Taylor, Personnel Manager, HR Wallingford, Howbery Park, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BA, UK.
Closing date 16 August 2002.
For more information on HR Wallingford http://www.hrwallingford.co.uk.

New hyperlinks

The MARSAIS Project
http://marsais.ucc.ie
Funded under the Fifth (EC) RTD Framework Programme (1998-2002), aims to design and implement a prototype generic Marine Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Analysis and Interpretation System suitable for application in the coastal zone.

Wildlife Trusts assessed damage to UK coastal and marine ecosystems

The Wildlife Trusts, a partnership of the 47 county trusts which work and campaign for wildlife protection across the UK, has issued the report "Our Dying Seas?". It takes stock of the state of the coastal and marine environment of the British Isles and identifies the main driving forces. 100 hectares of salt marsh are lost annually in southern and eastern England to coastal development and erosion, destroying habitat for migrating birds and fish. Climate change and coastal development place further pressure on the coastal zone. Salmon farming in Scotland produces 7500 tonnes of nitrogen and 1240 tonnes of phosphorus annually, more than Scotland's human population. While cod is rated commercially extinct due to overfishing and the mackarel soon to follow suite, high fishing pressure on other species like the sandeel, on which many food fish and wild species depend, is depleting marine life. The once vast horse mussel colonies on the seabed that formed a vital habitat for a wide diversity of species have been almost irreparably damaged by commercial dredging for queen scallops. Fishing for bass in the western English Channel by trawlers operating in pairs is killing considerable numbers of common dolphins, while the use of monofilament gill nets by inshore fishermen may have created a direct conflict with species such as the bottlenose dolphin, a species on the brink of extinction in UK waters. The introduction of "rockhopper" trawls, spring-loaded nets able to cope with previously undisturbed reef areas, damage the habitat of rare species like the pink seafan and the sunset coral. The report can be downloaded from http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/marineappeal/dyingseas.pdf

Virus outbreak kills considerable numbers of Common seal

Since the new outbreak of the seal visrus (phocine distemper virus, pdv) in Danish waters this spring ca. 2,190 dead Common seals have been reported dead in the Danish and Swedish Kattegat/Skagerrak area 26 July. According to first dead seals found in the Norwegian Oslofjord, it is assumed that the Norwegian coast near the Swedish border is also affected by the pdv virus. By mid June the virus also reached the Dutch Wadden Sea, where so far 124 Common seals and two Grey seals have been found dead. This is reported by the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS). The CWSS also reports that in other areas, such as the Baltic, other Danish areas as well as the Danish and German Wadden Sea, there is no information regarding unusual mortality of seals. Seals under suspicion of the pdv disease are being investigated in all parts of the Wadden Sea, and, thus far, besides in the Dutch part, there have been no positive pdv result in the Wadden Sea. Various seal experts expect that the number of casualties will be much lower than during the dramatic 1998 outbreak. They see no immediate need for action, while infected seals can not be taken up in seal centers anyway. However, the Dutch seal crèche at Pieterburen launched a fund raising campaign among the public.
Further details are published on the CWSS homepage: http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org
See the Coastal Guide to Europe http://www.coastalguide.to/fauna/ for general information about Common seal and Grey seal.

First CO2 ocean dumping experiment planned off Norwegian coast

A consortium of research institutions from Norway, Japan, Australia, the USA and Canada are proposing to undertake the first large scale CO2 ocean dumping experiment from late July to early August. 5,4 tonnes of liquid carbon dioxide will be dumped at 800 m depth in the Norwegian Sea. Greenpeace Norway and several other environmental organisations oppose the project, claiming that it bears a high ecological risk and violates London and OSPAR Conventions.

Worldwatch Institutes notices some positive "Vital Signs"

The Washington based Worldwatch Institute just published its "Vital Signs 2002", a report on the trends in human impacts on the global environment and responses. Among the positive trends the report noted are a rapid expansion of renewable energy generation from wind and an increase in eco-labels, which enable consumers to make responsible choices. The report gives the example of the Marine Stewardship Council's logo that marks seafood - rock lobster, cockles, hoki, mackarel, herring, and salmon - harvested under environmentally responsible management.
The report can be downloaded from http://www.worldwatch.org

UK offshore Natura 2000 pages launched on JNCC Website

The UK Government is currently taking steps to implement the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and the Birds Directive (79/409/EC) in offshore waters. As part of this implementation, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) has been asked by the UK government to provide information to enable identification of offshore Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protected Areas (SPA). "Natura 2000 in UK Offshore Waters", a new report by the JNCC, is the first step towards offshore site identification - listing the species for which SACs and SPAs will be considered and identifying possible approaches and options for site selection.
Report: http://www.jncc.gov.uk/Publications/JNCC325/intro325.htm
JNCC Offshore Natura 2000: http://www.jncc.gov.uk/marine/offnat/default.htm

Trilateral Wadden Sea Forum meets for the first time

The preparations for the trilateral Wadden Sea Forum are well underway and a first meeting of the Forum will be held on 30 August 2002. The installation of a trilateral Forum was decided at the 9th Wadden Sea Conference in Esbjerg in October 2001. The main rationale for establishing the Forum was the wish of the stakeholders for more active participation in the management of the Wadden Sea. The tasks of the Forum are to elaborate proposals for sustainable development scenarios and strategies for their implementation. These will be presented to the 10th Trilateral Governmental Wadden Sea Conference (in 2005) as a contribution to the further development and possible amendments of the trilateral policy and management and the trilateral projects of the Wadden Sea Plan. An Interreg IIIB project proposal for co-funding by the European Commission is in preparation.
Further information: Folkert de Jong, Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, e-mail: dejong@waddensea-secretariat.org, http://cwss.www.de

Deadline for submitting contributions to Coastal Guide News No 16: 21 August, 2002

COASTAL GUIDE NEWS is a biweekly newsletter published by the EUCC - The Coastal Union with financial support of Stichting DOEN, the foundation of the Dutch lottery "Postcode Loterij" and the Department of International Nature Affairs of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries. For free subscriptions, comments or contributions to this newsletter, please contact news@coastalguide.org. 

Members of the Coastal Guide News editorial team: Erik Devilee, Marijke Kooijman, Irene Lucius, Piet Lansbergen, Hanneke Mesters, Albert Salman.
 

Established in 1989, the EUCC - The Coastal Union is an association involving the largest coastal network in Europe with 750 members and member organisations in 40 countries. For more information please contact EUCC International Secretariat, POBox 11232, NL-2301 EE Leiden, the Netherlands, tel.: +31-71-5122900, internet: http://www.eucc.nl
 

© EUCC