The Persian Gulf is an expansion of the Indian Ocean, situated in western Asia which separate Iran from the Arabian Peninsula. The Persian Gulf’s wide is 55 kilometers and 989 kilometers-long inland sea. The Persian Gulf States include Iran (Persia), United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar on a peninsula off the Saudi coast, Bahrain on an island, and Kuwait and Iraq in the northwest (Reynolds, 1993). The Persian Gulf has wide coral reefs, and numerous pearl oysters, and plenty of fishing grounds. The largest amount of crude oil in world exists in Persian Gulf, and because of that, has become the most strategic waterways in the world (Sheppard 1993), about 15 million people live and work along the Gulf coastline. Because of the war and high level of water evaporation, extended drilling and oil extraction, pollution of the water has extremely enhanced, and the Persian Gulf is now one of the susceptible marine ecosystems (SOMER 2003). In this essay we will be examined the quality of management and environmental impacts of specific issues in Persian Gulf, in three separate parts.
Ballast Water
One of the issues in the Persian Gulf that is well managed is related to the regulation regarding to the Ballast water discharge. The only multi-national organization in the Gulf is Regional organization for the protection of marine environment (ROPME, 1999), ROPME Sea Area is the largest receiver of ballast water from vessels, every year more than 50,000 ships meet this zone and over one billion tons are discharged in the Persian Gulf. Tanker and cargo ships traffic produces a considerable quantity of ballast water evacuation in this area (UNEP, 1999).The Steering Committee Meeting after two days of comprehensive controversies identified the necessity for the confirmation of the binding ballast water management provisions to consider the matter of detrimental aquatic organisms and pathogens in vessels’ ballast Water and sediments in streak with the ROPME
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