Step Up Surveillance Or Risk More Oil Spill Woes, Marine Monitor Urges Israel

The head of the company that helped Israel pinpoint a vessel it says is responsible for spilling oil that wound up polluting the country’s beaches is calling on Jerusalem to significantly bolster its monitoring capabilities, or risk being stricken again.

“Until Israel, like every other country that respects its oceans, has the ability to monitor daily for oil spills and to find the perpetrators, this can happen again and again. It’s a decision away,” said Ami Daniel, co-founder and CEO of Tel Aviv-based marine intelligence firm Windward.

With no satellite or other robust civilian monitoring, Israel was taken by surprise on February 18 when tar began washing onto its Mediterranean coastline, following stormy weather.

During the following days, it became clear that beaches from Rosh Hanikra in the far north to Nitzanim in the south had been contaminated, leaving globs of tar all over the sand and shallows, along with dead or badly injured wildlife. On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Ministry declared the state of emergency along the coast over, with almost all beaches mostly cleaned after more than 650 tons of tar had been collected by an army of volunteers, soldiers and others.