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Illegal discharges from vessels - A growing international concern
Recent estimates state that one-third of all oil pollution of the world’s oceans is caused by activities generally characterized as “marine transportation”. The pollution threat from any vessel to ocean ecosystems and surrounding environments is substantial. Both short and long term effects of this oil pollution have been assessed, resulting in the general consensus that oil spills must be reduced from their present level.
Operational pollution from vessels is especially seen as a result of routine tanker operations and from the discharge of oily wastes. To combat the problem, increasing numbers of regional, national and international protocols have been or are being deployed by authorities.
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The problem of illegal oil spills and discharges at sea is illustrated in the figure to the right covering the Baltic Sea and North Sea areas.
An assessment of the aerial surveillance flight records in the Baltic Sea and North Sea area in 2002 shows an alarmingly high number of illegal oil spills and discharges.
The oil primarily originates from vessels, despite the fact that the Baltic Sea and North Sea are designated as “Special Areas”.
Aerial surveillance is primarily carried out over busy shipping lanes, which give reason to believe that the actual number of oils spills and discharges is even higher. |
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The problem of illegal discharges from vessels is growing due to the fact that:
According to HELCOM , a single 24hours aerial surveillance flight in 2002 observed 26 illegal discharges in the Baltic Sea suggesting, that there could be as many as 10.000 illegal oil discharges in the Baltic Sea area every year. Although the data represent only a fraction of the “Special Areas” around the world, there is no evidence, that the environmental problems are less severe anywhere else in the world - making illegal discharges from vessels a growing international concern. |
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