All vessels equipped with an on-board toilet will soon be forced to install sewage tanks or marine sanitation devices, according to Transport Canada. The requirement has been law for seven years, but Ottawa granted a reprieve for fishing and pleasure boat owners because of the cost of installation. Read more here 11:25
NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?
While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here
Similar laws or regulations “MARPOL” have been in place since the 70s, but actual enforcement has been varied in effect as an International Convention for close to 25-30 years. Here in the US they’ve apply to raw sewerage discharge from toilets aboard fishing vessels for about that long. Requirements were generally based upon vessel size & disposition. Even discharges from galley sinks, & bathroom or “head” sinks are regulated dependent upon distances from shore, etc.
A “MSD” 9marine sanitation device) is required to be chained & locked once inside territorial waters at all times & heads or bathrooms were supposed to be locked at the dock.(not sure if still a requirement)
There recently was an effort to restrict deck water (wash-down) from being allowed to flow overboard, but it has generated a lot of push back even politically.
We seem to go, “From the sublime to the ridiculous!”
jmk-nbsc