"The government has failed, yet again, to protect the ocean from pollution in 2011," a report by the Zalul Environmental Association told the Knesset Environmental Committee last week. The environmental group's report, titled "Sea Situation" accused the government of "favoring the interests put forward by entrepreneurs, industries, and oil and gas explorers, at the expense of pubic interests." "It seems the ocean is the most neglected area in the country," Committee Chairman MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) said, adding that he has sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning that Israel has no emergency contingency in place for a disaster the likes of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. He further dismissed the PMO director-general's claim that the matter was mishandled by the Environmental Protection Ministry. The latter's representative to the meeting said that the ministry has various contingencies in place, but they have yet to be implemented due to lack of funds and personnel positions. The Environmental Protection Ministry says it lacks NIS 22 million to implements the plan. Zalul's report stated that the Environmental Protection Ministry does suffer from "limited resources and jurisdiction compared to the compounding (environmental) needs," and recommended that the government adopt and adapt the US' recommendations following the Gulf of Mexico disaster concerning the separation of authorities – i.e. the authority that issues maritime resources exploration permits and the authority that overseas their lawful application and environmental impact. "The regulation has yet to catch up with the resource exploitation rate and there is nothing stopping entrepreneurs from pushing forward," Zalul's delegate to the panel said. "There is no enforcement of existing regulation... and there is not body that coordinates the various authorities' different jurisdictions," he said. The association recommended that the cabinet form "one umbrella authority, with considerable powers and responsibilities, to protect the ocean and shoreline." The report also recommends reevaluating the current desalination facilities' expansion plan, saying their operational byproducts contribute to the thinning fish population off the coast of Israel. According to data presented by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, the fish population in Israel has decreased by 80% over the past decade. Zalul's recommendations further include a demand for marine projects to include an emergency oil and gas leak containment plans, saying entrepreneurs must also deposit concrete bonds to guarantee the funding of potential environmental damage rehabilitation, and to suspend any urban development projects along the shoreline. Avraham Deshe of the Energy and Water Ministry claimed that the "report is riddles with inaccuracies," while the Israel Park Authority representative to the meeting noted that there was a "remarkable improvement in sea water pollution levels." The environmental groups further expressed hope that the government will back an academic venture aspiring to establish a Mediterranean research center that would "end this lack of attention, which is bordering neglect." MK Khenin noted that while the State has been able to reduce the land-derived maritime pollution, "Israel's waters still face threats from other sources of pollution." He added that State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss has been asked to probe what he called "the local authorities' squabbles" in order to "prevent a serious ecological disaster in our waters." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter