The Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution: A Progress Report

Abstract

Whether one is concerned with the continuing availability of caviar or the state of the beach at Brighton, it is difficult to remain unaware of the almost obsessive attention which is being paid to pollution in general and to marine pollution in particular by a host of institutions, national and international. Not only because the problem is a very complex and many-sided one but also because it is a politically fashionable one, there are very few international institutions which have not felt the necessity to take part in the current debate. One result is that it is rapidly becoming a full-time occupation to collect, digest and assess the ever-increasing volume of documentation, much of which reffects the overlapping spheres of juisdiction of the institutions concerned. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to present a comprehensive progress report on the work of these institutions, whether their concern be with the prevention and control of marine pollution or with compensation for the damage it causes. It is hoped that such a report will provide a useful framework of reference for a better understanding of the preparations for and results of the several international conferences which are scheduled to meet in the next few years. The paper falls into six main parts. Following an introductory section on the institutional framework within which work is proceeding, parts II-V deal with the substance of that work on the prevention of oil pollution; liability for oil pollution; radioactive pollution; and marine pollution by other hazardous substances. Finally, part VI is devoted to a summing up and look ahead.