The EGG
The EGG
Israel has a total of 189 kilometers of Mediterranean costline, but the public today can use only about 50 kilometers. The major part of Isreal's shoreline is taken up by ports, power stations, army bases and a new and growing phenomenon – marinas.
There are already marinas in cities such as Herzliya and Ashkelon, but 14 marinas are being planned.
Take, for example , the marina planned for the beach between Bat Galim and Tel Shikmona, just north of the Maritime Research Institute in Haifa. If approve, this plan would allow for the building of Isreal's largest marina, to include 1,000 apartments and
1,500 hotel rooms along two kilometers of Haifa's costline. Some of the buildings in this project would be built 20 stories high. The project would include swimming beaches, sports facilities, dock for about 800 ships and man made lakes. The Haifa Marina
would spread over 1,300 dunams, most of which would be on land reclaimed from the sea.
What is so wrong with projects like the Haifa Marina? Isreal's environmental agencies, the so called "Green" groups, are finally moving into action against the project which was planned seven years ago. The Haifa Marina, according to its opponen
ts, would destroy the natural costline and the tall buildings of the project would destroy the beautiful scenic views from Mount Carmel.
Even a statement issued by Isreal's Association of Architects and City Planners gave reasons not to go ahead with the Haifa Marina. According to this statement, the marina would cause irreversible loss of natural scenery that is special to the Haifa regio
n. This statement also called for the area where Mount Carmel meets the s4ea to become a nature reserve which would allow no buildings there at all.
There has been some progress in Isreal regarding the quality and cleanliness of the shores. According to the Isreal Union for Environmental Defens (IUED), there is a decrease in marine and beach pollution from oil. The IUED reports: "Since Isreal sig
ned the Barcelona Convention for Protection of the Mediterranean twenty years ago, discharge of dirty waters from tankers is no longer standard practice. Concentrations of tar on Isreal's beaches have dropped to only one percent of their old levels"
.
But not all the environmental news is good. In the last six months, eleven dolphins have died off Isreal's coast, apparently poisoned by industrial wastes and poisons dumped into the sea. The level of pollution is rising, despite Ministry of the Environme
nt efforts to stop industrial dumping completely. This is bad news for the 50-100 dolphins that live off Isreal's Mediterranean coast, and should worry Isreal's human populatoin as well.
With projects like the Haifa Marina still being debated by planners and government officials, the battle for beaches is far from won.
by Nirit Gordon and Maya Shorer