Euro adoption - Why salvage must be included
The EU's maritime police Green Paper - 4
The Green Paper on a maritime policy for Europe touches upon the most diverse issues which relate to or are effected by the sea in some shape or form. However the prevention of pollution from ships and the need to ensure that such disasters become less frequent is a recurrent theme in this Paper.
Over the past 50 years we have witnessed a number of casualties which have left a damaging effect on the environment, on the people whose lives are effected by these events, on the tourist sector of the area effected and on the shipping industry in general. Starting first with the Torrey Canyon, this supertanker, one of the first of its kind, went aground between Land's End and the Scilly Isles off the coast of England in 1967 carrying 100,000 tonnes of crude oil; The Amoco Cadiz in 1978 went aground off the coast of Brittany carrying 227,000 tonnes of crude oil; In 1989 the Exon Valdez struck a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and discharged 37,000 tonnes of crude oil; In 1996 the Sea Empress ran aground off Milford Haven releasing 70,000 tonnes of crude oil; In 1999 the Erika broke in half and spilt 31,000 tonnes off the coast of Brittany; with the latest large oil spill disaster being that of the Prestige which sank off the Spanish Coast in 2002 spilling 77,000 tonnes of crude oil.
It is no surprise that the need to avoid polluting our seas receives a strong mention in the Green Paper, however one matter which is conspicuous by its very absence is the omission of the mention of the crucial and vital role which salvage plays in the prevention of major oil pollution disasters.
Unfortunately, whilst we all get to know of a pollution disaster within minutes of it occurring, we are not equally informed about the fact that it is only thanks to professional salvors that so much more oil and other pollutant does not end up in the sea and on the beaches but is either recovered or securely contained in the vessel through very complex, challenging and normally very dangerous salvage operations.
Professional salvors are in a class of their own. It is only these organisations who are equipped and specially trained to take on such tasks, very often in the face of the roughest of nature's elements and who can provide the specialised service required. Their worth and value to the environment cannot be over emphasised, and one can only start to appreciate the significance of their work when one looks at the statistics produced by the International Salvage Union for the year 2005.
During 2005 marine salvors carried out 247 salvage operations and recovered 533,281 tons of Crude Oil, 201,960 tons of other pollutants, 79,943 tonnes of bunkers, 60,147 tonnes of chemicals. This brings a total recovery in 2005 alone of a staggering 875,331 tonnes of pollutant. This outstanding total is about 300,000 tonnes more than the amount of oil discharged by the Torrey Canyon, Amoco Cadiz, Exon Valdez, Sea Empress, Erika and Prestige put together.
It is only in the face of real life statistics like the above that one recognises the fact that if it were not for these professional salvors with the huge investments they make in equipment, specialised vessels and specialised personnel and whose aim it is to keep the pollutant in the ship, the worlds oceans would be in a far worse situation than they are.
Therefore it becomes all the more apparent that one cannot have a maritime policy for Europe without putting firmly on the agenda - salvage and salvors. Maritime states in Europe have a very real interest to ensure that there is the right atmosphere, the right encouragement and enough resources to ensure that these professional salvors are able to maintain the levels of experienced service which they give in the face of all odds and great danger.
The International Salvage Union has responded to the Green Paper by presenting a 10 point plan to Commissioner Joe Borg in which it stresses that there must be recognition of salvage as Europe's first line of defence against marine pollution and on the need for there to be international support for the new concept of environmental salvage and environmental awards whenever the risk of pollution is prevented or minimised. The speed with which these persons should be appointed and deployed is crucial to the success or otherwise of a salvage operation and unfortunately on a number of occasions precious time is lost. This concept proposes the idea that in such urgent situations the coastal state hit by a potential pollution situation, could take it upon itself to engage professional salvors and then seek compensation from the existing compensation funds available. Hence immediate action is taken and little time lost.
In its plan the ISU calls upon the Commission "to take the lead by introducing a European Fund for Environmental Awards, rewarding salvors who succeed in preventing or minimising the risk of pollution in EU coastal zones.
This would increase the level of protection available to EU coastal states and stimulate the adoption of such an approach at the global level."
This becomes all the more important seen from a Maltese perspective. The chances of a pollution disaster hitting our shores is unfortunately not so remote. According to statistics provided by Rempec and the European Union, 65 per cent of the oil and gas consumed in Western Europe passes through the Mediterranean, 800 tankers ply Mediterranean waters at any given time and although the Mediterranean contains only 0.7 per cent of the world's oceans, yet it handles 22 per cent of global shipping trade.
Needless to say a severe pollution incident anywhere around Malta would cause havoc to our fishing industry, tourism industry and our water supply.
It is therefore very much in our national interest as it is in the interest of all other European coastal states that a European maritime policy puts salvage firmly on its agenda.
• Dr Fenech is a partner at Fenech and Fenech Advocates.
Over the past 50 years we have witnessed a number of casualties which have left a damaging effect on the environment, on the people whose lives are effected by these events, on the tourist sector of the area effected and on the shipping industry in general. Starting first with the Torrey Canyon, this supertanker, one of the first of its kind, went aground between Land's End and the Scilly Isles off the coast of England in 1967 carrying 100,000 tonnes of crude oil; The Amoco Cadiz in 1978 went aground off the coast of Brittany carrying 227,000 tonnes of crude oil; In 1989 the Exon Valdez struck a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and discharged 37,000 tonnes of crude oil; In 1996 the Sea Empress ran aground off Milford Haven releasing 70,000 tonnes of crude oil; In 1999 the Erika broke in half and spilt 31,000 tonnes off the coast of Brittany; with the latest large oil spill disaster being that of the Prestige which sank off the Spanish Coast in 2002 spilling 77,000 tonnes of crude oil.
It is no surprise that the need to avoid polluting our seas receives a strong mention in the Green Paper, however one matter which is conspicuous by its very absence is the omission of the mention of the crucial and vital role which salvage plays in the prevention of major oil pollution disasters.
Unfortunately, whilst we all get to know of a pollution disaster within minutes of it occurring, we are not equally informed about the fact that it is only thanks to professional salvors that so much more oil and other pollutant does not end up in the sea and on the beaches but is either recovered or securely contained in the vessel through very complex, challenging and normally very dangerous salvage operations.
Professional salvors are in a class of their own. It is only these organisations who are equipped and specially trained to take on such tasks, very often in the face of the roughest of nature's elements and who can provide the specialised service required. Their worth and value to the environment cannot be over emphasised, and one can only start to appreciate the significance of their work when one looks at the statistics produced by the International Salvage Union for the year 2005.
During 2005 marine salvors carried out 247 salvage operations and recovered 533,281 tons of Crude Oil, 201,960 tons of other pollutants, 79,943 tonnes of bunkers, 60,147 tonnes of chemicals. This brings a total recovery in 2005 alone of a staggering 875,331 tonnes of pollutant. This outstanding total is about 300,000 tonnes more than the amount of oil discharged by the Torrey Canyon, Amoco Cadiz, Exon Valdez, Sea Empress, Erika and Prestige put together.
It is only in the face of real life statistics like the above that one recognises the fact that if it were not for these professional salvors with the huge investments they make in equipment, specialised vessels and specialised personnel and whose aim it is to keep the pollutant in the ship, the worlds oceans would be in a far worse situation than they are.
Therefore it becomes all the more apparent that one cannot have a maritime policy for Europe without putting firmly on the agenda - salvage and salvors. Maritime states in Europe have a very real interest to ensure that there is the right atmosphere, the right encouragement and enough resources to ensure that these professional salvors are able to maintain the levels of experienced service which they give in the face of all odds and great danger.
The International Salvage Union has responded to the Green Paper by presenting a 10 point plan to Commissioner Joe Borg in which it stresses that there must be recognition of salvage as Europe's first line of defence against marine pollution and on the need for there to be international support for the new concept of environmental salvage and environmental awards whenever the risk of pollution is prevented or minimised. The speed with which these persons should be appointed and deployed is crucial to the success or otherwise of a salvage operation and unfortunately on a number of occasions precious time is lost. This concept proposes the idea that in such urgent situations the coastal state hit by a potential pollution situation, could take it upon itself to engage professional salvors and then seek compensation from the existing compensation funds available. Hence immediate action is taken and little time lost.
In its plan the ISU calls upon the Commission "to take the lead by introducing a European Fund for Environmental Awards, rewarding salvors who succeed in preventing or minimising the risk of pollution in EU coastal zones.
This would increase the level of protection available to EU coastal states and stimulate the adoption of such an approach at the global level."
This becomes all the more important seen from a Maltese perspective. The chances of a pollution disaster hitting our shores is unfortunately not so remote. According to statistics provided by Rempec and the European Union, 65 per cent of the oil and gas consumed in Western Europe passes through the Mediterranean, 800 tankers ply Mediterranean waters at any given time and although the Mediterranean contains only 0.7 per cent of the world's oceans, yet it handles 22 per cent of global shipping trade.
Needless to say a severe pollution incident anywhere around Malta would cause havoc to our fishing industry, tourism industry and our water supply.
It is therefore very much in our national interest as it is in the interest of all other European coastal states that a European maritime policy puts salvage firmly on its agenda.
• Dr Fenech is a partner at Fenech and Fenech Advocates.