Environmental Problem

Lack of regulative enforcement caused by inadequate technology

Vessels and offshore structures are two of the major sources of the more than 500,000 tons of oil spilled into the marine environment every year. An increased number of regional, national and international protocols are being approved to reduce this pollution including ratification of sensitive marine areas as “Special Areas“, where vessels and offshore structures must adhere to strict emission standards.

Regulatory enforcement of new emission standards for vessels and offshore structures operating within these “Special Areas” requires round the clock surveillance and extending the existing surveillance methods is cost prohibitive, unreliable and ineffective. New technologies to identify and monitor emissions are required to significantly reduce the amount of pollution.

The present strategy to deal with oil pollution within “Special Areas” and the sporadic surveillance methods used to enforce protocols, are proving inadequate. The reasons are primarily lack of available surveillance technologies and economic considerations. A major problem when fighting marine oil pollution is linking the spilled oil to the actual polluter.

Technology enforcing the environmental programmes efficiently will set the pace for strategic implementation of future environmental initiatives. The aim of OSIS is to support this process through the development of new technology.