Ashdod Port fined for polluting the Mediterranean Sea

The company was fined NIS 150,000 for illegally dumping waste water into the Mediterranean Sea in 2005
 
The Ashdod Magistrates Court imposed last week a NIS150,000 fine on the Ashdod Port company for illegally dumping waste water into the Mediterranean Sea.
 
The port company was indicted for discharging waste or wastewater to the sea from a land-based source without a permit, an offense under sections 2 and 6 of the Law for the Prevention of Sea Pollution from Land Based Sources, 1988.
 
The indictment, filed about two years ago, charged Ashdod Port company with three separate pollution incidents in late 2005. The indictment noted that on three separate occasions during the months of November and December 2005, polluted and murky wastewater and solid particles were observed to be discharged to the pier and from there through a drainage opening to the sea. An examination of samples taken in two of the cases revealed that the wastewater was mainly contaminated by oils, mineral oil, phosphorus and detergents.                                                        
 
In a plea bargain agreement, the Ashdod port company admitted to the offense and was convicted.
 
The company was fined NIS150,000, which the court instructed to be deposited in the Marine Pollution Prevention Fund and in addition was obligated to sign a NIS300,000 financial undertaking to refrain from committing similar offenses for a period of two years.
 
Judge Chaim Chadash noted in his decision that he had taken into consideration the fact that no actual damage appeared to have been done to the marine environment.