CLEANMED: A COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT ONPROSECUTING ILLEGAL OIL DISCHARGESIN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION

摘要

Despite accidental marine pollution still attracting major publicrnattention, operational pollution by illegal discharges into the searnis the main source of pollution by ships of the marine environmentrnIn the Mediterranean Sea one of the main difficulties encounteredrnin prosecution of offenders is the lack of monitoring and surveillancernaimed at detecting oil slicks. Moreover, competent administrative/rnjudicial authorities do not have sufficient knowledge of thernrelevant provisions of MARPOL 73/78(International Conventionrnon Prevention of Pollution from Ships), which regulates the dischargesrninto the sea. Although the Mediterranean Sea has beenrndeclared a Special Area under MARPOL 73/78, where deliberaterndischarges of oil and garbage are banned, there is a clear evidencernof continuous violations of the law in the region. Some 2350 oilrnspills of unknown origin were detected in the Mediterranean inrn2000 by the EC Joint-Research Centre (JRC) using satelliternplatforms.rnThe IMO/UNEP Regional Marine Pollution EmergencyrnResponse Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) was entrustedrnby the Mediterranean coastal States and the EuropeanrnCommunity (Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Conventionrn1976) with supporting the Mediterranean countries in promotingrnmonitoring activities in the region, in order to detect illicit dischargesrnof oil and to prosecute the offenders. To facilitate thernprocess of implementation of relevant legal provisions, REMPECrnproposed to carry out in the Mediterranean region the CLEANMEDrnproject. Taking into consideration the provisions of thernMARPOL 73/78, and the identified gaps in the Mediterraneanrncountries in the field, the envisaged three year project will focus onrnthree components.rn? improvement of legislative framework;rn? reinforcement of human resource;rn? aerial surveillance and satellite monitoring (earth observation).rnThe final result of CLEANMED is expected to be the establishmentrnin the Mediterranean of an operational regional network andrndedicated database, supported by sub-regional agreements for co-rncooperationrnin the field of prevention of operational pollution.