Minister unveils measures amid Japan wastewater release

FOLLOWING the beginning of the discharge of wastewater from Japan’s Fukushima power station, Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources, Jelta Wong, released measures to ensure the safety of PNG’s sovereign waters.
Wong foreshadowed the introduction of monitoring and testing for hazardous material in PNG’s water with funding to be requested from the Government of Japan, and the need for more stringent ship ballast water discharge regulations.
“The fact is that the release of the wastewater has begun, it is incumbent upon all countries and global agencies to stringently and independently monitor water quality,” Wong said.
“Our Government has received briefings and data from the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, and at this point we place our confidence in this information, but our trust must not be taken for granted.
“I will be commissioning an independent monitoring and testing in PNG sovereign waters, that will be overseen by an accredited private sector company and seek associated costs to be reimbursed by the Government of Japan.”
He said the immediate concern was the discharge of ship ballast water from Japan, for which he said collective policy action was required from all maritime countries around the world.
“While the discharged wastewater can take some time to move around the oceans, ship ballast water could be in our waterways within a matter of days. Papua New Guinea has laws in place, through the Marine Pollution (Ballast Water Control) Act 2013, that prevents illegal ballast discharges, but additional measures are required as this relates to radioactive wastewater.
“The Marine Pollution Act was designed to prevent harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens entering PNG waters from ship ballast, but there is no reference to radioactive material in the legislation.”