Did you know that 1000 ships can be found in Singaporean waters at any given time?
Marine dumping is defined as the “deliberate disposal at sea of wastes or other matter from vessels, aircraft, platforms or other man-made structures, as well as the deliberate disposal of these vessels or platforms themselves“, and is a concern in Singaporean waters due to the sheer number of ships passing by.
While there are no exact statistics on the amount of waste deposited by each ship due to the difficulty in determining where the litter in the ocean comes from, one survey estimated that the average leisure craft dumps around 0.5kg of trash into the sea every trip they make.
Even though this is an estimate, we can see how it could easily occur. Furthermore, when it comes to industrial ships or large transport barges, we can only imagine how many times worse the amount of litter dumped will be.
What is especially concerning is not only the litter that is dumped but the chemicals and other potentially hazardous substances that pose a threat to marine and human life in the area and potentially even impact the ecosystem here.
One example of this is this bag of oils that my friends and I found that appeared to be from a Shell site, that somehow ended up in the ocean and washing up onshore. These oils could not have come from normal litter and must have been from ships passing by and if the oils somehow were to be leaked it could have endangered the marine life in that area.
You may be asking yourself if marine dumping is such a big problem, what is then currently being done to prevent it? Well, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore has imposed the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea Act (PPSA) that gives them the ability to take inhibitory measures against polluters.
However, these legislations are often hard to impose and only work in theory due to it being impossible to police the waters completely and keep track of every piece of litter that falls into the sea.
To help curb this I feel that more innovative solutions are required. A kind of surveillance system involving putting CCTVs on buoys out at sea, or putting chemical or heat sensors to track changes in the water are just some that could be possibly included, but the general idea would be to improve the tracking of where the litter comes from.
In addition to this, I feel that due to the difficulty in tracking litter in the first place, individual pieces of common litter should not be the priority for this tracking system. Instead, it should focus on the more hazardous contaminants that are released into the water.
However, such a complex solution would not be easily implemented and should not be expected to be applied soon. As such, improvements on current legislations should be pursued such as through the enforcement of the PPSA through more regular policing and enforcement.
In conclusion, marine dumping is a serious issue in Singapore’s waters due to the large number of ships passing through our waters to our port. As a result, stricter enforcement measures must be implemented to deter potentially disastrous effects.
Hi Mark! I find this post extremely insightful for me because the topic of marine dumping seldom crosses my mind. However, I was curious what should we do after tracking down the source of litter? As I assume that some of these sources are not from local companies, it is difficult to clamp them down and they may continue to dump.
Happy blogging!
Nicole
Hi Nicole,
Thanks for reading my blog!
Well I would say after tracking down the source of the dumping, we should of course impose some sort of punishment on them as they are breaking the PPSA. However, should these ships be from international companies or not in our waters, there is little that the government can do legally to punish them. Maybe something along the lines of a ban on the entry into our ports can work, but for a more comprehensive solution, there needs to be more cohesion between different countries to ensure that this problem is solved at an international level, especially as the seas are a shared resource.
Mark
Hi Mark,
Thank you for the interesting read :) I do agree that the current preventive measures are insufficient to curb the continuously increasing marine dumping occurring here in Singapore! I was wondering why ships are depositing such wastes into the ocean in the first place? Is it due to a lack of proper disposal facilities on the ships or lack of education on the possible harms of such practices? Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!
Amira
Hi Amira,
Thanks for giving my blog a read!
I feel that one of the main reasons is simply that they do not care. There are waste disposal services available through the government but these ships still do not abide by the rules and dispose of their trash properly. As you mentioned I think a large reason behind this “lack of caring” is the lack of education about the possible effects of the waste. Perhaps if the ship workers were made aware of the problem they were contributing to, they would not continue the dumping. This education could be done on the part of governments who could possibly make it a requirement for companies to properly educate their workers about this problem before allowing them to set sail.
Thanks
Mark
Hi Mark,
Another great post overall.
Can I ask about the statement on how much trash pleasure boats dump ? You say 0.5 kg. But is that per day, per month, per person on the boat, per year ? Without context, it’s hard to interpret.
Next, I see your assertion that the rules are tough to enforce. Probably true. And you offer some innovative suggestions (which is great). However, it occurs to me to wonder whether the goal of strict enforcement could, to some extent be at odds with the goal of economic growth, since shipping is our top economic activity. Meaning, could there be a lack of political will to be very stringent if doing so might in any way reduce the # of ships coming through our waters, especially given plans for the Thai canal ?
Thanks,
jc
Hi Dr Coleman,
The 0.5kg refers to the amount of trash they dump every time they make a trip.
I feel that there definitely will be some conflicts between choosing economic growth and environmental protection but I feel that the government needs to see how much it values both issues and make their decisions. However, as you mentioned, the government might favor economic sustainability, especially given that shipping takes up such a large amount of the GDP. Regarding the Thai Canal, I feel that it might exacerbate the situation, even more, causing the government to lean even more heavily towards shipping.
Maybe instead of a reductionist approach, a solution to mitigate the waste problem might be better, for example making waste disposal services more accessible to ships in the ocean to incentivise them to dispose of their waste appropriately.
Thanks,
Mark
In that case (in light of your response)… look fwd to week 11, when we’ll talk about MARPOL (an international treaty) and how it does or doesn’t mitigate this issue.
Thanks for your reply !