In a History written by Marinet of the old and new EU Bathing Water Directives, 76/160/EEC and 2006/7/EC, the long struggle to implement these Directives is recorded, along with the equally long struggle — only partially successful — to secure the implementation of the full rigour of the monitoring regimes and attendant health standards which […]

Please do share this

A History of the campaign and struggle to secure the implementation of the European Bathing Water Directive 76/160/EEC (the old Directive) into UK law has been written by at Patrick (Pat) Gowen, 1932-2017, who was a founder member of Marinet and its first chairman. This History is accompanied by an Assessment of the European Bathing […]

Please do share this

Patrick Gowen was a founding Member of Marinet at its inception in 2002 and its first Chairman. We provide here a Tribute to a person of exceptional calibre and commitment to the environment, and to whom Marinet and many others owe a great debt. May his example remain a standard for the future and to […]

Please do share this

Please do share this

www.gizmodo.co.uk reports, 5th August 2017: Measuring 8,776 square miles, this year’s dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is the largest ever recorded. A recent expedition to the Gulf of Mexico has yielded the largest “dead zone” ever recorded in the area. Measuring 8,776 square miles, this massive patch of oxygen depleted water is wreaking […]

Please do share this

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) have launched a campaign and petition to require deposits to be charged on plastic bottles and metal cans, thus providing a financial system and incentive to convert them into returnable items. Known as the “Deposit Return Scheme”, SAS explain the campaign: “A small deposit of between 10–20p is added to the […]

Please do share this

BBC News reports, 22nd February 2017: Particles of debris from car tyres are ending up in the ocean as “plastic soup”, conservationists warn. Micro-plastics from tyres and textiles are a bigger source of marine pollution than the breakdown of larger plastic waste in some areas, says the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Up to […]

Please do share this

The Guardian reports, 13th February 2017: Scientists have discovered “extraordinary” levels of toxic pollution in the most remote and inaccessible place on the planet — the 10km deep Mariana trench in the Pacific Ocean. Small crustaceans that live in the pitch-black waters of the trench, captured by a robotic submarine, were contaminated with 50 times […]

Please do share this

James Merryweather, scottishsalmonthinktank.net, has published an analysis of present salmon fish farming practices along with reform proposals to place salmon fish farming on a sustainable basis. We provide here material from his website.   FISH FARMS (a review of net-cage salmon farming in Scotland) When I first started to investigate salmon farming in Scotland (and Canada, […]

Please do share this

The Herald (Scotland) reports, 23rd January 2017: Controversial plans to transfer up to nine million tonnes of crude oil between tankers at the mouth of the Cromarty Firth have been scrapped after the firm behind the scheme was ordered to withdraw its application. The Cromarty Firth Port Authority (CFPA) will have to prepare a new […]

Please do share this

Oceana reports, 12th January 2017: Six hundred kilometres (360 miles) north of Santiago, Chile, the National Humboldt Penguin Reserve reverberates with the braying of 26,000 Humboldt penguins — around 80 percent of the species’ entire population. Sea otters and migrating blue whales glide through the waves close to colonies of nesting seabirds. This global biodiversitybiodiversity […]

Please do share this

The Guardian reports, 19th December 2016: Southern Water has been fined a record £2m for flooding beaches in Kent with raw sewage, leaving them closed to the public for nine days. The Environment Agency called the event “catastrophic”, while the judge at Maidstone crown court said that Southern Water’s repeat offending was “wholly unacceptable”. The […]

Please do share this

The Guardian reports, 9th November 2016: Algae on drifting plastic waste gives off a sulphur compound which smells similar to the krill many marine birds feed on, researchers have discovered. The findings could explain why certain birds — including albatrosses and shearwaters — which rely on their sense of smell for hunting, are particularly vulnerable […]

Please do share this

The Guardian reports, 28th October 2016: The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) agreed on Thursday to set a cap on the sulphur content of marine fuels, in a move that campaigners predict will save millions of lives in the coming decades. At a meeting of the IMO’s environment protection committee shipping officials agreed to cap the […]

Please do share this

The UK Wildlife and Countryside Link reports, October 2016: This month Finland ratified the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Ballast Water Management Convention. Being the 52nd contracting party, Finland tipped the target of 35% world shipping tonnage and triggered entry into force by September 2017. We’ve been waiting a long time for this, as the convention […]

Please do share this

The Guardian reports, 7th October 2016: A push by the shipping and oil industries for a five-year delay to curbs on toxic sulphur emissions would cause an extra 200,000 premature deaths from lung cancer and heart disease, according to an unpublished International Maritime Organisation (IMO) study. Fatalities from illnesses such as asthma were not covered […]

Please do share this

We provide extracts from two news reports which show that the two largest British oil and gas companies, Shell and British Petroleum, remain committed to a future which involves extraction of oil and gas from deep-sea wells. The Guardian reports, 11th September 2016: Royal Dutch Shell has started production at the world’s deepest underwater oil […]

Please do share this

edie.net (part of the Guardian Environment Network) reports, 3rd September 2016:  Tiny pieces of plastic in personal beauty products, that end up in the oceans and are swallowed by marine life, will be banned from sale in the UK by the end of 2017, the Government announced. The move comes just days after MPs called […]

Please do share this

The Guardian reports, 24th August 2016: Cosmetics companies must be banned from using plastic microbeads in scrubs, toothpaste and beauty products because of the marine pollution they are causing, say a group of MPs. Members of the Environmental Audit Committee have called for a ban within 18 months after hearing that trillions of tiny pieces […]

Please do share this

Sciencedaily.com reports, 2nd June 2016: In a new study, published in Science, researchers from Uppsala University found that larval fish exposed to microplastic particles during development displayed changed behaviours and stunted growth which lead to greatly increased mortality rates. The researchers discovered that larval perch that had access to microplastic particles only ate plastic and […]

Please do share this