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ACTIVITY OF THE PRIMORYE GOVERNMENT FOR SEA-BASED MARINE LITTER IN VLADIVOSTOK by Sergey Moninets Director, Sea Protection Institute, Vladivostok, Russian Federation Ministry of Transport INTRODUCTION Most of Primorsky Krai residents (total number being approximately 2mln people) live in the port cities and town (the biggest ones being Vladivostok and Nakhodka). During summer period lots of tourists (estimates vary from 500 to 800 thousand people) rush to the southern coasts of Primorsky Krai). Fishery and sea transport are among the leading industries in the economy of Primorsky Krai. The biggest Russian Far East ports are situated on the Krai territory: Vladivostok, Nakhodka, Vostochny. Besides, there are some miniports such as Posyet, Zarubino, Olga, Plastun. As a rule, these ports also accommodate fishery ports serving as bases for fishery companies engaged in fishing both in coastal zones and in open water areas of Far Eastern seas. The ecological situation in the sea waters adjacent to Primorsky Krai cities and larger settlements is anything but satisfactory. PETER THE GREAT GULF WATERS: EXTENT OF POLLUTION Near-shore sea water areas of the Peter the Great are zones of most heavy anthropogenic impact, especially in semi-landlocked inner bays. They have been subject to anthropogenic stress for many decades both from the part of industrial enterprises, the Navy, the merchant and fishery fleet, and from the part of housing and municipal engineering, and extremely polluted urban areas. The state of coastal waters environment remains unsatisfactory. Hydrocarbons comprising oil are amongst the main factors of sea water pollution. Pollution of water areas with oil products lasting for several decades has resulted in turning the bottom of he Golden Horn Bay into a thick layer of bituminous aggregate. Visual observations tell that oily slicks on the bay waters surface attain intensity 5, while the percentage of the surface area covered with them lies within a range of 40-100 per cent. Apart from oily slicks all the water areas of he Peter the Great Gulf are noted for tremendous amounts of litter, while in the Amursky Bay there are brown foam covered areas. Research into the shore litter undertaken on the shoreline of the Peter the Great Gulf in 1999 and in 2005 gave the grounds to conclude that the bulk of the litter found in the near-shore waters is of local origin. And the most polluted water areas are those of the port of Vladivostok. There are days when visual observations would indicate that litter concentration attains 2kg – 3kg per 1,000sq.m. What are the sources of the port of Vladivostok waters pollution by litter? SOURCES OF SEA POLLUTION BY LITTER Among the sea sources one may distinguish transport ships, fishing boats, naval ships, as well as small-sized boats and yachts used for sports fishing and recreation. Nowadays there is a series of regulatory documents to govern the procedure for the management of waste generated on board ships while at sea. All of these documents are developed on the basis of MARPOL 73/78 International Convention requirements. The nature protection organizations and port authorities supervise sea-going vessels’ compliance with these requirements. Refuse and bilge waters collection from calling merchant and fishing vessels has been arranged in all ports of Primorsky Krai. Larger shipping and fishing companies aspiring to keep their reputation issue internal circular letters on the sea pollution prevention (SPP) and see to the observance by their crews. It is understood that in smaller companies where maintaining SPP services is a too heavy burden, there are instances when litter (including plastics) is discharged into the sea. It is rather difficult for the nature protection agencies to keep a track on these violations at the present stage. Various estimates agree that most part of the litter is introduced into the port of Vladivostok waters with the effluent of smaller rivers, flowing through the urban areas. Unavailability of a good system of litter collection and utilization gives rise to unauthorized dumpsites along the banks of these rivers. With rain or thaw the water level in these rivers rises and all the litter is brought into the port water area. It is small wonder that under such circumstances many ships and many crews commit environmental offense. Instead of transfer of litter onto specialized ships they dump litter overboard at night. The pollution source control system is extremely ineffective today. Identification of the sources of pollution or of separate cases of litter dumping is difficult of accomplishment. AVAILABLE PORT WATERS CLEANING SYSTEM The existing practice of cleaning the water areas in ports is that each water-user is obliged to keep the assigned water area of the port clean, that is not to pollute it, to remove litter and oil slicks. This requirement perfectly well fits the situation with a single water user in the port. But currently in the port of Vladivostok there are about hundred small-sized companies leasing or operating the port berths. They are obliged to conclude contracts with specialized companies engaged in water area cleaning. But these companies lack resources. The port water area is continuously served by only 2 or 3 specialized litter skimmers built in the 80-s last century. In winter when there is an appearance of ice in the port water area the port waters cleaning operations are suspended. It is understood that available facilities can’t cope with continuously incoming masses of litter. At the end of 2005 an interdepartmental commission on the Peter the Great Gulf cleaning-up was established under the aegis of the Primorsky Krai Governor. The Commission united the representatives of the federal and Krai nature protection agencies, major water users, state administrations of sea ports, and the Navy. The Commission’s top priority is organization of actions in cleaning the port of Vladivostok waters from oil, and from production and consumption wastes. Taking into account the higher level of agencies represented at the Commission it succeeds in solving separate problems of the port of Vladivostok waters cleaning. Primorsky Krai Government sets rather serious goals for itself and achieving these goals will fundamentally improve the ecological situation in the port of Vladivostok. The following top priorities are scheduled:
These activities’ financial backing amount and procedure are being considered and in near future the actions program will be submitted to the Primorsky Krai Legislative Assembly for examination. Steps taken by the Primorsky Krai Government prove that the state system of port water areas cleaning from pollution is being restored. It is the Krai Government that has every authority to get the port of Vladivostok waters cleaning system under its total control. 1. Port of Vladivostok Water User Register has been compiled. In accordance with RF legislation using of any zone of sea water areas is subject to obtaining a state-granted license. Moreover, a contract of the right to use this zone of water area is to be concluded with the government. This contract stipulates the procedure for keeping the water area clean. 2. An overall inventory of licenses issued has revealed that only 60 per cent of water uses do hold the licenses. An obligation to enter into water use agreements was laid on the other players in this sector of economy. 3. Starting a project of fitting sewage water outlets and mouths of rivers flowing into the sea with fine filter grating has been initiated. 4. All the river beds have been inspected. Sites of unauthorized dumping have been identified. Measure are being taken to remove these. 5. On the basis of the inspection dozens of directions were issued on correcting the violations o the nature protection law. The amounts of penalties reached several thousand US dollars. At that the justification for the penalty sanctions is not always sound. Water area pollution is spread under the influence of the wind and currents. It is understood that neither the wind nor the current recognize the limits of different zones. As a result some water users in the lee side of the bays have to bear the major burden of responsibility for general pollution of the port waters. This will not facilitate mutual understanding between the water users and the administration. Apart from the above, the following actions have been scheduled within the framework of the “Waste” Krai Programme for the years of 2005-2011. - water supply and sewage facilities reconstruction and development in the city of Vladivostok (sewage facilities); - construction of rain-storm run-off treatment plants in the city of Vladivostok; - construction of municipal solid waste landfill in the city of Vladivostok; - rehabilitation of the municipal solid waste landfill (in the area of Gornostai bay, Vladivostok); - sunken ships recovery; - utilization of ships removed from service. Presently the Commission is working out the program of actions for the nearest years, featuring the following priorities: - organizing port waters pollution monitoring on a regular basis; - identifying the major sources of port waters pollution; - determining the basic principals of cleaning activity organization and financial backup; - establishing a stricter control on the water user compliance with the requirements of the Compulsory Regulations on sea ports and other regulatory documents. With the activities of Primorsky Krai Government being on the rise, there are still quite many issues lacking unambiguous answers until present time. Among these open questions there are the following ones: 1. Financial support sources and procedures for main water areas cleaning programmes. That’s the most essential and controversial matter. The Primorsky Krai budget can’t provide required financing for all the programmes. The federal budget can’t be relied upon either. Many of the water user are willing to contribute to the cause but they need to be presented the reasonable substantiating of their share in the common fund. Meanwhile unanimity has not been reached yet as to the final amount of the annual budget for the port of Vladivostok water area cleaning system. Estimates vary in the range of from USD800,000 to USD2,000,000. 2. Introduction of modern technologies of water areas cleaning from litter and oil. That's the second by the order of importance unsolved issue. Present-day skimmers of garbage are known to be quite expensive. Personnel needs to be trained in new techniques. Vladivostok in this respect is a unique site. Here the whole complex is to be started from the very beginning. Let me remind you that garbage collecting vessels currently available at the port of Vladivostok were built 15-20 years ago, they are few in number and their efficiency is extremely low. 3. Organization of the system of continuous monitoring port waters. Implementation of this project would help reduce the amounts of litter ingress into water areas. To the best of my knowledge, some ports of the region possess such systems which have proved their effectiveness. In terms of priority of putting into practice the establishment of operative pollution sources monitoring system is, no doubt, at the top of the list. But its implementation is to a great extent dependent on financing. For the time being monitoring is confined to episodic control agencies’ raids. There is no commonly shared approach to solving the above issues amidst the interdepartmental commission. And that is a hindrance to the adoption of the activities’ programme. CONCLUSION It is obvious that many ports of NOWPAP region encountered in the past and / or are still encountering the similar problems. Therefore the meetings like the 1st ML Workshop are the best venues for discussion of this sort of problems. Many ports of NOWPAP region, as far as I know, possess up-to-date systems for port waters cleaning. Say, I remember perfectly well what the Inner Sea of Japan port waters were like at the end of 1970-s and how they changed just ten years later. Within the framework of activities 17 and 18 there is some space for starting a discussion of problems and exchange of experience on port waters cleaning issues. This exchange can be realized through a number of ways:
Experience exchange in the field will eventually promote the establishment of effective system of port water areas protection from pollution.
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