Ocean Pollution - Protection of the Seas

 

R.J. van Dijk, Rijkswaterstaat, North Sea Directorate P.O. Box 5807, 2280 HV Rijswijk, The Netherlands

 

            Summary

 

The following international agreements and instruments concerning ocean pollution are especially of importance for Western Europe: London Dumping convention, MARPOL, Oslo convention, Paris convention, E.E.C. legislation, North Sea ministers conferences.  In principle the international agreements and instruments are implemented in national laws or in national action plans.

 

Almost all dumping operations in the North Sea have finished or will terminate in a very short time.

 

Compliance with MARPOL means that ships will have to pay for the disposal of liquid waste to shore reception facilities, while moreover disposal may cause costly delays.  Many ships therefore still prefer illegal discharge of their wastes at sea.  Registrations of oil spills in the North Sea are obtained by a remote sensing equipped airplane.  Court procedures against suspected ships were very difficult and hardly ever resulted in decisions to convict the ships' master.  Actions are taken internationally which will result in the near future in a better enforcement of MARPOL in the W. European Seas.  As an additional tool the Netherlands will carry out intensified inspections of suspected offenders.  Costly delays resulting from such inspections will undoubtedly act in a very preventive manner.

 

Discharges from offshore operations are discussed in the Paris Commis­sion.  Discharges of oil contaminated cuttings from exploration and appraisal wells will be prohibited from 1994, and in 1992 a date will be set for the prohibition of discharges of these cuttings from all offshore operations.  The agency of the minister of Economic Affairs responsible for the mining activities is also responsible for the enforcement of the environmental requirements.  In practice operators have to report on their discharges (operational and accidental) and little enforcement activities are carried out.  But there are no indications that offense of discharge rules is a regular phenomenon.  The impression is that for the UK Continental Shelf the situation is worse, almost all registrations there from airborne surveillance show large spills of oil around the platforms.

 

Enforcement of measures to reduce pollution of land based sources is carried out in a number of ways which can generally be described as the classical ways to enforce environmental regulation on industrial and community pollution.  Nowadays much attention is paid at the improvement of co­operation of all the agencies involved.  More and more separate enfor­cement units are established.

 

1          Overview of international agreements in W. Europe

 

Early civilizations living near the water of oceans, seas and rivers must undoubtedly have recognized the ease with which wastes can be dumped.  Severe and unacceptable pollution of the waters by activities of man however began during the industrial revolution. Sewage-systems including streams and rivers became overburdened by industrial wastes and sludges.  So it became necessary for industrial countries to seek for control of waste water discharges and waste dumping in inland waters, rivers, seas and oceans.  Discharges and dumping in rivers and inland waters were controlled in most industrial countries by national legislation, the regulation of discharges and dumping in seas and oceans was looked upon as being subject of interna­tional agreements, for which consultations started in the late 1960's.

 

An overview of existing international agreements and instruments con­cerning the control and prevention of ocean pollution and especially of importance for Western Europe:

 

1.1       London Dumping convention/LDC - 1972

 

This convention is still the only world wide convention for the control of the input of wastes and harmful substances dumped into the sea from sources other than from normal ships-operations.

Dumping is defined in the London Dumping Convention to include any deliberate disposal at sea of wastes or other matter from vessels, aircraft or other man-made structures at sea, or any deliberate disposal at sea of vessels or other man-made structures at sea.

 

1.2              International Convention for the prevention of pollution from ships (MARPOL-1973)

 

This convention covers all the operational discharges from ships.

 

1.3       Oslo convention (Oslo - 1971)

 

This convention can be considered as a regional component for the control of Ocean Dumping, and applies geographically to the North East Atlantic Ocean, from Iceland to Spain.

 

As it became clear, that land based sources play a major if not a dominant role in man introduced pollution of the sea, in Western Europe interna­tional agreements were also concluded in this respect.  An example is:

 

1.4       Paris convention (Paris - 1974)

 

This regional convention concerns the protection of the North East Atlantic (same area as the Oslo convention) against pollution from land based sources.  It covers discharges into the sea either directly via pipelines or via rivers, estuaries and coastal waters.  It also covers discharges that reach the sea by way of the atmosphere.  In addition direct discharges from offshore operations are also covered.  There are more regional conventions covering the same items but there is no comparable world wide convention.

 

 

From recent years the following developments have to be noticed:

 

1.5       E.E.C. legislation

 

More and more regulation covering input into surface waters (rivers) is now laid down in (for member states) binding EEC- directives.

 

1.6       North Sea ministers conferences

 

As some countries felt the need for a political impetus for the regional bodies as Oslo and Paris commissions, periodical North Sea Ministers Conferences (1984, 1987, 1990) were held.  These conferences resulted in so called "agreed actions" laid down in the "final declarations" of these conferences.

 

2          Commitments of the Netherlands to implement the international agreements

 

In principle the international conventions like LDC, MARPOL, Oslo and Paris conventions have to be implemented in national laws.  In the Netherlands the relevant laws are:

·         W.V.Z. (Wet Verontreiniging Zeewater - Ocean dumping act): LDC and Oslo convention.

·         W.V.V.S. (Wet Voorkoming verontreiniging door scheepvaar, - Preven­tion Pollution from ships act): Marpol.

·         M.C.P. (Mijnwet Continentaal Plat - Continental Shelf mining act): Paris convention in as far as the marine environment is concerned.

 

In the Netherlands W.V.0. and W.V.Z. implement the legally binding decisions from Oslo and Paris commissions.

 

The decisions of the Oslo commission are generally speaking more stringent than the guidelines from LDC, therefore in the Netherlands LDC-decisions generally do not require separate implementation.

 

In MARPOL the decisions are laid down in annexes, which have to be ratified by contracting parties.  In the Netherlands amendments of existing annexes can be accepted by pacid procedures in parliament.  For new an­nexes, however, explicit approval by parliament is required which means time consuming procedures.

 

The "agreed actions" from the North Sea Ministerial Conferences are politically binding.  They may have to become legally binding through de­cisions of the Oslo and/or Paris commissions, MARPOL requirements, IMO decisions, EEC directives or national legislation.  In the Netherlands an "action plan", presented to parliament illustrates the way the Netherlands will implement the "agreed actions".

 

3          Actual situation of ocean dumping and other sources of ocean pollution             in N.W. Europe

 

Ocean dumping can be divided in several categories, which are shown hereafter, followed by the actual situation in N-Western Europe.

                                                                                               N.W. Europe                            

               a. dumping of industrial waste               - terminated end 1989 (all countries

                                                                               except U.K.)

                                                                               terminated end 1993 (U.K.)

 

               b. dumping of sewage sludge                - terminated 1990 (all countries except

                                                                                U.K.)

                                                                               terminated 1998 (U.K.)

 

               c. Sea incineration                                  - terminated 1991

 

              d.  dumping of (polluted) dredged            -guidelines have been developed and are

                  materials                                               under review

 

              e. dumping of nuclear waste                   - terminated since the LDC moratorium                                                                               (1986).

 

The MARPOL annexes 1 (oil); 2 (transport of liquid chemicals in bulk); 5 (ships garbage) and from 1991: 3 (hazardous goods in packed form) are in force for the North Sea.

 

For the pollution of the sea via rivers and atmosphere in the last North Sea ministers conference generally speaking a 50% or more reduction of input of hazardous substances via rivers and estuaries between 1985 and 1995 was agreed and for some dangerous substances (dioxines, mercury, cadmium, lead) a 70% or more reduction was agreed in the same period.

 

4          Enforcement of ocean dumping and ocean pollution regulation in The             Netherlands

 

4.1       Dumping

 

As it will be clear that almost all dumping operations in the North Sea have finished or will terminate in a very short time, enforcement of dumping regulations will not be dealt with in detail in this paper.  From the recent past it is just noticed that a sophisticated device has been in use for about 10 years for remote control of sea incineration activities.  For the only remaining dumping activity: dumping of (polluted) dredged materials, enforcement activities are carried out in a more general way.  It is considered to be sufficient to have periodically checks of the degree of pollution of the dredged material to be dumped in sea in combina­tion with a more permanent check of the spots where the relevant actual dredging activities are carried out.

 

4.2       MARPOL

 

More interesting is the enforcement of MARPOL regulations.  Here severe problems have been encountered.  Generally speaking compliance with MARPOL will mean that ships will have to pay for the disposal of oily sludges, washwaters from tanks, garbage etc. to shore reception facilities.  Moreover in many cases disposal to shore reception facilities causes delays.

 

In practice it has been found therefore that many ships still prefer illegal discharge of their wastes at sea.  In fig.  I a picture is shown of the registered oil spills in the North Sea in the year 1988.  If compared with the dominant sealanes (fig. 2) a remarkable coherence is found.

These registrations have been obtained by the remote sensing equipped airplane of the Netherlands Coastguard (fig. 3).  Such airborne surveil­lance is carried out in the North Sea area along the Dutch coast about 700 hours per year, about 3-4 flights per week (irregular time schedule).  It can be considered as the only useful tool to register illegal ships dis­charges at sea, but mainly oil and oily liquids can be registered.

 

As an average about 80 ships per year are spotted during visual discharge of oil.  In several cases the registration of the discharge of oil (photographs and on remote sensing recordings) have been used in order to start court procedures against the captain of the ship.  It was noticed that these procedures were very difficult and hardly have resulted in court decisions to convict the ships' master.  The encountered difficulties are:

·         Most of the ships involved were sailing outside the territorial waters and thus outside the jurisdiction of the coastal state

·         Court procedures against the ship have then to be initiated by the flag state, this has been proven to cause very difficult international juridical procedures

·         The registration of the discharge of oil by the airplane was in many cases not considered as sufficient evidence in court proceedings

·         If there were court sentences, the penalties were relatively low (less than $ 10.000,-).

 

In the recent years a number of actions have been taken which will result in the near future in a better enforcement of MARPOL in the W. European Seas:

·         The European memorandum of Port State Control (MOU) was concluded to ensure regular inspection of ships for compliance with the operational requirements for pollution prevention as contained in the Marpol convention

·         Actions are undertaken to harmonize control procedures under this MOU by all states in all ports and to link the actions under the MOU with the airborne surveillance activities

·         A manual will be produced explaining all methods to identify offenders, including the evidence produced by airborne surveil­lance, to be used in court proceedings.

 

As an additional tool the Netherlands is considering within the near future to carry out intensified inspections of suspected offenders.  For example if a ship has been caught by airborne surveillance in (probably illegal) discharging oil, the first time it calls upon a Dutch harbour a wide ranging and intensified inspection is carried out, despite of the delay caused thereby.

It will be made clear to the ship why the inspection is there and afterwards the inspection will be widely convocated in shipping newsletters etc.  Costly delays resulting from such inspection will undoubtedly act in a very preventive manner.

 

During the 3e North Sea ministers conference (1990) it was agreed that North States will investigate possibilities to increase coastal state jurisdiction including the possibility of establishing Exclusive Economic Zones (E.E.Z.) in the North Sea.

When EEZ's are established possibilities for the Coastal State to take action against ships suspected of offense of international rules will be increased (law of the sea art. 211 and 220).

 

Finally it may be stated that currently in the Dutch ports intensified control is carried out on compliance by chemical tankers with the regulations of Annex II of Marpol.  This is to ensure that chemical tankers dispose of their cargo residues according to the said Annex.  Herewith it will be ensured that chemical tankers are only allowed to proceed to sea with such residue quantities which are allowed to be discharged at sea by virtue of the discharge requirements of the Annex.

 

4.3       Discharges from offshore operations

 

Discharges from offshore operations are on an international level discussed in the Paris Commission.  Here standards like allowable concentrations of oil in operational discharges are set, and procedu­res to report accidental discharges are agreed.  Within the Paris Commission rules for discharges from offshore have been strengthe­ned in the last decade, a process that will continue in the following years.

 

The allowable oil content in operational discharges is at this moment 40 ppm, while a further reduction is considered.  In the last North Sea Ministers conference (1990) it was agreed that discharges of oil contaminated cuttings from exploration and appraisal wells will be prohibited from 1994, and that in 1992 a date will be set for the prohibition of discharges of these cuttings from all offshore operations.

 

Discharges of offshore installations for the Netherlands part of the North Sea Continental Shelf (fig. 4) are covered by the Continental Shelf mining law.  The minister of Economic Affairs is responsible for the implementation of the law.  In the implementation of this law the standards agreed in the Paris Commission are applied.  The law has the provision that the minister of Economic Affairs can give specific rules.  In permits the maximum oil concentration is prescribed, as well as the kind of oil based muds and the kind chemicals which are allowed to be used.  For individual drilling operations permission has to be obtained for the use of oil based muds, which is granted according to the circumstances.

 

The agency of the minister of Economic Affairs responsible for the mining activities is also responsible for the enforcement of the environmental requirements.  In practice operators have to report on their discharges (operational and accidental) and little enforcement activities are carried out by authorities.  But for the Dutch Continental Shelf there are no indications that offense of discharge rules is a regular phenomenon or that the required reports from offshore operators are inadequate.

 

The impression is that for the UK Continental Shelf the situation is worse, almost all registrations there from airborne surveillance show large spills of oil around the platforms.  Discussion about this with the UK takes place in the Paris Commis­sion.

 

4.4       Pollution from land based sources

 

The 50-70% reduction of input of hazardous substances from 1985 to 1995 via rivers, estuaries and atmosphere will be implemented by all North Sea States for their own territories.

The reduction in percentages was chosen for political reasons, experience in the past showed that the process to set internationally agreed emission standards for hazardous substances turned out to be a goal that was almost impossible to reach.

In choosing the percentage approach it was unspoken accepted that in the various countries the reference situation could differ con­siderably, and so accordingly the efforts to meet the agreed targets.

 

In implementing the agreed reductions the following actions are taken by the individual North Sea States:

·         reduction of point sources from industries, communities etc: the existing framework to apply the water and air pollution acts and the permits based on those acts will be used

·         reduction of diffuse sources.  These sources become more dominant.  Possibilities to reduce these inputs are mainly still subject of studies

·         reduction of nutrients.  Negative effects of nutrification of the North Sea are observed more and more frequently in the last decade.  Effects are desatoration, poisonous algae blooms, foam on beaches caused by algae etc.  Nutrients mainly are discharged by industry, municipal sewage plants, and agriculture (fertilizers).  In many countries nutrient removal at sewage plants will have to be generally applied.  Measures to reduce output from agri­culture are still under discussion, but far reaching steps will be unavoidably.

 

Enforcement of measures to reduce pollution of land based sources is carried out in a number of ways which can generally be described as the classical ways to enforce environmental regulation on industrial and community pollution.  Different governmental agencies in the Netherlands have tasks in this field.  Nowadays much attention is paid at the improvement of cooperation of all the agencies involved.  More and more separate enforcement units are established.