The Precautionary Principle in Marine Environmental Law, With Special Reference to High Risk Vessels

摘要

In 1967, the Torrey Canyon oil tanker foundered off the Cornish coastline in heavy weather, earning the dubious distinction of being the first major vessel-sourced oil pollution casualty of the modern era. The wreck, which was memorably bombed by the Royal Air Force as an experimental and short-lived remediation strategy, exposed a number of jurisdictional flaws in the regulation of international shipping. This was considered to be especially acute where foreign vessels pose a risk to the marine environment of the coastal state. Since 1967 new mitigation and safety strategies have been developed, novel response programmes have been pioneered and international oil pollution law has been regularly reformulated in the light of subsequent disasters to address the compensation and management of the resulting spill.