The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MoEP) of Israel has informed Ashdod Port of its intention to impose upon it financial sanctions of NIS 2.7 million for polluting the Mediterranean Sea.
The port’s staff unloaded ships improperly and contrary to MoEP instructions, causing particles of sulphur, a hazardous material, to spill into the sea and to flow along the harbor toward nearby fish cages.
MoEP inspectors discovered the pollution in July 2015, when they saw a large sulphur stain that had spread from a ship that was anchored. The inspectors found that the sulphur spill was the result of sulphur being unloaded in an unsafe manner by the port’s staff, a manner that went against the conditions detailed in Ashdod Port’s permit to discharge materials into the sea. In fact, staff members continued to improperly discharge the sulphur even after the stain began to accumulate, and after they saw an MoEP vehicle in the area. The staff only stopped what they were doing after an inspector that the foreman put an end to it.
Source: Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection
