Hey Kuty, have you seen this?

Saturday, January 26, 2002 Shvat 13, 5762 Israel Time: 07:32 (GMT+2)





Navy bans diving in all bodies of water

By Amos Harel




The Israel Navy yesterday issued a blanket ban on sailors getting into coastal and
river waters following the Shamgar report on the Kishon River.

It called on the authorities to issue criteria for determining whether waters are
polluted before it sends sailors back to training missions along the coast and in
rivers.

Navy sources admitted the ban may have security implications since it stops
frogmen examining the hulls of ships entering Haifa. It at least temporarily freezes
in-water training for frogmen and to a certain extent, for boat captains.

The ban, issued by Admiral Yedidya Ya'ari, who consulted with Chief of Staff
Shaul Mofaz beforehand, also includes the use of small craft by the navy in the
coastal waters and in rivers. Ya'ari said the Shamgar commission investigation into
the pollution in the Kishon River and its impact on frogmen training in those
waters, left him no choice.

The report demands that "a scientific examination of the river deltas, rivers and
ports in Israel, according to health and environmental criteria before the army or
any other military agency uses those waters for exercises."

The navy says no such criteria exist and the total ban is a way of pressuring the
appropriate authorities - presumably the Health Ministry and the Environmental
Affairs Ministry - to quickly establish those criteria. Meanwhile, the navy is trying
to find ways around the problem, including the use of water-tight diving suits,
which it has already begun acquiring.

The navy hopes if the appropriate agencies begin their own examinations of the
waters in preparation of establishing health criteria for diving, former Justice Meir
Shamgar will consider allowing at least a temporary return to in-water exercises for
skin divers.


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Mike Wallace
Huntsville,Ala