Vol. 400 No. 2
9 Mrs. Taylor-Quinn asked the Minister for the Marine if he will quantify the damage caused by dumped plastics to (a) marine life, including fish and sea mammals, (b) fishing and pleasure boats and (c) if an assessment has been carried out of the tonnage of plastics dumped and landed on our coasts.
13 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for the Marine if he is satisfied with the effect of his Department's poster campaign to heighten public awareness regarding the problems of rubbish thrown into seas, rivers and lakes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
(Limerick West): I propose to take priority and oral Questions Nos. 9 and 13, respectively, together.
Most of the plastics dumped or landed on our coasts originate on land as domestic refuse or at sea by the throwing overboard from ships of operational wastes. There has been no assessment made by my Department of the tonnage involved but maritime local authorities would have some details of the amounts of refuse collected from their beaches.
The Government contributed towards the cost of the European Coastwatch 1989 which undertook a survey of our coasts in September last year. It provided very useful information on the extent of the problem, showing that plastics washed in from the sea is a problem even. in the most remote and otherwise unspoilt areas of our coastline. The sampling method used was to divide the coastline into 5km blocks and each block was then subdivided into 0.5km units. The survey showed that 59 per cent of the units had general plastics such as bags, pieces of buckets and so on, 25 per cent had plastic/nylon fishing gear and/or poly-strene and 18 per cent had plastic beer can 6-pack holders or packing straps.
The Department of the Marine, conscious of the damage that may occur, is tackling the problem of disposal of plastics in the marine environment on a number of fronts. Firstly, the Government's Environment Action Programme specifically addressed this issue and made a commitment in the following terms:
Indiscriminate disposal of ships' waste in the Marine environment must be terminated. Harbour authorities will, therefore, be required to instal facilities for receiving ships' waste in all ports. The provision of such facilities will enable Ireland to accede to the MARPOL Convention and legislation for this purpose will be brought forward in the current year; this legislation will contain provision for enforcement and penalties.
Secondly, I am pleased to say that the Sea Pollution Bill, 1990 has just been published and was circulated to Deputies last week. The Bill, when enacted, will give effect to the International Convention for the prevention of Pollution from Ships, commonly known as MARPOL 73/78, by which (i) the dumping of plastics will be prohibited, and (ii) facilities must be provided at ports for the reception of plastic, food, oily and other wastes from ships.
Pending the enactment of this legislation my Department have written to all port authorities urging them to provide facilities at the earliest possible date. My Department have also been in touch with the Chamber of Shipping to ascertain the needs and requirements of shipowners with regard to reception facilities.
Thirdly, in anticipation of the enactment of the Sea Pollution Bill, and mindful that awareness of the damage a seafarer can causes is crucial to the prevention of this pollution, my Department, in conjunction with the Wildlife Service of the Office of Public Works, launched a poster campaign to discourage seafarers from dumping over the side. The poster graphically highlights the adverse effects ships' garbage, especially plastics, can have on marine life and safety at sea.
My Department have sought to achieve the widest possible circulation of the poster; it has been circulated to all schools in the country, seafarers, fishing vessels, fishery co-operatives, yacht clubs and merchant vessels. I am gratified with the response the poster campaign has generated and am satisfied that increased awareness of the problem, particularly among the younger generation, has been achieved. I must compliment those environmentalists who assisted my Department by giving talks and presenting slide shows across the country in an effort to increase awareness of the harmful effects of dumped plastics in the marine environment and on our coastline.
I should like to join with the Minister of State in complimenting those who held slide shows throughout the country on the dumping of plastics; and also to compliment the Department on the most effective poster they have mounted. Is the Minister in a position to give an indication to the House of the amount of damage caused to the different species of fish around our coast and to sea mammals? Research indicates that substantial damage is being caused by plastics and that many fish are being killed.
I hesitate to interrupt the Deputy but I have to say that the time available for priority questions is long since exhausted. We have to terminate them quickly.
Is the Minister aware that fish are being choked by plastics and are dying of starvation as a result of consuming such products? Has the Minister any information in regard to that? Has the Minister made representations to the Spanish Commissioner in relation to the amount of nylon plastic netting that is being dumped by the Spanish fishing fleet around our coast? Will the Minister accept that that netting is causing havoc?
I must call priority questions to a halt.
(Limerick West): I do not have the information the Deputy has sought because she did not request it. If the Information is available in the Department I will gladly let the Deputy have it. I should like to tell the Deputy that the Bill I referred to will strengthen the Government's control over this.
How soon will the Bill be dealt with?
(Limerick West): The Bill has been published and I suggest that, with the co-operation of the Deputy's party, it might be taken in this session.
We on this side are always anxious to co-operate.
