In July of 1971, the coastal freighter "Stella Maris" left the harbor of Rotterdam
loaded with 600 t of waste material from the Dutch vinyl chloride plant AKZO with
orders to dump its load near the Halten Bank, 60 nautical miles west of Norway.
When this became known, the Scandinavian governments intervened, objecting to an
intended dumping so close to an important fishing area. Because of this, the "Stella
Maris" was rerouted to a position south of Iceland. It intended to bunker at Thorshavn in the Faeroe Islands along its new route, which Faeroe fishermen vigorously
prevented. The British government objected to bunkering in Stornoway on the
Hebrides. Ireland threatened to take action with a warship, should the freighter intend
to enter Irish Waters. On July 26, 1971, the ship returned to Rotterdam without
having discharged its cargo. The barrels were stored there until a waste incineration
plant for special waste materials was completed (Anon 1971).
Since then ships have been converted and outfitted with special burning facilities on
board and such waste matter is burned at sea. This has the advantage that the gasses
given off do not affect humans.The hydrochloric acid that results from this burning
probably has no adverse effect on marine life in the North Sea because the seawater
is well buffered with bicarbonates.
It is not well known what dangerous wastes other than hydrochloric acid may be
released with the gasses; their total amount, however, should be lower than O.l % of
the original amount to be burnt. About 50,000 t of waste chlorinated hydrocarbons
from the German industry have been burnt on the sea, mostly from the 999 gross
tons, 72 m long incineration vessel "Matthias II" which has been in operation since
1972 with a capacity to burn lOt of wastes per hour. In 1979, a new incineration
vessel "Vesta" of 999 gross tons has been launched, which can carry about 1300 t of
liquid waste and burn it at temperatures of 1200° -I300°C. A sea area 40 nautical
miles east of the Doggerbank in the North Sea has been approved for the incineration
at sea, and the performance of burning is in general better than the figure of 99.9%
which is set by the Regulations for the Control of Incineration of Wastes and other
Matter at Sea, a recent annex to the London Convention (see Chap. 10).
It is to be feared that we will never know how much waste matter has been dumped
on the high seas in past decades and is still resting on ocean bottoms, war materials
being among them. For decades, obsolete munitions and other dangerous materials
were commonly dumped in the ocean. In 1958, the U.S.A. loaded the mothballed
war ship "William Ralston" with 8,000 t of mustard gas and sank it. In the period up
to 1968, an additional 12 ships loaded with munitions were sunk (Reed 1975).
When Baltic Sea fishermen occasionally find a poison gas grenade in their nets,
dumped there after the Second World War, one gets goose pimples. More than
80 Danish fishermen had accidents in the decades after the war, and there are many
casualties among German fishermen, too, who had contact with war gas bombs and
grenades, specially in the area east of Bornholm and southeast of Gotland. Eleven
thousand four hundred t of gas ammunition, however, which had been dumped after
the war south of Little Belt in only 30 m of water depth, apparently have disappeared.
Bombs and grenades recovered in 1971 were empty, and obviously the gas had leaked
out after corrosion of the metal, and had mixed with seawater. Similarly, there is no
indication of damage from the about 70,000 to of ammunition sunk inside 30 vessels
at 700 m depth in the Norwegian Trench south of Norway in 1945.
56
loaded with 600 t of waste material from the Dutch vinyl chloride plant AKZO with
orders to dump its load near the Halten Bank, 60 nautical miles west of Norway.
When this became known, the Scandinavian governments intervened, objecting to an
intended dumping so close to an important fishing area. Because of this, the "Stella
Maris" was rerouted to a position south of Iceland. It intended to bunker at Thorshavn in the Faeroe Islands along its new route, which Faeroe fishermen vigorously
prevented. The British government objected to bunkering in Stornoway on the
Hebrides. Ireland threatened to take action with a warship, should the freighter intend
to enter Irish Waters. On July 26, 1971, the ship returned to Rotterdam without
having discharged its cargo. The barrels were stored there until a waste incineration
plant for special waste materials was completed (Anon 1971).
Since then ships have been converted and outfitted with special burning facilities on
board and such waste matter is burned at sea. This has the advantage that the gasses
given off do not affect humans.The hydrochloric acid that results from this burning
probably has no adverse effect on marine life in the North Sea because the seawater
is well buffered with bicarbonates.
It is not well known what dangerous wastes other than hydrochloric acid may be
released with the gasses; their total amount, however, should be lower than O.l % of
the original amount to be burnt. About 50,000 t of waste chlorinated hydrocarbons
from the German industry have been burnt on the sea, mostly from the 999 gross
tons, 72 m long incineration vessel "Matthias II" which has been in operation since
1972 with a capacity to burn lOt of wastes per hour. In 1979, a new incineration
vessel "Vesta" of 999 gross tons has been launched, which can carry about 1300 t of
liquid waste and burn it at temperatures of 1200° -I300°C. A sea area 40 nautical
miles east of the Doggerbank in the North Sea has been approved for the incineration
at sea, and the performance of burning is in general better than the figure of 99.9%
which is set by the Regulations for the Control of Incineration of Wastes and other
Matter at Sea, a recent annex to the London Convention (see Chap. 10).
It is to be feared that we will never know how much waste matter has been dumped
on the high seas in past decades and is still resting on ocean bottoms, war materials
being among them. For decades, obsolete munitions and other dangerous materials
were commonly dumped in the ocean. In 1958, the U.S.A. loaded the mothballed
war ship "William Ralston" with 8,000 t of mustard gas and sank it. In the period up
to 1968, an additional 12 ships loaded with munitions were sunk (Reed 1975).
When Baltic Sea fishermen occasionally find a poison gas grenade in their nets,
dumped there after the Second World War, one gets goose pimples. More than
80 Danish fishermen had accidents in the decades after the war, and there are many
casualties among German fishermen, too, who had contact with war gas bombs and
grenades, specially in the area east of Bornholm and southeast of Gotland. Eleven
thousand four hundred t of gas ammunition, however, which had been dumped after
the war south of Little Belt in only 30 m of water depth, apparently have disappeared.
Bombs and grenades recovered in 1971 were empty, and obviously the gas had leaked
out after corrosion of the metal, and had mixed with seawater. Similarly, there is no
indication of damage from the about 70,000 to of ammunition sunk inside 30 vessels
at 700 m depth in the Norwegian Trench south of Norway in 1945.
56