Tackling Ship-Generated Marine Pollution at Nigerian Seaports by Olamide Animashaun
A discussion on marine pollution must of necessity proceed from an understanding of the marine environment.
According to Professor Oludayo Amokaye, the marine environment comprises the oceans and all enclosed and semi-enclosed areas, including high seas, seabed and marine areas under national jurisdiction such as Continental Shelves, Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), fishery zones, other functional zones, arch-pelagic waters and territorial waters. Article 1(4) of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) defines pollution of the marine environment to mean the introduction by man, directly or indirectly, of substances or energy into the marine environment, including estuaries, which results or is likely to result in such deleterious effects as harm to living resources and marine life hazards to human health, hindrance to marine activities, including fishing and other legitimate use of sea, impairment of quality of uses of sea water and reduction of amenities.
Marine pollution could arise from different sources. It is generally recognized that marine pollution is mainly caused by human activities based on land and much less by human activity taking place at sea such as run off from agricultural pesticides and herbicides and effluents discharged from urban areas, chemical residues, fertilizers and soil from agricultural sources washed by rivers into oceans sewage treatment plants, maritime transportation-based sources for example maritime traffic through the sea which consists of movement of dry bulk vessels and numerous oil tankers which navigate inland and along coastal waters. Marine pollution is also caused by dumping by vessels at sea, offshore seabed activities, operational and accidental oil spill into the marine environment arising from oil exploratory and exploitative activities.
According to Ware K’s Assessment of the Impacts of Shipping on the Marine Environment. there are specific shipping impacts on the marine environment which includes; Pollution by oil and hazardous or toxic substances from incidental, operational and illegal discharges, air pollution through emissions and particulate matter from engine exhaust gases and cargo tanks which may be carried over long distances, discharge of operational waste from ships, including discharge of raw sewage and garbage(litter), release of toxic chemicals used in anti-fouling paints and leaching of heavy metals from anodes, the introduction of non-indigenous organisms through ships ballast water and associated sediments, and fouling on ships hulls, pollution and physical impact through loss of ships and cargo, physical and other impacts including noise and collision with marine mammals. Umo Iduk and Nitonye Samson also posited a similar view that sources of Marine pollution from ships include oily water discharge from ships, tanker accidents, accidental spillage during terminal loading, wastewater discharged from ships, garbage and other solid waste, ballast water discharged from ships at ports, marine machinery exhaust and anti-fouling paints. According to Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection, the effects of marine pollution are mainly noticeable in busy shipping lanes and harbours and ecologically sensitive areas may be more significant in coastal areas.
Ship generated waste water which is a major source of ship source marine pollution have been grouped by three basic types; bilge waste water, black waste water (sometimes Grey waste water is included to describe waste water free from human faeces) and ballast waste water. In the words of Carpenter, A “Inadequate waste reception facilities in developing countries ports are such that vessels have no choice but discharge wastes at sea”. Anstey F also posited that Some vessel operators prefer to dump waste at sea, where there is a low risk of being caught, rather than use the provided facilities and thus pay the required user fees. In West and Central African ports specifically, facilities are becoming available in varying forms but remain inadequate hence ship waste collection processes in the ports are not only inefficient but also their management remains poor. [Maritime Policy and Management 2017]. In Nigeria for example, the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) custodian of national ports does not own or operate waste reception facilities but outsourced that responsibility to a private pollution control company. According to Onwuegbuchunam, Ebe, Okoroji and Essien, the incidence of ship generated marine pollution has increasingly engaged the attention of the international maritime community in their effort to promote safe shipping and the protection of the marine environment and the growing concern about pollution centres on the potential for the shipping business to negatively impact the marine environment and the related biodiversity with in the maritime field.
The day to day damage the Nigerian ports face due to marine pollution by ships cannot be overemphasized. Several International Municipal Regulatory Initiatives have been introduced to curb marine pollution. The first global initiative was the 1954 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL), the convention had a limited coverage and was replaced by the 1973/1978 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution by Ships (MARPOL). The International Maritime Organisation based in London is a United Nations body that is responsible for the prevention and control of the sea from ships.
The 1967 Torrey Canyon incident further galvanised the development of international law to protect the marine environment. A number of these regulations include; Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in cases of Oil Pollution Damage, the 1969 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage and the 1971 Convention of the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage. A significant development in the general area of International Law was the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Other important international legal instruments include the 1972 International Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Dumping of Water and Other Matters, 1990 international convention on oil pollution preparedness, Response and Cooperation, 1995 Global Programme of Action for Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities and the various Regional Seas Conventions and Protocols.
The MARPOL Convention is however the main international convention covering prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes. MARPOL convention has six annexes which includes; regulations for the prevention of pollution by oil, regulations for the control pollution by noxious liquid substances carried in bulk, prevention of pollution by harmful substances carried in packaged form, prevention of pollution by sewage waste, prevention of pollution by garbage from ships and prevention of air pollution from ships.
In Nigeria, detailed provisions for the municipal control of discharge of toxic sewage and other hazardous pollutants as well as environmental benign activities from land based and industrial resources into the Coastal and Marine Environment are set in the National Environmental (Coastal and Marine) Regulations 2011. Other regulatory authorities include the Nigerian Maritime Safety and Administration Authority NIMASA, under the NIMASA Act, NESREA Oil Spills Detection and Remediation Agency NOSDRA, The Nigerian Ports Authority, The Federal Ministry of Environment, Department of Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian Navy. Other laws on marine pollution include oil exploratory-related statutes (examples are Petroleum Act 1969, Oil Terminal Dues Act 1965, Oil in Navigable waters Act, 1968), Port State Control, the authority for exercising PSC is the national Law based on relevant conventions e.g. (International Convention for the safety of life at sea (SOLAS), 1974, MARPOL Convention etc.) and the Exclusive Economic Zone Act.
It is trite that the effect of Marine pollution by ships affects Nigeria greatly and some of these negative effects include, threat to freshwater and marine environments, decrease in population of seafood due to poisonous substances, contamination of intertidal zone and beaches, negative effect on the economy, negative impact on public health, fishing industry and tourism industry and many more. I share the same view with Ubo Iduk and Nitonye Samson that there should be introduction of penalties and sanctions in the form of levy and restrictions to ships found polluting the marine environment, greater exchange of technical information technology and experience between countries resulting from research development programme, improved level of organization and coordination and cooperation between the agencies of the environment, strict adherence to the IMO standard, improvement in planning, emergency management, risk assessment studies and creating awareness by re-educating the citizens, ship owners, crewmen, oil exploring countries and other corporate bodies to be concerned and responsible for the respect and protection of the marine environment to enable the marine environment be free from daily pollution.
Animashaun Olamide Ololade is a Final Year student of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos. She has a keen interest in Dispute Resolution and is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators of Nigeria. She is the current Director of Research of the Maritime Forum Unilag and she has also attained a certification from Harvard University’s
Copyright X program. Olamide has interned in prestigious firms such as Banwo and Ighodalo, Aluko and Oyebode amongst others. She has also participated both in delegate and Staff capacity at Various Model United Nations regionally in Lagos and Ghana and internationally in the United States. She is a seasoned writer and has been featured on Lawyard occasionally and Unilag Law Review and has been an Editor-in-Chief for an online and print publication. She is the immediate past Public Relations Officer of the Law Students Society. She has also maintained a good academic standing throughout her stay in school till date. She is driven by excellence and aspires to be an expert in Dispute Resolution
