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France, stung by oil tanker disasters that soiled its seas and beaches, is moving to protect one its most precious maritime resources the Mediterranean with stiff new punishments for polluters.

The measures, adopted last week by the French parliament in a rare show of unanimity, will create an environmental protection zone off southern France's Mediterranean coast, whose sun-drenched waters and beaches draw hordes of tourists every year.

World Wildlife Fund oceanographer Denis Ody welcomed the effort but said France must strengthen policing in the Mediterranean to make it effective.

"This law is a good idea but will work only if accompanied by the financial and human means to have it taken seriously," he said Monday from the southern port city of Marseille.

The measures, which President Jacques Chirac is expected to sign soon, are directed at shippers deliberately dumping oil, garbage and other pollutants in the Mediterranean. It seeks to punish them even when they are outside French territorial waters.

Under the law, France will create an ecological protection zone extending up to 90 miles from its Mediterranean coast. France says it does not need the approval of neighboring countries to implement the new measures, though other Mediterranean nations it has contacted generally welcomed the idea.

The Mediterranean is a major world shipping route linking the Atlantic Ocean with the Suez Canal. About a quarter of global oil traffic goes through the Mediterranean, according to French government figures.

In 1999, the sinking of a 25-year-old tanker called the Erika spilled 3 million gallons of oil that washed up on France's Atlantic beaches.

Another oil spill last year off northwestern Spain added urgency to French and European efforts to tighten maritime safety laws. The Prestige disgorged millions of gallons of oil when it broke up and sank in November, polluting Spanish and French coasts and shutting down fisheries.

But French authorities say the washing out of ballast, oil and fuel tanks, the dumping of garbage at sea and similar practices cause more pollution than shipping accidents.

"It's this deliberate pollution that is the main target" of the new measures, said Tokia Saifi, France's secretary of state for sustainable development, when she presented the proposals to lawmakers Thursday.

Ships flush their tanks at sea because it is cheaper and quicker than doing so in port, and because few ports have tank-washing facilities, Ody said.

Studies suggest 225 million gallons of oil and fuel are flushed into the Mediterranean each year this way, he said.

"It's a chronic problem," Ody said.

Captains of ships caught washing out oil tanks in the zone risk fines of up to $600,000. Their vessels could be seized until the fine is paid, French government officials said.

Captains of French ships caught polluting the zone also risk up to four years in prison. The government expects the law to take effect before the summer, when sun-loving tourists descend on Mediterranean beaches en masse.

photo credit and caption:

Local workers clean the beach of Hossegor, southwestern France, in this Feb. 5, 2003 file photo. Plates of oil from the sunken tanker Prestige continued to wash ashore the French Altlantic coasts. France stung by oil tanker disasters that soiled its lucrative seas and shores, is moving to protect its precious maritime resources with stiff new punishments for polluters. (AP Photo/Bob Edme, File)

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