Marine pollution from ships

The report is a compilation of findings made by the supreme audit institutions (SAIs) of Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2003.

The report does not contain up-to-date information on pollution from ships and its abatement but it does present the red lines found by a comparison of the countries audited. In none of the countries is the situation exactly the same as it was at the time of the audit. Nevertheless, the report contains a good description of the problems that many more countries than just the seven countries audited face every day because it tried to detect underlying patterns.

The SAIs decided to carry out a simultaneous audit of the prevention and abatement of marine pollution from ships in 2000 because the cross-border nature of the problem called for an audit that extended beyond their own frontiers. The common denominator of the audits is the Marpol Convention, the main international convention on the prevention of marine pollution from ships. The convention is binding on all seven countries involved in the coordinated audit and some 130 others. The report considers environmental monitoring on ships, the collection of waste in ports, contingency planning and the response to pollution.

The report includes a chapter entitled Good practice: marine pollution policy in Maretopia. It provides good examples from the various countries and describes the ideal situation in a fictional country (Maretopia) regarding the monitoring of pollution from ships, the collection of waste in ports and the actual response to pollution.