The problem of the Mediterranean, it is the lack of strongcurrents and tides. Other problem, that of an increasinglysignificant coastal population and a seasonal tourist surgeoverflowing. II is thus necessary to be able to manage the causedrejections, which was implemented only recently (about fifteen yearsapproximately). The coastal communes were not sufficiently equippedas regards station with purification, of factory of incineration, ordevices of cleaning of the littoral. And Nostrum Pond was used asdischarge system, the poor one, that that is for the urban rejectionsas for the industrial rejections. Today, almost all themunicipalities could, by the means of inter-communalité, to beequipped in order to reduce the impact of the anthropic pressure andthe rejections which it causes. But the mission is far from beingaccomplished on the Mediterranean littoral. Vigilance must be daylabourer for two essential reasons: the Ligure current and lack ofgood citizenship of the users of the littoral.

Crowned close Italian

Far from me the idea to throw the stone to them. The factremains that I want well to collect some small stones. The Ligurecurrent, which comes to border the North-West of Italy, the gulf ofGenoa and its surroundings, distributes us all that it collects on itspassage. Touched first, the Alpes-Maritimes which spend their timescleaning their ranges and their splits, the VAr which invests in therakes and the machines of cleanings of range, Mouths of the Rhonewhich starts to make gray mine, until in Hérault where macro-wastebecame a major concern. Good, let us re-enter in the sharp one of thesubject.

Macro-waste and hydrocarbons

When one speaks about macro-waste, one often evokes wastewhich we produce and who find ourselves on the ranges. One less oftenthinks of " natural " waste than are the deadwood and the dead sheetsof posidonies. But if it is well a kind of macro-waste of which onedoes not think inevitably, in fact the hydrocarbons are however notthe least harmful!
Several Mediterranean communes, in particular in Corsica,complain sometimes about the stranding in great quantities of tar ontheir ranges. This tar, quasi inalterable, is failed in the form ofpellets and comes from the tablecloths of déballastages of certaincaptains of not very scrupulous ships. However, the InternationalConvention MARPOL which regulates the rejections at sea of the ships,classified the Mediterranean " zone special ". That means that anyrejection of some nature that it is (household refuse, hydrocarbons,etc.) is prohibited!
Prohibited... That seems not to mean large thing for certaincaptains who degas before arriving at the port or after in having leftto the broad one. If there is not solution " miracle " to clean theranges of the tar which is failed, there is recently the means ofpreventing this pollution. Program " OILWATCH " in which take partfive European countries (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and GreatBritain) at the operational level, allows today detection on a vastzone, tablecloths of hydrocarbons by satellite (Radarsat &ERS2) and its use by the authorities in load of the fight againstpollution at sea. The fast processing of the images satellitalesallows the release of alarms and the implementation of the means ofthe French Customs in the Mediterranean (for the zone of Frenchmonitoring) for confirmation, and if that is possible for theobservation of an obvious offence. Over the period of the 01.02.98 tothe 31.08.98 (first part of the phase controls program), the Radarsatsatellite detected 51 oil discharges in 25 images distributed on theMediterranean zone energy of the Gulf of Lions to the gulf of Genoa.For the same period, the plane specialized POLMAR 2 of the FrenchCustoms detected 59 tablecloths during 29 flights in the zone ofFrench monitoring! The reliability of the detection of thetablecloths and the unceasingly improving image processingsatellitales, the actors of the program work from now on on the speedof the procedures and the frequency of the observations in order tosend an agent sworn in to the good moment and the good place, tosurprise the ships in obvious offence. The fear of the gendarme willcertainly cause to reduce the number of degasifications and thus therisk of littoral pollution by the hydrocarbon S. 

A bad general appreciation of the disadvantages due toabandoned waste

The absence of definition of the character polluting ofmacro-waste involves a strong subjectivity of their appreciation bythe public or private people. Waste is given up, often with theimpression which they are not " not polluting ". The magic word ismarked. They however involve degradations of the landscape, damagephysical in the medium and costs of high processing.

Persistent waste in ceaseless circulation