Oceanic Environmental Legislation

Reducing marine pollution has been a topic in environmental debates since the 1970s, with the first international legislation passed in 1972 at the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and other Matter (The London Convention or LC for short) and others passed in the years since have had a hugely positive impact on the marine pollution from ships and other vessels. Another international law designated in 1977 by the UN banned dumping at sea, since 1988 this has been in effect so ships arnt allowed to pollute, only 79 countries ratified.
When it comes to oceanic pollution from ocean vessels a major problem is enforcement of regulation, particularly on open waters. An estimated 6.5 million tonnes plastic are thrown overboard each year, representing 20% of the global rate of plastic pollution dumped in the worlds oceans. When it comes to international environment doctrines, major problem in their effectiveness is enforcement of law.

The success of this legislation is deemed minimal given that 80% of marine pollution originates from land based sources and so further legislation is required to mitigate pollution.

In terms of national laws regarding oceanic pollution there area several categories which can be introduced: enforced biodegradability standards, banned chemicals, banned single use products, enforced recycling, required pollution controls and production responsibility clear up schemes.

G C Ray and J F Grassle in their seminal 1991 paper Marine Biological Diversity state that ''no effort to conserve biological diversity is realistic outside the economics and policies that drive the modern world'' (Ray & Grassle, 1991, page 456). The union of science, economics and public policy may therefore be fundamentally important in the maintenance of marine biodiversity. The use of a financial incentive to prompt conservation efforts and decrease plastic oceanic pollution is apparent when considering the recent tax applied to one use plastic bags. From October 2015 Britain imposed a 5p tax on single use plastic bags, joining the 25% of the globe enforcing the bans.
















The WWFN has estimated that over 100,000 whales, seals and turtles die every year as a result of eating or being trapped in plastic bags. But with the ever increasing global ban on plastic bags these numbers shall decrease and marine ecosystems recover.