IMO Action Plan to address marine plastic
litter from ships
IMO's Marine Environment Protection
Committee (MEPC) in 2018 adopted the
International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Action
Plan to address marine plastic litter from ships,
which aims to enhance existing regulations and
introduce new supporting measures to reduce
marine plastic litter from ships.
What is marine litter?
Plastic materials in all shapes and sizes are
omnipresent in our seas and oceans. They break
down extremely slowly in the marine environment,
taking in excess of 400 years. Marine litter
originates from many sources and causes
a wide
spectrum of environmental, economic, safety,
health and cultural impacts. For example, marine
litter can cause harm to sea life if ingested or even
death if
a marine mammal becomes entangled in
litter.
Marine litter has been defined by UN
Environment (United Nations Environment) as “any
persistent, manufactured or processed solid material
discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine
and coastal environment. Marine litter consists of
items that have been made or used by people and
deliberately discarded into the sea or rivers or on
beaches; brought indirectly to the sea with rivers,
sewage, storm water or winds; accidentally lost,
including material lost at sea in bad weather
(fishing gear, cargo); or deliberately left by people
on beaches and shores.”
Marine litter, including plastics and
microplastics, is known to result from land-based
sources in massive quantities but can also
originate from ships. Debris particles have been
observed in coastal areas, in waters far from
anthropogenic pollution sources, in surface waters,
in the water column of deep water and in ocean
sediments, and from the equator to the poles,
including trapped in sea ice.
UN Environment estimates that 15% of
marine litter floats on the sea's surface, 15%
remains in the water column and 70% rests on the
seabed.
According to another study, 5.25 million
plastic particles, weighing 268,940 tonnes in total,
are currently floating in the world”s oceans.
What problems does marinelitter cause?
In addition to the environmental and health
problems posed by marine litter, floating garbage
and plastics pose
a costly as well as dangerous
problem for shipping, as they can be
anavigational
hazard and become entangled in propellers and
rudders.
Another problem requiring urgent remedial
action is the massive accumulation of plastics, not
only in coastal areas but also in the deep sea.
This litter is harmful to marine life: sea
creatures can become trapped inside containers or
strangled by nets or ropes, and microplastics can
also enter the food chain as they are indigestible
when swallowed.
(Adapted from https://www.imo.org)
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