The MCA have taken an important move towards ensuring Scilly is safe from environmental damage inflicted on The Islands by large freight vessels such as container ships and oil tankers.
A new radar system is to be installed on trial period on the Coastguard tower at Telegraph, St. Mary’s. The Radar system will be able to help the authorities monitor the course of shipping in and around the Islands in order to rectify any potential hazards. The radar will be surveying shipping that comes within 25 miles of the Islands.
There is already an exclusion zone around the Islands due to their environmental importance. The CITA is a prominent example of why the Islands need to be protected. When the CITA ran aground on St. Mary’s in 1997, a major pollution contingency had to be acted upon at great expense to he taxpayer.
Shipping lanes run relatively close to the Islands, the closest being in between Lands End and Scilly. This shipping lane was made infamous when the Torrey Canyon, an oil super-tanker, struck Sevenstones reef in 1967 and had to be bombed in order to avert oil leaking in an environmental disaster.
After the thirty day trial period, the importance of such a radar will be re assessed and it will be decided whether further action will have to be implemented.