Oceans Shipwrecked by Pollution and Indifference
By Gustavo González
June4, 2004, Interpress Service News Agency
SANTIAGO, Jun 4 (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
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
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
Industrial fishing practices are the biggest culprits of
''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
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
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
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.