Information & Meetings
	What's new on the website
	Conference meetings
	New Coastal Publications
	Feedback

Organisations
	New Website Links
	MEDCOAST joins MCSD

Environment
	Trawler fishing versus oil drilling

Development & Trends
	Wind energy on the rise
	Conservation Foundation contra oil platform removal

Policy
	Waste legislation: Commission moves against Germany and Ireland

Funds
	EIA prerequisite for EU aid to agriculture

What's new on the website

Extended publication search 

The Online Database has been extended by 300 titles to now over 1600 coastal publications and book reviews. 
The Online Database contains:

• all EUCC publications,
• volumes 11 - 15 (European issues) of the Journal of Coastal Research published by the Coastal Education and Research Foundation [CERF]
• book reviews (select keyword "review").

Events recently announded
 

March 19 - 23	2nd Extraordinary International Hydrographic Conference (EIHC), Monaco. Info: e-mail: pah@ihb.mc
May 25 - 26	Workshop "Seafood Sustainability in a  Changing Climate" - Northeast Pacific Ocean and Coastal Zones,  University of Victoria, Victoria, BC Canada. Info: e-mail: brian@cori.bc.ca, Conference website
June 1 - 3	X Seminario Iberico de Química Marina - Marine Chemistry, Puerto Real (Cádiz), Spain. Info: fax: +34 956016040, e-mail: semquimar@uca.es, Conference website
June 5 - 9	The millennium International Media Conference on the Environment - Climate Change and Small Islands, Suva, Fiji. Info: +94 1 826607, e-mail: afej@sri.lanka.net, Conference website
June 14 - 15	FutureCOAST 2000: Coastal Zone Management in the New Millennium - Exploring Future Techniques for Better Management, Seafront, Falmouth, Cornwall, UK. Info: fax: +44 1224 272331, e-mail: d.r.green@abdn.ac.uk / s.d.king@abdn.ac.uk, Conference website
Sept 17 - 19	2nd International Symposium of the Pan-European Ecological Network, Rochefort, Belgium. Info: fax: +33 3 88 41 37 51, e-mail: environment@coe.int
Dec 5 - 8	CARBONATE BEACHES 2000, an International Symposium on Geology, Petrology, Geography, Management, and Coastal Engineering of Carbonate Sand Beaches, Key Largo, Florida, USA. Info: fax: +1 707-987-9351, e-mail: lrobbins@usgs.gov, omagoon@guenoc.com, Conference website

Please note:
The year 2000 overview of the Coastal Guide conference meeting list can be found at http://www.coastalguide.org/meetings/
 
 

New Coastal Publications
 
 

Macroalgal mats in a eutrophic lagoon: dynamics and control mechanisms (NIOO thesis 5) By Erik-jan Malta (2000, 119 pp.) Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Yerseke, the Netherlands, malta@cemo.nioo.knaw.nl   ISBN 90 9013449 2 A PDF version of the thesis can be downloaded from http://www.kun.nl/ubn/webdoc/kundocs.html (in Dutch). This thesis focuses on the regulation of seasonal and spatial dynamics of blooms of Ulva cf. scandinavica  in a eutrophic man-made lake in the SW Netherlands. Studies have been performed on ecosystem, community and organism level, in order to come to an understanding of the processes controlling macroalgal blooms.

Cliff ecology: pattern and process in cliff ecosystems By Douglas W. Larson, Uta Matthes and Peter E. Kelly (2000, 340 pp.). Cambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK. Fax +44-1223-315052. ISBN 0 521 55489 6. Price UK £ 10 (US$ 69.95). Cliffs are present in virtually every country on earth. The lack of scientific interest in cliffs to date is in striking contrast to the commonness of cliffs around the world and to the attraction cliffs have had for humans throughout the history. Cliffs provide a unique habitat, rarely investigated from an ecological viewpoint. This book aims to destroy the impression of cliffs as geological structures devoid of life, by reviewing information about the geology, geomorphology, microclimate, flora and fauna of both sea and inland cliffs.

The Architecture of the Pan European Ecological Network: Suggestions for Concept and Criteria  (IKCN-report 37)  By A.J.F.M. van Opstal (1999, 97 pp.) National Reference Centre for Nature Management, P.O. Box 30, 6700  AA Wageningen, the Netherlands, tel +31-317-474801. ISSN 90 75789 04 1. Price NLG 45 (postage incl.)  This report is a discussion report on behalf of the Committee of Experts of the Pan European Ecological Network (PEEN) It is meant to stimulate the discussion about the aims and methods of the establishment of European Ecological Networks. The ideas developed in this report will be used in an international project that will identify core areas, corridors and bufferzones in Eastern Europe.

 

EuroTurtle Hyperlink won award

One of EUCC's Coastal Guide website hyperlinks, the EU funded EuroTurtle page, "Europe's first Sea Turtle Biology & Conservation Web Site for Science and Education" won a prestigious award recently. EuroTurtle is a joint project of King's College, MEDASSET and Exeter University, its URL is http:/www.ex.ac.uk/telematics/EuroTurtle. For more information about the award visit
http://www.en.eun.org/vs/environment/ecogallery/ecogallery.html
 
 
 

New Website Links

MSCM Department or Marine Sciences and Coastal Management: 
research in marine science, undergraduate degree courses in both Marine Biology and Zoology and a taught MSc in Tropical Coastal Management, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

IOC  Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO: 
promoting marine scientific  investigations and related ocean service

Center for Coastal Geology: 
investigates geologic processes related to societal problems arising in coastal and marine environments including natural hazards, resources, and environmental change, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey

European DataBank Sustainable Development (INES):
registration of institutions and experts in Europe working on sustainable development, launch April 2001

Severn Estuary Strategy: 
international ICM (integrated Coastal Management ) principles for one of Britain's largest estuaries

University of Madeira:
Conservation of sea turtles in their pelagic life stage
 

Check out the other Website Links on the Coastal Guide
 

MEDCOAST joins MCSD

MEDCOAST, the non-profit organization formally established in 1997, was recently became member of the Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable Development (MCSD. For more information on MEDCOAST contact: Prof. Dr. Erdal Ozhan, Ph.D., Chair, MEDCOAST Middle East Technical University, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Ankara, 06531 TURKEY, tel: +90-312-210 54 29, Fax: -210 14 12, e-mail: ozhan@metu.edu.tr, internet: http://www.medcoast.org.tr
 
 

Trawler fishing versus oil drilling

A new study comparing the environmental effects of trawler fishing, sand extraction, and oil and gas drilling in the Dutch part of the Continental Shelf concludes that fishing has the most disturbing effects on biodiversity. Plowing the top layer of the soil with heavy nets is very harmful to crabs, shrimps and starfish, but favours certain worms on which flatfish feed. "Fishing helps turning the sea into a fish pond for certain flatfish" says Dr. Lindeboom of the Dutch Institute for Marine Research (NIOZ) on Texel. "Platforms even have a beneficiary effect on the ecosystem, because fishing within 500 m of a platform is not allowed".  Some NIOZ ecologists want no-fishing reserves to be created in the North Sea. Other researchers think that there is no single cause for the decline of certain species. Erosion, currents, temperature, pollution and competition of species may explain the differences in biodiversity, which, according to some researchers, are too small anyway to lead to undisputed conclusions. 
The report will be published in a few weeks time. For more information, please contact hanl@nioz.nl
 
 

Wind energy on the rise

The world's tallest pair of offshore wind turbines are to be established this summer one kilometre off the UK coast at Blyth in Northumberland, by a consortium of Royal Dutch Shell and PowerGen Plc (UK). With a capacity of 2.0 Megawatt each, 3,000 households can be served. Generally speaking, the prospects for wind energy are very promising. The Worldwatch Institute in Washington foresees a boom in off-shore wind farming both in Europe and in Asia in the near future. The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) concluded that in 1999 the percentage growth of wind capacity in Europe was more than 30 %. The most significant increases were noted in Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy. For more general information visit http://www.ewea.org,  for developments in the UK http://www.bwea.com

Conservation Foundation contra oil platform removal 

Conservation Foundation co-founder Prof. Bellamy and environmental consultant Pete Wilkinson are concerned over the decision taken at the recent Oslo and Paris Commission (OSPAR) to remove redundant oil and gas platforms from the North Sea. The operation will cost the oil and gas industry, the Government and the tax payer a minimum of £20 billion over the next 10 to 20 years, they claim, yet the exercise will have no discernible effect on improving the quality of Europe’s marine environment. Furthermore, say these eminent environmentalists, removal of over 200 oil rigs has been agreed in the absence of any publicly-available or thorough-going analysis of the environmental impact of various management options. Full story on http://www.conservationfoundation.co.uk, for more information on OSPAR visit http://www.ospar.org. Onother point of view on the oilplatform discussion can be found on EUCC's website http://www.coastalguide.org/oil/.
 
 
 

Waste legislation: Commission moves against Germany and Ireland

On 28 January, the European Commission decided to bring Germany before the European Court of Justice for failure to comply with the EU Waste Shipment Regulation. The procedure against Germany results from the German authorities' practice of unduly restricting the shipment of waste to other Member States where the waste is to be recovered in cement kilns. Germany only authorises such shipments when additional conditions are met for example in terms of minimum calorific value and burning efficiency of the waste. When these criteria are not met, Germany argues that the waste will not be recovered but simply disposed of. The Waste Shipment Regulation (Council Regulation 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste) allows Member States to object to waste being shipped for disposal abroad, notably on the grounds that this would be contrary to the "self-sufficiency" principle (i.e. that each Member State has to take care of its own waste). But the Regulation does not allow Member States to object to shipment of waste on "self-sufficiency" grounds when the waste will be recovered in another Member State. 
The Commission also decided to send a Reasoned Opinion to Ireland for failure to send a report required under the Waste Shipment Regulation. A reasoned opinion is the final step in an infringement procedure before action in the European Court of Justice.
 
 

EIA prerequisite for EU aid to agriculture

The new European "Community Guidelines for State Aid in the agricultural sector (2000/C 28/02) foresee some environmental funding schemes and stress the importance of preventing negative impacts: "Particular attention therefore needs to be given to environmental issues in future State aid notifications […]. For example, in the cases of an aid scheme for investments which are intended to increase production, and which involve an increased use of scarce resources or an increase in pollution, it will be necessary to show that the scheme will not result in an infringement of Community environmental protection legislation, or otherwise cause environmental damage. All State aid notifications should in future contain an assessment of the expected environmental impact of the activity aided." 
For the full text see http://www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/2000/c_02820000201en.html
 
 

COASTAL GUIDE NEWS is a biweekly newsletter published by the European Union for Coastal Conservation (EUCC) 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, P.J. van der Hulst, Irene Lucius, René van Oers, and Albert Salman.
 

Established in 1989, the European Union for Coastal Conservation (EUCC) 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 
 

© European Union for Coastal Conservation