Clean Ships, Clean Ports, Clean Oceans: Controlling Garbage and Plastic Wastes at Sea (1995)
Chapter: SUMMARY
or enacting domestic legislation. New approaches for assisting these states could be considered. For example, to encourage participation in MARPOL, provisions allowing qualifying states to defer certain obligations under annexes I and II may be useful. Another possibility is development of independent, regional agreements incorporating the obligations of Annex V without the burdens of annexes I and II.
SUMMARY
Implementation of Annex V will require attention to three overarching issues. One is the need for national leadership; many opportunities for improving Annex V implementation require the cooperation of multiple agencies and organizations and diverse maritime sectors. There are four ways to provide leadership: maintain the status quo, assign the task to one agency, establish an interagency task force, or create a national commission. The commission concept may offer the most potential benefits and entail the fewest drawbacks. A commission not only could coordinate the efforts of federal agencies, but also could serve as a high-level focal point for U.S. leadership in guiding the global maritime community toward increased standards of performance.
The second issue is enforcement of Annex V. Efforts are under way to improve prosecution of foreign violators. A number of other steps also might be taken to enhance the effectiveness of enforcement. Government authorities could seek to clarify the extent of and fully exercise port state control; issue tickets in civil cases involving Annex V violations, particularly in the fisheries and recreational boating sectors; require that ports provide receipts for garbage off-loaded into their reception facilities, and then compare the receipts to vessel logs; enlist the assistance of the NMFS, MMS, and state marine police in reporting Annex V violations; encourage ship operators to report inadequate garbage reception facilities at ports; and conduct public awareness campaigns urging citizens to report illegal garbage disposal.
The third issue is devising an Annex V implementation strategy that takes special areas into account. This issue has both domestic and international aspects. On the domestic side, vessels operating in special areas ultimately need to achieve zero-garbage-discharge capability, and port reception facilities bordering special areas need to be adequate. On the international side, the United States needs to find new and improved ways to assist with the development and improvement of vessel garbage control mechanisms in neighboring nations. One option would be to explore the formulation of memoranda of understanding for the sharing of information, enforcement assets, and other resources. There is a particular need for mechanisms to reduce the administrative burdens on developing countries. The United States also could seek means of increasing the numbers of adequate port reception facilities in special areas.
