Janet Finch-Saunders, Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy is disappointed to learn that money is not currently provided by the Welsh Government to assess the risk posed by pollution from aging shipwrecks.
Following a question to the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs early this month asking what the Welsh Government is doing to fund the study of our shipwrecks off the Welsh Coast, the Cabinet Secretary explained that ‘funding has not been specifically provided’.
However, that ‘depending on the locations, a proposal could fall within the criteria for the Marine Protected Area Management Scheme’.
It is thought there are thousands of shipwrecks that lie on the seabed around the UK, hundreds of those off the Welsh coast, and particularly in the infamously dangerous Menai Strait, many of them forgotten and still mysterious.
Commenting on the news Janet said:
“This is a really interesting topic that I believe warrants far greater attention. After hundreds of years of seafaring, naval battles, rough seas and fishing there are shipwrecks right across the Welsh coast.
“Many of them up in North Wales , particularly around Ynys Mon and the Menai Strait.
“However, experts caution that without knowing the contents, it's impossible to assess the potential dangers as the cargo deteriorates. Meanwhile, climate change is accelerating the breakdown of metal tankers due to more frequent storms and rising water temperatures.
“The only way to ensure that they are safe is to survey all the wrecks and re-identify them. Yes, this would be labour intensive but in the grand scheme would certainly save us all in the long-term.
“Dr Michael Roberts, Bangor University, has warned that as these wrecks degrade, we could have the equivalent of a small oil tanker running aground. It is time that the Welsh Government to the threat to our marine environment seriously.”
ENDS
