THE director general of the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA) has called for more to be done to protect the world's oceans, coasts and marine life from the environmental degradation caused by the shipping industry.
"Oceans are endangered by pollution irrespective of laws and more needs to be done to protect our seas since they are all interlinked," said Dimitris Mitsatsos, director general of HELMEPA at the Emirates Environment Group's monthly community lecture.
The HELMEPA head noted that the Gulf suffers from chronic oil pollution as everyday 70 to 80 oil tankers passing through the United Arab Emirates' waters, carrying 60 per cent of the total quantity of crude oil.
Essentially 90 per cent of pollution comes from land based sources," said Mr Mitsatsos, who pointed out that oil has been found in the Antarctic although it has no refineries.
"Oil spills are still occurring but they are decreasing over the years. The law for shore reception facilities was passed in 1983 but still today there are not enough of these facilities to accommodate the huge number of ships," he said.
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