KUWAIT CITY, Aug 7: The inspection teams affiliated to the Environment Public Authority recently launched a large scale campaign on Umm Al-Maradim Island to ensure compliance with environmental regulations, reports Al-Qabas daily. The campaign that was organized in coordination with the Coast Guard of the Ministry of Interior also targeted the island to monitor adherence to specific environmental laws, including Article 33 related to waste disposal in designated areas, and Article 100, which prohibits the discarding of hooks and fishing nets at coral reefs.

During the campaign, the environmental judicial officers identified five serious violations that damaged the coral reef. According to Eng Aisha Al-Hammadi, the EPA officer, these violations are subject to penalties, as per the authority’s regulations. The punishment ranges from a fine of 500 to 5,000 dinars, and imprisonment for a maximum period of one year. In another operation, the EPA documented four violations in a desert area in the Farwaniya Governorate, in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and Kuwait Municipality, based on Articles 40 and 41 of the Environmental Protection Law 42/2014. In the preceding July, the EPA judicial enforcement teams recorded a total of 74 violations, the majority of which were serious offenses, as specified in the articles of the Environmental Law. The Violations Monitoring Report indicated that the Capital Governorate was guilty of committing the highest number of violations during that period, with 28 offenses observed. The report further disclosed that out of the total violations, 43 were committed by individuals, while the remaining violations were recorded in industrial and commercial facilities. Notably, some of the violations in the Capital Governorate were committed along the Kuwait Bay, which, according to Article 108 of the Environmental Protection Law, is a protected area where any environmentally harmful activity is strictly prohibited.

Inspection
The inspection teams of the Environment Public Authority launched a large-scale inspection campaign on Umm Al-Maradim Island, which resulted in the registration of 5 serious violations by a number of boats that threw their teeth at the coral and harmed it. The environmental judicial officer in the “environment” M. Aisha Al-Hammadi said that the campaign was carried out in coordination with the Coast Guard at the Ministry of Interior, and targeted Umm Al-Maradim Island, to ensure the extent of adherence to the application of Article 33 for throwing waste in designated places, and Article 100 for throwing a tooth (hook) at coral.

Al-Hammadi revealed that the judicial officers issued 5 violations according to Article 100 regarding throwing a tooth at coral, whose punishment, according to the authority’s regulations, reaches a fine between 500 dinars and 5 thousand dinars as a maximum, and imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year. In the context, the Authority recorded 4 violations in one of the wild areas of the Farwaniya Governorate, according to Articles 40 and 41 of the Environmental Protection Law 42/2014, in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and Kuwait Municipality. In addition, the judicial enforcement teams at the Environment Public Authority recorded 74 violations last July, the majority of which were serious violations, according to the provisions of the Environmental Law articles.

According to the Violations Monitoring Report, the Capital Governorate is the highest with 28 violations of the total observed in the aforementioned period, and the report showed that the share of individuals in the total violations amounted to 43 violations, while the rest of the violations were recorded on industrial and commercial facilities. The violators in the Capital Governorate assaulted Kuwait Bay, which Article 108 of the Environmental Protection Law considers an area of a special nature, and prohibited the practice of any environmentally harmful activity in it.