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The Importance of Preventing Pollution
The term 'pollution' is defined as 'pollutants discharged or likely to be discharged by vessels due to operational or accidental causes.' A cause of marine pollution can be:
- Strandings and collisions
- Unchecked garbage and sewage disposal
- Cleaning and wash-down
- Unchecked chemical disposal in bulk or packaged form
- Deballasting.
Marine pollution has a direct impact on marine life and the food chain. When a toxic waste harms an organism, it can quickly be passed along the food chain and may eventually end up being our seafood. The disposed waste might contain hazardous microbial, chemical or physical agents. The pollution of the marine environment e.g. disposal of chemicals, sewage and garbage, create hazards to human beings, animals and the livelihood of human beings.
The Master is obliged to report details of the incident, without delay, to the nearest Coastal State.
International Control Measures
Marpol 73/78, What Is It?
Marpol 73/78 is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions. It was designed to minimise pollution of the seas, including the dumping of waste, oil and exhaust pollution. Its objective is to preserve the marine environment through the complete elimination of pollution by oil and other harmful substances, as well as the minimisation of accidental discharge of such substances.
Some years ago it was very common for tanker ships to carry ballast water in their cargo tanks. Today ships are built with segregated ballast tanks, which are tanks completely separated from the cargo oil and fuel oil system. These tanks are permanently allocated for the carriage of ballast.
A double hull is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of the watertight hull surface. The outer layer forms the normal hull of the ship. The second, inner hull is some distance inboard of the outer hull. This forms a redundant barrier to seawater in case the outer hull is damaged and leaks.
Reception Facility
A reception facility is a facility that is authorised to receive a vessel's waste. When leaving ship waste to a reception facility, a waste receipt is always issued. It is important to save this receipt as proof of not discharging the waste into the sea.
Sewage Disposal Arrangements
Every vessel shall be equipped with one of the following sewage systems:
- Sewage treatment plant
- Sewage comminuting and disinfecting system
- Sewage holding tank
- All three systems must be approved by the ship’s administration.
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978.
Garbage Management Plan (GMP)
The Garbage Management Plan is a complete guideline that comprises a written procedure for collecting, storing, processing and disposing of garbage generated onboard ship as per regulations provided in Annex V of MARPOL. Training must be given to the vessel's staff for proper garbage disposal onboard the yacht and for knowledge on garbage disposal regulations at sea and in special areas.
Garbage Record Book
All ships of 400 gross tonnages and above, plus every ship certified to carry 15 persons or more, every fixed or floating platform engaged in exploration and exploitation of the seabed have to provide a Garbage Record Book to record all disposal and incineration operations. The date, time, position of the vessel, description of the garbage and the estimated amount incinerated or discharged must be logged and signed.
It may also prove an advantage to a yacht when local officials are checking the origin of dumped garbage – if vessel personnel can adequately account for all their garbage, they are unlikely to be wrongly penalised for dumping garbage when that's not the case.
Garbage Disposal and Handling
Although disposal is consistent with Marpol Annex V, discharge of garbage to port reception facilities should be given first priority. Many companies, charterers and clients have a 'zero vision' for the disposal of garbage and where it is only allowed to dispose of garbage to shore reception facilities. Food waste is many times an exception of the above zero vision and is disposed into the sea according to regulations. Food waste can be comminuted, ground or not treated. Onboard a yacht, the garbage is stored into bins and sometimes compacted to save space until disposal to a shore reception is possible. Garbage will be processed under the responsibility of the designated person who is to ensure that the waste is segregated into the correct categories. The categories used by MARPOL are:
- Plastics.
- Food wastes.
- Domestic wastes (e.g. paper products, rags, glass, metal, bottles, crockery, etc.)
- Cooking oil.
- Incinerator ashes.
- Operational wastes.
- Cargo residues.
- Animal carcass(es).
- Fishing gear.
The record book must be filled in after every discharge of garbage into the sea or delivered at a reception facility ashore.
Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan (SOPEP)
Oil tankers of 150 tons gross tonnage or more and every other ship of 400 tons gross tonnage or more shall carry onboard one SOPEP (Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan). All ships of 150 gross tonnages or more carrying noxious liquid substances in bulk carry an approved Shipboard Marine Pollution Emergency Plan (SMPEP) for noxious liquid substances. The SMPEP may be combined with a SOPEP since most of their contents are the same and one combined plan onboard is more practical than two separate ones in case of an emergency. To make it clear that the plan is a combined one, it should be referred to as a Shipboard Marine Pollution Emergency Plan (SMPEP).
The purpose of the plan is to provide guidance to the Master and officers aboard the vessel with respect to the steps to be taken when an oil or marine pollution incident has occurred or is likely to occur. The SOPEP shall be prepared based on guidelines developed by IMO and written in the working language of the yacht’s crew. The plan shall consist of at least:
- Procedures to be followed by the yacht’s crew in order to report oil pollution
- A list of authorities or persons to be contacted in the event of an oil pollution incident
- A detailed description of actions to be taken immediately by persons onboard to reduce or control the discharge of oil following the incident
- The procedures and point of contact on the ship for coordinating shipboard action with national and local authorities in combating the pollution.
The SMPEP is prepared in a similar way but includes appropriate actions to be taken in case of pollution caused by a noxious liquid substance.
The purpose of the SOPEP plan is to provide guidance to the Master and officers onboard when an oil or marine pollution incident has occurred. Photo: Super Yachting South Africa.
Shipboard Organisation to Deal with Pollution
Emergency plans must detail the shipboard organisation to deal with pollution, including the deployment of equipment, the structure of the response team, official reports, duties of the officers, crew and shipboard drills.
Obligation to Report Pollution Incidents
When the vessel is involved in an incident that results in a discharge or probable discharge, the Master is obliged under the terms of MARPOL 73/78 to report details of the incident, without delay, to the nearest Coastal State using the fastest telecommunication channels available. A typical structure of a spill response team is a hierarchic flowchart showing some or all of the different department's aboard and their assigned duties in the event of a pollution incident.
Measures for the Control of Spills
The action to control a discharge can be divided into two groups:
- Navigation measures – Alter course/position/speed, change of list/trim, anchoring, setting the vessel aground, initiate towage, safe-haven requirements, weather/tide/swell forecasting, monitoring & record of events and all communication taken.
- Seamanship measures – Safety assessment and precaution, guidance, damage stability, ballasting/de-ballasting, internal transfer operations, activate shipboard response team.
Shipboard Response to Spills
A spill can happen due to various causes, operational and accidental. When responding to a spill, the safety of the persons involved is the main priority. The toxicity of the product must be known before the correct response could be initiated to equip the response team with the correct PPE (personal protective equipment). What type of PPE to wear is based on the toxicity, amount, temperature and location of the product. The SOPEP/SMPEP contains procedures on how to respond to spills due to various causes.
Importance of Shipboard Drills
Regular drills involving vessel personnel will ensure that the SOPEP/SMPEP can be implemented rapidly and effectively. It is the responsibility of the Master to ensure that drills are conducted following the company policy.