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Environment
	Danube canal project threatens biosphere reserve
	European Mobility Week involves 1300 cities
	GM salmon only safe for closed system on-shore fish farms?

Development & Trends
	Clean Ship Concept aims at zero emissions

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Coastal management course survey

The School of Maritime and Coastal Studies, Southampton Institute, UK is currently undertaking an international research project investigating how degree-level residential fieldwork can help students learn about coastal management. In order to do this, they distribute a survey to all those involved in teaching ICM at university level and may use residential fieldwork as part of their course.
Please contact Wendy Dodds, Wendy.Dodds@solent.ac.uk if you run a coastal management course.

New hyperlinks

ICES - International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (updated website)
http://www.ices.dk/
ICES is the organisation that coordinates and promotes marine research in the North Atlantic.

Volunteering for the Coast (USA)
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/techniques/volunteer/
A web site for anyone interested in environmental stewardship through personal actions. The information provided on this site is for individuals looking for volunteer opportunities, coordinating volunteer efforts, or seeking ways to build successful volunteer programs.

Danube canal project threatens biosphere reserve

Ukraine is planning to construct a deep-water navigation canal "The Danube - The Black Sea". The Ministry of Transport of Ukraine insists on pursuing an option which passes through the Bystroye Estuary of the Danube Delta, located within the specially protected area of the Danube Biosphere Reserve, part of the UNESCO bilateral biosphere reserve "Delta of the Danube". As this is against Ukrainian law, the Ministry of Transport of Ukraine is planning to issue a Decree signed by the President to withdraw the Bystroye Estuary from the Danube Biosphere Reserve. Since the Danube transfers an average of 65 millions tons of firm particles per year, the appropriate depth of the canal will have to be maintained artificially. In addition, it is planned to cover the banks with concrete. The canal will make the stream stronger and quicker, which will probably cause the sandbank in front of the estuary to be washed out. According to Ukrainian experts, the construction will have serious environmental impacts such as: 1) the hydrological balance of the delta will be changed; 2) canal operation can lead to oil and oil product pollution of the estuary; 3) the construction works and operation of the canal can damage the habitat and feeding base of the majority of fish species dwelling in this area as well as that of numerous bird species, many of the endangered; 4) the plant community of the reserve is significantly different from those of other deltas of north-west Black Sea coast; the ship waves have a high chance of changing the plant communities and permanent ship communication can bring invasive species in. The construction of the canal threatens to undermine the local fisheries sector, and may destroy the traditional system of management in the region. Therefore, not only scientific and environmental organizations, but also local residents and authorities oppose building the project. Ukrainian NGOs do not oppose navigation in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta in principle but demand that the canal should be built outside of the biosphere reserve. Such alternative plans do exist but Ukrainian authorities refuse to consider them at the moment. The Ukrainian NGO community calls for international support.
For more information, contact Shaparenko Sergey, pecheneg@ic.kharkov.ua; Alla Shevchuk, alla@eco.odessa.ua; Vladimir Boreyko, kekz@carrier.kiev.ua; borey@alfacom.net; Dr. Vitaly Grishchenko, reserve@aquila.freenet.kiev.ua.

European Mobility Week involves 1300 cities

The European Commission and 19 supporting international organisations kicked off the European Mobility Week, which ends on 22 September 2002 with the traditional European Car Free Day. More than 1300 cities, many of them coastal in 35 European countries will establish car-free areas in large parts of their town centres. For more information: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/emw/index.htm

GM salmon only safe for closed system on-shore fish farms?

A company in the United States, Aqua Bounty, plans to sell genetically modified (GM) Atlantic salmon to coastal fish farms worldwide. The fish grow up to six times as fast as normal. Aqua Bounty claims that environmental concerns - such as GM fish could escape, interbreed and outcompete native salmon species - are not justified because all the fish it sells are sterile females. In order to produce sterile fish, females are made to mate with masculinised females producing only female offspring. The fertilized eggs are then pressure treated to make triploid embryonic and consequently sterile adult fish. The New Scientist in its issue of 14 September 2002 has collected scientific arguments why this method might not be as safe as it seems. There is no guarantee that the applied method to produce only female infertile offspring is 100 percent proof. Checking each individual fish for its gender is too costly compared to conventional fish breeding methods. Even this check might not always help as triploid fish might revert to the diploid state or be in fact mosaics. Their blood may be triploid, their genitals not. If fertile fish escapes from an aquaculture farm - and escapes are frequent - then there is no way to recall them. A small population of escaped fertile GM fish can drive a natural population a thousand times larger to extinction within a relatively short period of time, according to models. The only environmentally safe option seems to be to keep the fish in closed systems onshore which would reduce other negative impacts of coastal fish farms as well.
More information: Aqua Bounty, http://www.aquabounty.com

Clean Ship Concept aims at zero emissions

The North Sea Foundation and Seas At Risk submitted a paper at the 5th North Sea Conference to promote the Clean Ship Concept that calls for developing and operating ships without harmful emissions. The Ministers have taken this idea seriously and included a paragraph on Clean Shipping in their Declaration. During a symposium at Delft University of Technology beginning of the year, 70 scientists, naval architects, ship owners, marine engineers, port operators and civil servants agreed that most environmental problems caused by shipping can be solved before 2015. In the future ships should be designed, constructed and operated in an integrated manner to eliminate all harmful emissions and discharges throughout their working life. To reach this aim, a combination of measures is necessary: 1) Technological developments, like new materials, revolutionary hull design, propulsion and fuel cells should be stimulated. 2) In line with developing Clean Ships, crew should be trained how to protect the marine environment. Other target groups for awareness raising are ship owners, port operators, cargo owners and civil servants in the maritime sector. 3) New rules should be designed and implemented more quickly. 4) Financial instruments are strong incentives for clean shipping. Examples are favourable fiscal conditions for 'green shipbuilding', lower insurance costs, differentiated harbour dues or a fund covering financial risks for pilot projects.
Further information: Ministerial Declaration on http://odin.dep.no/md/nsc/;
Eelco Leemans, e.leemans@noordzee.nl; http://www.noordzee.nl

Deadline for submitting contributions to Coastal Guide News No 19: 2 October, 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
 

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