marine pollution
The Bombetoka Estuary is highly vulnerable to pollution from Mahajanga city’s tourism, agricultural, industrial, and other sectors. Tests of the water by the National Centre For Environmental Research (CNRE) indicate the presence of toxic heavy metals and hydrocarbons that pose serious risks to both human and marine life. The project will demonstrate how water quality and sediments can be improved by developing a regulatory framework and monitoring system—a framework which will provide the basis for the development of national wastewater standards.
Deteriorating quality of the coastal waters of the ASCLME region poses a significant threat to public health as well as to the health of its living marine resources and ecosystems – and thus also to the economy to which fisheries revenues, for example, contribute US$943 million annually (ASCLME). The sources of pollution which contribute to this deterioration include both land-based and marine and maritime related activities.
