MARPOL 73/78

MARPOL 73/78

By Anton Antonio

February 15, 2016

It is common knowledge that approximately 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by water and the oceans and seas hold about 96.5% of all earth’s water.  These staggering data on the volume of water around us makes dumping of waste in water bodies, which will subsequently result to marine pollution, is a very critical issue and concern.  Towards the end and purpose of protecting our oceans and seas, the MARPOL 73/78 was conceived.

Here is a researched material on MARPOL…  “MARPOL 73/78 is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978.  (“MARPOL” is the short term for marine pollution and 73/78 is short for the years 1973 and 1978.)  MARPOL 73/78 is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions.  It was developed by the International Maritime Organization is an effort to minimize pollution of the oceans and seas, including dumping, oil and sir pollution.  The objective of this convention is to preserve the marine environment in an attempt to completely eliminate pollution by oil and other harmful substances and to minimize accidental spillage of such substances.  The original MARPOL was signed on 17 February 1973, but did not come into force at the signing date.  The current convention is a combination of the 1973 Convention and the 1978 Protocol.  It entered into force on 2 October 1983.  As of 2015, 152 states, representing 99.2 percent of the world’s shipping tonnage, are state parties to the convention.  All ships flagged under countries that are signatories to MARPOL are subject to its requirements, regardless of where they sail and member nations are responsible for vessels registered under their respective nationalities.”  (Wikipedia)

The MARPOL Conventions are quite hard to implement considering the vastness of our oceans and seas.  There are just too many ships out there that makes monitoring very daunting.  The success of the MARPOL Conventions will depend largely on the degree of commitment from individual countries who are participating in this initiative.  We could only wish and pray for the success of MARPOL 73/78.

Thoughts to promote positive action…

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REFERENCE:

Wikipedia, (2016).  “MARPOL 73/78”.  Retrieved on February 15, 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARPOL_73/78