Last minute rescue

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Monday, July 12, 2010

Mustafa SarÄ±ipek

MuÄŸla - DoÄŸan News Agency

In a meeting at the MuÄŸla Governor's Office over the weekend, it was decided that the Blue Chip monitoring system would be implemented as soon as possible.

Officials from Special Environmental Protection Agency and The Turkish Marine Environment Protection Association, or TURMEPA, attended the meeting. TURMEPA General Manager Levent Ballar said he was happy with the decision.

The Turkish Marine Environment Protection Association, or TURMEPA, was about to abandon its protection work around Fethiye because of bureaucratic turmoil and non-compliance with regulations. Even though it was proposed by MuÄŸla Provincial Department of Environment Director Mehmet Åahin, the Blue Chip Card system was postponed by a decision made on March 19.

The Blue Chip Card system is unique in that it features a recorder both on shore and onboard registered vessels. The card transfers all the information to the computer and then to the main system so the amount of water taken by the boat can be accurately determined. If it has taken two tons of water, it has to pour out the same amount at the treatment facility.

TURMEPA, which is also the technological subcontractor for Blue Chip Cards for the next two years, bought software for the system for 200,000 Turkish Liras and prepared 5,000 cards that are linked to computer systems at 15 marinas in MuÄŸla.

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Guest - Yacht man
2010-07-29 22:26:28

I was in Gocek in June and there was a stream draining into the bay west of the town which was obviously heavily polluted with sewage- this needs to be stopped. For boats surely the emphasis must be to stop toilet waste rather than trying to immediately stop shower and kitchen water which is technically very difficult -Charter boat 11m -6 people-maybe 2/300 litres of grey/black water a day- impossible to capture ALL this in tanks or must charter boats visit pump out maybe every day(with a journey of an hour each way)

Guest - Stargazer
2010-07-16 13:53:43

There will be a mass exodus of yachts from Turkish waters including charter companies. Turkish tourism will suffer. This plan is simply not workable.

Guest - Squeaky
2010-07-14 09:33:43

This system is totally unworkable. To record all the water taken on board would require all yachts to fill up from water points with meters which is not possible - maybe desirable but not possible. Imagine the line-ups if all yachts had to do this. How would they prevent yachts from filling up at other water points? What about the water used to wash the decks? Deck Showers after swimming? How would this be accounted for?What about yachts with on board water makers which never take on water? It would be impossible to install "black" and "gray" water tanks in most yachts which were designed and built long before this sort environmental pressure became popular. Incidentally TURMEPA started this campaign and now are the sub-contractors to enforce and manage it - a great way to make a lot of money for themselves. Is it a coincident that an article suggesting TURMEPA will cease operation appears at the same time as one saying the project will go ahead - blackmail?

Guest - Earthman
2010-07-13 17:39:47

The blue card scheme is a perfect example of well meaning people not having a full and complete understanding of the problem or the impact of their proposed solution. IF the scheme is implemented as planned the bays will be empty of yachts because its impossible to comply. The locantas, bars and restaurants will also be empty of water bourne visitors. I urge the authorities to rethink the implications of this scheme, my boat was due to arrive in Turkey this year, itâ€™s in Greece and there it will stay until some common sense prevails. My boat has a water maker, I wont be loading ANY water from shore so how does that fit with the 200,000TL software that matches what is loaded with what is deposited? I bet the software engineer (I used to employ them) has absolutely no idea what he is doing when it comes to â€œhow boats workâ€, without that knowledge he is lost as is the blue card scheme. Get out of it now while you can without looking foolish.

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