|
Workshop on prevention of marine pollution begins
Accra, July 2, Ghanadot/GNA - A three-day regional workshop
on the London Convention and Protocol in West Africa aimed
at preventing marine pollution began in Accra on Wednesday
to increase awareness on the effects of waste dumping at
sea.
The workshop comes off at the heels of the consequential
shipping and related maritime activities that would soon
take place along the Ghana's territorial waters as a result
of the oil find.
Six other countries within the sub-region, namely, Sao Tome
and Principe, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Liberia
and the Gambia are attending the workshop, under the theme:
"Working Towards Protecting the Maritime Environment".
Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Harbours
and Railways, who opened the workshop, stressed the
importance of the Convention in protecting the country's
territorial waters, especially with the impending oil
exploration.
"As a result, we all need to consider the negative impact
associated with activities on the marine environment and the
design of proactive measures to forestall their occurrence,"
he added.
The Minister noted that government had already taken
proactive measures for the effective implementation of the
Conventions domestically, except the MARPOL Convention
Annexes 111-VI, which were currently due for consideration
by Cabinet.
The MARPOL Convention is an International Convention for the
Prevention of Pollution from Ships, which is applicable
world-wide.
It consists of the Articles, which contain general
regulations and definitions, and six Annexes dealing with
different types of marine pollution by ships.
He said the country had also ratified the International
Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage and
the Establishment of Oil Pollution Damage Fund to become a
qualified beneficiary for compensation under their regimes
as a risk management policy.
Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi said works have also been initiated for
the installation of an electronic surveillance system with
coverage range of 200 nautical miles into the sea and a
complete coastline stretch from Axim to Odaa for 24-hour
surveillance on territorial waters and the economic
exclusive zone.
The Minister further advised all stakeholders, especially
fishermen, beach resort operators and oil and gas project
executors to attend the workshop to maximise its profits.
Mr. Issaka Peter Azuma, Director-General of the Ghana
Maritime Authority (GMA), pointed out that the recent
dumping of toxic chemicals within the territorial waters of
a sister country was still fresh in memory and its
recurrence should never be repeated.
He said it was as a result of such threats that the GMA in
collaboration with the International Maritime Organisation
(IMO) had organised the workshop to expose state parties of
the Convention to the dangers of disposal of waste within
the Gulf Steam.
On what Ghana was doing, Mr Azuma hinted that Ghana had
since the beginning of the year commenced the implementation
of a Port State Control Programme, as recommended in the
Abuja Memorandum of Understanding at the last IMO regional
meeting.
He said the Programme was ensuring that sub-standard ships
from foreign countries were not permitted to operate within
Ghana's territorial waters as practiced in other regional
blocks.
"As a matter of fact, we will not compromise on our port
state control measures on un-seaworthy ships especially
crude oil carriers and chemical tankers.
Mr Azuma pledged the GMA would intensify its auditing
programme on operators of reception facilities and off-shore
monitoring systems in order to prevent possible pollution of
the marine environment.
Mr Michael Luguje, IMO Representative, in a speech read on
his behalf, charged the sub-region to do more to protect its
marine environment, considering its rapid growth in the oil
and gas sectors.
The London Convention was adopted in 1972 and modernized in
1996 to make way for few accepted wastes such as dredged
material, sewage, sludge, fish waste and wrecked vessels.
GNA
|
