Information & Meetings
	NGOs launched Stop the Rustbuckets campaign
	New Coastal Publications
	Conferences & Events

Organisations
	New hyperlinks
	New NGO "EUCC - Die Küsten Union Deutschland" promotes ICZM

Environment
	Northern Spanish coast severely affected by Prestige oil spill
	17 environmental Hot Spots cleaned up in the Baltic

Development & Trends
	Norwegian town to experiment with sub sea tidal power
	Danube reserve endangered by construction plans

Policy
	More marine species regulated under CITES
	GBF recommended integrated approach to wetland conservation
	The Wadden Sea now "Particularly Sensitive Sea Area"

NGOs launched Stop the Rustbuckets campaign

In response to the Prestige oil spill disaster (see article below), the Kust en Zee (Coast and Sea) association has started the campaign: Stop the Rustbuckets!! At http://www.stoptherustbuckets.info The campaign calls for:

• no more sailing with old and unsafe single hulled oil tankers
• more controls and check ups by governments and port authorities
• breaking the dominance of convenient flag states in the process of drawing up environmental laws and regulations.

Support can be provided by

• sending an e-mail via http://www.stoptherustbuckets.info
• placing the banner and/or advert you find on the site on your own site
• forwarding this message to your own network.

Coast and Sea - Kust en Zee: Association for Sea, Dunes and Delta, founded by four Dutch nature conservation organisations: EUCC- The Coastal Union, North Sea Foundation, Duinbehoud Foundation and Ecomare.
The website is also available in Dutch at http://www.stopderoestbakken.nl and will be be available in Spanish and Portuguese soon.

New Coastal Publications

Events recently announded

New hyperlinks

Persga
http://www.persga.org
The Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, an intergovernmental body dedicated to the conservation of the coastal and marine environments in the region.

Vote the Coast
http://www.votethecoast.org
A grassroots organization committed to the protection of California coastal and ocean resources.

New NGO "EUCC - Die Küsten Union Deutschland" promotes ICZM

The German EUCC branch 'EUCC - Die Küsten Union Deutschland' (short: EUCC-Deutschland) was founded on 18 November and will be registered as an association. EUCC-Deutschland aims to advance ICZM in Germany by synthesising and disseminating information, providing expert advice, coordinating efforts, training, education, organising events and managing demonstration projects. It would like to enhance the representation and importance of German ICZM activities in Europe.
For further information, please contact: eucc@eucc-d.de or visit the homepage of EUCC-Deutschland: http://www.eucc-d.de

Northern Spanish coast severely affected by Prestige oil spill The tanker Prestige suffered hull damage on November 13 in heavy seas off northern Spain, carrying a cargo of some 77,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, a quantity of which was lost at the time of the initial damage and more was lost subsequently. She broke in two on 19 November, releasing a substantial further quantity of oil. The heavy fuel oil cargo has a similar specification to that lost from the ERIKA, which spilled 20,000 tonnes of fuel oil off the Brittany coast of France in December 1999. This oil is highly persistent and will not break up quickly, even in severe weather. The affected area of coastline extends from Punta Langosteira near La Corun´a to Cabo Corrubedo with the heaviest oiling on the stretch between Malpica and Cabo de la Buitra. Bad weather and heavy seas have been hampering the offshore recovery operation. The affected area supports a rich and diverse fishing and aquaculture industry, including the cultivation of mussels, oysters, turbot and several other species, and the harvesting of various 'wild' species of fish and shellfish. The season for collecting goose-necked barnacles was due to open on 18 November but has remained closed and fishing within the affected are has been stopped. Bird species at risk from oil contamination are Razorbills, Sheerwaters, Gannets, Kittiwakes, Puffins, Guillemots, Cormorants and Gulls. There is also particular concern for visiting migrants, Great Northern Divers, as well as Balearic Shearwaters and Guillemots, which are present in the oil polluted area in very small numbers. Spain is party to the 1992 Civil Liability and 1992 Fund Conventions and so the total amount of compensation potentially available from the shipowner, his insurers and the IOPC Fund is SDR 135 million (about EUR 179 million). By a remarkable coincidence, Portugal's accession to the 1992 Fund became effective on 13th November 2002, the same day as the accident occurred. The Prestige was registered in Bahamas, was managed in Greece, and carried oil for a Swiss company (with mostly British directors) whose ultimate owners are Russian. The European Parliament is due to discuss a draft EU Liability Directive. However the proposal has been criticised for being too weak
More information on http://www.itopf.org and http://www.foe.org.

17 environmental Hot Spots cleaned up in the Baltic

The Helsinki Commission for the Protection of the Baltic Sea (HELCOM) celebrates its latest success: 17 pollution Hot Spots have been deleted due to clean up efforts, however, 81 still remain. In the past ten years, 51 hot spots of the Joint Comprehensive Baltic Sea Environment Action Programme (JCP) have been cleaned up. Among the recent ones are: · Zielona Gora Wastewater Treatment Plant, Oder Delta, Poland, · Fish Farming, Arch & Åland Seas, Finland · Agricultural Runoff, Gulf of Riga, Latvia
Further information: press release http://www.helcom.fi/helcom/news/140.html
Hot Spots: http://www.helcom.fi/pollution/hotspots.html

Norwegian town to experiment with sub sea tidal power

Hammerfest, the world's most northerly town, is the first to get electricity from a sub sea power station run on tidal currents. The turbine stands on the seabed near Kvalsund at the Arctic tip of Norway. It has a capacity of 300 KW and is due to expand to 20 mills from 2004, giving enough power for perhaps 1,000 homes. The project has cost 50 million Norwegian crowns (USD 6.7 million) so far and will cost 100 million by completion in 2004. However, experts are uncertain about the potential, especially because of sub sea maintenance costs. Storms have wrecked many experimental ocean power stations. In Norway, Hammerfest Stroem reckons that building tidal turbines could become a business worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Costs of the electricity are initially likely to be 0.30-0.35 crowns a Kilowatt hour, three times that of typical hydro-generated electricity in Norway. Tidal power will be added to the mix of electricity in the local grid. On a national level, however, Norway's oil minister said he would probably decide in 2004 whether to allow offshore oil and gas exploration in the sensitive areas along Norway's northern coastline and in the Barents Sea. Environmentalists claim oil production outside north Norway and in the Arctic Barents Sea is likely to hurt the fragile ecosystem. The fishing industry has also voiced concerns.
Full Planet Ark story on http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=18450. More background information on http://www.bellona.no/en/energy/renewable/19285.html

Danube reserve endangered by construction plans

According to information leaked from the Ministers Cabinet of Ukraine, the Minister of Transport has used its personal influence on the Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma to pass to him directly (without approval of the cabinet) a draft decree stating that 5600 ha of the Danube nature reserve should be withdrawn from the reserve territory for construction of a shipping channel and of cargo loading facilities. Environmental groups fear that the Danube reserve, which is listed as UNESCO Biosphere and Ramsar site, will be severely damaged by these projects. They appeal to the international community to send faxes to the President of Ukraine, Leonid Danilovich Kuchma, fax: +380-44-291-61-61. For more information, e-mail to Vladimir Boreyko, borey@alfacom.net

More marine species regulated under CITES

At the last CITES meeting which ended on 15 November, the decision was taken to regulate the trade in seahorses for the first time. Seahorse populations seem to have declined dramatically over recent years owing to commercial trade, by-catch in fisheries, coastal development, destructive fishing practices and pollution. To meet the growing demand for traditional medicines, aquarium pets, souvenirs and curios, at least 20 million seahorses were captured annually from the wild in the early 1990s, and the trade is estimated to be growing by 8-10% per year. All 32 seahorse species will now be listed in Appendix II which allows trade only under strict rules. The basking and whale sharks were also listed under Appendix II. Another decision seeks to strengthen domestic conservation of sturgeon. The next Conference, COP 13 will be held at the end of 2004 or in the first half of 2005 in Thailand.
More information on http://www.cites.org/eng/news/press_release.shtml

GBF recommended integrated approach to wetland conservation

The Global Biodiversity Forum (GBF), a meeting of over 200 representatives from 68 countries, met from 15 to 17 November in Valencia, Spain to discuss how the management of wetlands can be improved as an input to the Conference of Parties (COP) to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, which took place from 18 to 26 November. Governments who have signed this international treaty agree to protect wetlands and improve their management for their economic, social and environmental benefits. The GBF can only recommend actions: the Governments take the final decision. Yet, the opinion of the GBF is seriously considered. One of the issues the GBF put forward is the need to increase communication on the values of wetlands. It is estimated that wetlands provide US$ 8,700 billion per year to communities around the world. GBF also recommended applying the ecosystem approach, integrating the action of different levels of government, applying multi-stakeholder consultations, working on capacity building in sustainable use of wetlands, and developing strategies to respond to climate change.
More information: Final report of the 17th GBF at http://www.gbf.ch, reports of the COP at http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/ramsar/cop8/

The Wadden Sea now "Particularly Sensitive Sea Area"

In October, the Wadden Sea received the status "Particularly Sensitive Sea Area" (PSSA) - an area that needs special protection through action by the International Maritime Organisation because of its significance for recognized ecological or socio-economic or scientific reasons and its vulnerability to damage by international maritime activities. The success of the PSSA Wadden Sea will very much depend on the support by all companies, administrations and NGOs involved in shipping in the southern North Sea. This why WWF recently published a brochure on the matter targeted at the maritime sector.
For free brochures, contact husum@wwf.de Further info on Special Areas and PSSAs: http://www.imo.org/Safety/mainframe.asp?topic_id=305

Deadline for submitting contributions to Coastal Guide News No 24: 11 December, 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