deployment of the PLA Navy ships in the - Information Resource ...

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weighed down with protracted procedures and are
busy pursuing policies that are yet to yield results, the
initiative to stall further deterioration of the
environment starts and ends, with a mere initiation of
correspondence.
The aim of the article is to highlight the grim
condition of water in our immediate environment, the
‘Harbours and Seas; and explore for solutions that
could possibly be implemented to fruition. The core
of the article would attempt to underscore the issue
of raw garbage disposal and pumping of untreated
sewage into harbour and at sea.
Clear and Present Hazard
Large portion of the allocated budget is spent
by various agencies like the Municipal wards,
conservancy staff of a plethora of organizations and
industries to grapple with the issue of garbage and
sewage disposal. However they remain way off the
mark as regards to its effective implementation. A
considerable part of this waste finds its way into the
water bodies, harbours and adjoining sea. Worse,
toxic chemicals used for a number of chemical
processes are emptied into these water bodies without
compunction, leading to large scale death of marine
species. Trail of garbage neatly packed in black ‘gash
bags’ and free floating rubbish emptied straight from
trash bins is not an uncommon sight for seafarers. A
large percentage of our fraternity serve onboard ships
and on a conservative scale we produce plastic,
domestic and food waste to the tune of 1.1-2.6 kg/
person/day, implying we hold great potential to ‘litter’
our water bodies and sea. Contrary to the
‘conventional’ wisdom, the sea has very limited
capacity to assimilate the garbage that is emptied into
it. In fact, most of it is belched out and deposited all
along the shore and harbours in its original form.
The time taken by the marine environment to
disintegrate various materials is indicated in the
following take:-
Time taken for objects to dissolve
Paper
2-4 weeks
Cotton cloth
1-5 months
Natural Rope
3-14 months
Woollen cloth 1 year
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SEPTEMBER 2010
Painted wood
Tin can
Aluminum can
Plastics
13 years
100 years
200-500 years
450 years
NAVAL DESPATCH
Source: www.helmepa.org (Hellenic Marine
Environment Protection Association )
Apart from being an environmentalist’s
nightmare, the litter is an aesthetic nuisance and stirs
up repulsion in our esteemed tourists . The floating
debris at sea and on beaches enfeebles the fragile
marine ecology, while the greatest danger comes
from the plastics which the fish and marine mammals
mistake for food and eventually get entangled
inextricably. Large fish have been discovered with
plastic material lodged in their stomach.
Collective Responsibility
The Defence Services have been traditionally
environment friendly and are known to be pioneers
in pursuing practices that have protected and
preserved local flora and fauna to a large extent. A
cursory glance at the cantonments and defence
residential areas corroborates this fact well enough.
In addition, services are closely intertwined with the
nature due to obvious reasons. Taking this axiom
forward, aligning our practices with regards to
garbage and sewage disposal as closely as possible
to the accepted norms (MARPOL 73/78) may set the
motion for others to follow suit.
Garbage Disposal Onboard Ships and
MARPOL 73/78
International Convention for Prevention of
Pollution from Ships, 1973 and modified by the
Protocol of 1978 or in short MARPOL 73/78 lays down
stipulation for dealing with waste generated by ships
so as to minimize its effect on marine ecology.
Annexure-V of this protocol which entered into force
on 31 Dec 1998 prescribes methods of garbage
disposal in Special areas and, areas outside special
areas. Special areas like the Baltic and Mediterranean
sea are designated owing to their delicate ecology
and oceanography. Most of our ships operate in
outside special areas with the exception to those on
Over Seas Deployment.
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