Information & Meetings
	What's new in the website
	Conferences & Events

Organisations
	New hyperlinks to websites

Environment
	Old tanker spilled oiled near Athens
	Hope for the Black Sea: jelly eat jelly
	Now proven: virus killed Caspian Seals along Kazakhastan's coast
	Feminising fish

Development & Trends
	Debate in the U.S. over privatising marine fisheries
	U.S. threatens to impose sanctions against Japan for whaling

Policy
	The Balearic Islands' tourist tax: trend setting or failure?

What's new in the website

Coastal Guide homepage redesigned

The Coastal Guide Europe homepage has been redesigned in order to become more user friendly. Please try it out: http://www.coastalguide.org
 

Coastal Experts Database online

Looking for a Coastal Expert? 
The Coastal Guide Experts Database of coastal expert institutes and consultants on various aspects of coastal and environmental management is now online.
You can search for: 

• Main fields of expertise
• Research disciplines
• Coastal and marine habitats
• Geographical region

Events recently announded

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

New hyperlinks to websites

Center for Tropical Marine Ecology
Partnership projects on aquatic ecology with partners from tropical countries

Mapping the North Sea
Documentation and Development of Seaside Tourism in the North Sea Region
 

Old tanker spilled oiled near Athens

When clean-up operations were in progress for the oil spill from the bulk carrier M/V NORDLAND, which grounded off Kythira Island in Greece on 29 August, the cement carrier Eurobulker X broke in half while loading cement at Lefkandi port, central Greece, effecting an estimated 15 km of coastline Northeast of Athens. With an estimated spillage of 300 - 500 tonnes, this disaster scores 3 on a 12-point scale to assess the size of oil spills. However, as it happened in a nearly closed bay with already low water quality and the area being a very popular local tourist destination, the effect on local economy and ecology is nevertheless severe. The positive news is that the Greek Ministry of Environment together with NGOs and over 100 volunteers took action to clean part of the effected coastline. In order to prevent future accidents of this kind from happening, legal measures need to be taken urgently stated Nikos Charalambides from the Greenpeace office in Athens. He also thinks that the Greek Ministry for Merchant and Marine, responsible for managing oil spills, needs to better inform the public about this and future accidents, their impacts and combat measures such as whether chemical disolvants were applied or not. After a safety check in April this year, the 26-year-old Eurobulker X had to undergo serious repair before being allowed to take off again.
For more information, contact Nikos Charalambides, Greenpeace, e-mail: ncharal@diala.greenpeace.org. Photos from the Kythera oil spill by ITOPF http://www.itopf.com/nordland.PDF
 

Hope for the Black Sea: jelly eat jelly

As the New Scientist of 9 September reports, the comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi, a jellyfish relative that was introduced to the Black Sea in the 1980s with dramatic impacts on the ecosystem, is finally on the decline again thanks to a new invader. In 1997, Beroe ovata, another comb jelly preying on Mnemiopsis, appeared in the Black Sea, probably in a ship’s ballast water. Since its arrival, there has been a massive decline in Mnemiopsis populations while some species of zooplankton Mnemiopsis is feeding on, have begun to increase. So there is good hope that the numbers of fish, including the commercially valuable anchovy, will recover as well. Observations in other areas suggest that in case the Mnemiopsis will get wiped out by the Beroe, the Beroe would rather die out than find another food source. With improved fishing and water management, this could lead to a significant recovery of the Black Sea’s ecosystem.
Contacts:
Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russia, root@geo.sio.rssi.ru
Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Dauphin Island, USA, mgraham@disl.org
 

Now proven: virus killed Caspian seals along Kazakhstan’s coast

An international team of scientists has now concluded that a canine distemper virus infection caused the death of more than 11,000 Caspian seals. The animals died along the Kazakhstan coast of the Caspian Sea during May and June 2000. In addition, an unknown number of dead seals had been reported from the Russian, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan sectors of the Caspian Sea at the same time. Microscopic lesions, characteristic of canine distemper, were found in the seal tissues and infection with canine distemper virus was confirmed by serological and molecular methods. The results of the investigations have been subjected to peer review and will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal "Emerging Infectious Diseases". 
Read the full article at http://ens.lycos.com/ens/sep2000/2000L-09-20-03.html.
 

Feminising Fish

New research into the so-called endocrine disruptors, chemicals that have impact on the hormonal control systems of animals, showed feminising effects on the entire male fish populations of some European rivers. The chemicals concerned include natural steroids, some industrial chemicals or their breakdown products. Such compounds can act either as hormone agonists or as antagonists. However, Dr Alan Pickering of the Windermere Laboratory of NERC’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and Programme Co-ordinator of COMPREHEND said it was still not clear whether the chemicals were having a direct impact on the ability of fish to reproduce normally.
Further information:
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) http://www.ceh.ac.uk/index.htm
COMPREHEND - COMmunity Programme of Research on Environmental Hormones and ENdocrine Disrupters http://www.ife.ac.uk/comprehend/
 

Debate in the U.S. over privatising marine fisheries

By 30 September, the U.S. Congress will decide whether marine fisheries will be privatised as a move to protect dwindling fish stocks. The idea is to parcel out shares to a limited number of private enterprises through Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) programs which give shareholders exclusive rights to catch a certain percentage of the total allowable catch of a species of fish or shellfish in a specific area within a designated time frame. This would give fishermen the incentive to conserve fish resources. However, environmental groups claim that this concept will fail if not linked to strict conservation standards and a regular review process. Fisher associations fear that family fishermen well be squeezed out of business by big operators. The Marine Fish Conservation Network is pressuring Congress to postpone the decision until proper legislation containing national standards is adopted. For more information visit http://conservefish.org/media/ifqpressreleasesept.13.html, or http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2000/09/09162000/ifq_31532.asp
 

U.S. threatens to impose sanctions against Japan for whaling

On September 13, U.S. President Bill Clinton banned Japan from future access to fishing rights in U.S. waters and announced that the U.S. would introduce trade sanctions against Japan if it does not curtail its expanded hunt on whales. He accused Japan of undermining international efforts to protect endangered whale species. The economic sanctions will be imposed within sixty days if Japan continues its whaling policy. Japan has threatened to take the U.S. to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if trade sanctions are used, but U.S. officials said they were looking at measures that would be legal under the WTO. 

While the world is focusing on Japanese whaling, locals of the Faroe Islands have slaughtered more than 150 long-finned whales since July. During the hunt, which is conducted by the islanders every year in the name of tradition, entire pods and whale family groups are killed, said Paul Watson, the president of the NGO Sea Shepherd International.

For more information about the U.S. move against Japan, read the news release at http://www.enn.com/news/wirestories/2000/09/09132000/reu_japan_31428.asp, or visit the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society at http://www.wdcs.org. Read more about the Faroes whale hunting at http://www.virunga.org/jbin/story/3141.
 

The Balearic Islands' green tourist tax: trend setting or failure?

The proposed tourist tax year drafted by the Spanish Balearic Islands government earlier this year to source up to 60 million EURO annually is facing serious problems. As an attempt to alleviate the strain on the islands' limited natural and infrastructure resources caused by the Balearic's booming tourist industry, hotel visitors would need to pay 0.25 to 2 EURO per night. However, the Balearic Islands' government has entered a crisis since the Green Minister for Environment is facing opposition within her parliamentary faction. Those opposing the tax in its present state demand that the funds raised by the tax are invested entirely in environmental protection. Nevertheless, if this unique tax proposal will come in force it might set a trend in Europe.
For further information, read the following news items:
http://www.majorcadailybulletin.es/first.dba?218+1+1359
http://www.majorcadailybulletin.es/first.dba?229+1+1431
http://www.majorcadailybulletin.es/first.dba?230+1+1439
 

Deadline for submitting contributions to Coastal Guide News No 20:
4 October,  2000

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. 

© Articles may be reproduced free of charge with acknowledgement and citation of Coastal Guide News and the URL of the Coastal Guide (http://www.coastalguide.org). The articles of this and previous issues of Coastal Guide News can be found at http://www.coastalguide.org/news

Members of the Coastal Guide News editorial team: Erik Devilee, Levente Galambosi, Irene Lucius, Hanneke Mesters, 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, POB 11232, NL-2301 EE Leiden, the Netherlands, tel.: +31-71-5122900, internet: http://www.eucc.nl

© European Union for Coastal Conservation