Marine Pollution a top priority for Zakynthians

Related Articles

Greece:- Golden Visa won’t be abolished.

2 weeks ago

Greece:- Ministry of Education: New penal code for students for mobile phones in schools

2 weeks ago

Zakynthos:- Tourist season looking promising for boat tours……. however, worry grows for the “shipwreck”

3 weeks ago

The activist movements of the group “Clean Waters in Zakynthos” were heard at the Port Authorities on Thursday. The group in a message on their Social Media page, called for all its members to meet at the Port Authorities, in an effort to find out what the authorities have done as far as keeping our seas clean.

The group are trying to put more pressure on authorities to keep our waters clean as the tourist season reaches its peak. Congregating at the Port they discussed their actions and those to follow in the near future.  The group’s organisers spoke with the Harbour Master and also presented him with a letter asking officially for information. The letter presented follows:-

To The Harbour Master of Zakynthos,

Zakynthos 1/8/2019

Press Release

Report –  ‘Clean Waters in Zakynthos’ Movement

Dear Mr. Siouti,

Following our previous visit and the continual interest of thousands of our fellow citizens within the clean water movement in our area, launched by the Facebook group called ‘Clean Waters in Zakynthos’, with the sole interest of keeping our marine environment on our island clean, we return in writing to demand that the expectations and needs of the local community for a sustainable marine environment be met, as a public good protected by Greek law and the international conventions, which our country has signed and is committed to adhering to, and in case of non-adherence, the imposition of high fines for compliance with our country’s public authorities is welcomed.

With the above considerations, we address the following questions to your department, as they arise from the relevant Greek legislation, and we request their response. In addition, we remind you of the content of international texts, which invite all stakeholders and the local community to link tourism activities with the inclusion of the social, economic and physical viability of the local ecosystem.

In particular, in support of our concern for the timely unregulated management of the maritime tourism product at local level, which aims at the undisturbed accumulation of its financial goodwill in the hands of the few maritime tourism businessmen, we are stating the following data from international declarations, and that these international declarations should take action upon by the Zakynthos Port Authority, in relation to the questions we ask you about stopping the disastrous course for the marine environment of our island and to the local community. For example :

1. Touristic planning with the promotion and preservation of the natural and cultural heritage features and involvement of the local community with a focus on activities with benefits (ICOMOS, 1999)
2. The Malta Charter for International Cultural Tourism (2006) calling on all stakeholders at local, state and European level to adopt sustainable development.
3. The Unesco World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Program (Unesco, 2011) proposing the development of stakeholder engagement strategies, focusing on empowering local communities.
4. The United Nations and UNESCO World Tourism Organization (December 2017) Conference in the context of the celebration of the World Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development (2017), which proclaims the sustainable cohesion and benefit of local communities as a key conclusion to the need to develop a strong link between tourism, culture, local society and entrepreneurs.
5. The World Code of Tourism Ethics (1999), with the aim of modeling the behavior of entrepreneurs for tourism development and with articles of the Code on the contribution of tourism to understanding and respect between people and societies (Art. I), its sustainable development (Art. III) and respect for the local ecosystem and culture.
6. The Barcelona Declaration (2014) on Tourism and Cultural Heritage declaring harmony between tourism activities, the local environment, local society and business with the motto: ‘Better measure, to better manage’ and ‘Better places to live, better places to visit’.
7. The UN and the International Sustainable Tourism Sustainability Goals (SDGs)

The following are the questions we ask you based on the current environmental legislation and we await their prompt response.

Questions to the Port Authority

1. Exactly how many boats do tours around or near Zakynthos?
2. How many of them are New Capacity Ships of 200 mph or more and how many are New Capacity Ships of less than 200mph? Which are capable of carrying more than 10 (General Inspection Protocol or Security Certificate) (10 ) occupants, what are the existing Class I, II and III Total Tonnage vessels of 200kg or more respectively?
3. Are the existing ships equipped with one of the three statutory sewage management systems, have an independent sewage system and pumps, and two standard sewage delivery connections in accordance with paragraph 4 of article 10 of the Presidential Decree. 400 / 6-12-1996?
4. When and how often are ships checked (regularity control program) for the existence and operation of the planned sewage management systems? Do you require specialized staff at the Zakynthos Port Authority for safe inspection?
5.  Are there any ships that do not have a wastewater storage tank?
6. Do the vessels deliver to the tanker the projected number of occupants, the number of toilets and the hours of sail production of waste water per day?
7. Is the duration of the sailing calculated on the basis of the capacity of the sewage tank?
8. What progress has been made in the last month by the Port Authority towards solving the problem of illegal dumping of waste water at sea?

We would like to thank you for your time and attention to the content of this document. We remain at your disposal for anything related to this burning issue.

Members of the ‘ Clean Waters in Zakynthos’ Movement Coordination Group.

After the meeting with the Port Authorities, the group mentioned that they have been receiving on a daily basis complaints of marine pollution. These complaints have also been backed up with photographs and video footage in areas around Zakynthos. The group has emphasized that the problem is not just from certain cruise boats or hoteliers, the problem goes much more in depth. They are against those who are destroying our marine areas, these are the ones that should be held responsible not those who look after our marine environment.  The group also visited the District Attorney of Zakynthos to discuss how they should proceed in taking legal action. It is not sure whether the group at the moment will move to taking legal action or not, this will depend on what actions will be done by our authorities in the near future. However the group has mentioned that if things are not improved they will take their actions outside of Zakynthos, to the department of health and environment for example, as long as their voice is heard and thus causing action for improvements. There is a strong possibility that the group will take their actions to the streets once more. Applying continual pressure to our authorities hopefully will lead to something positive, calls for closing the port have been thought of to push the message,  Zakynthians want their seas clean, something that is naturally a right to all.