This article says no:
An investigation conducted by Deutsche Welle (DW) News uncovered how seafarers on cargo ships are wrapped up in an industry which essentially forces them to dump oily wastewater into the ocean for the sake of saving time and money. Briefly, the oily wastewater is pumped into the ship’s sewage tank, since ships are allowed to dump their sewage into the high seas.
This is despite laws having deemed such activity illegal worldwide for decades. The article reports the experience of a whistleblower who explains the toxic culture of the hierarchical industry, whereby senior engineers bully junior employees into accepting and keeping quiet about this illegal practice. In other words, crew members are made to regard this bilge pollution with indifference, lest they lose their jobs or are blacklisted from joining the crew on other ships. Nevertheless, the ocean ends up paying the cost of bilge pollution.
In my opinion, we ought not to place the fault of bilge pollution on those seafarers who are made complicit in the pollution and made to keep mum since they are just trying to earn a living. On the other hand, I feel conflicted about those in the group of crew members who actually make the decision to dump the oily wastewater. Interestingly, this group often excludes the ship’s captain. The article doesn’t explain why they feel the need to dump the oily waste. Yes, it saves money and time for the ship, but what stakes do the crew members have in this financial benefit if even the captain is not privy to this decision to dump illegally?
I highlighted this article because it serves as a reminder that the creation of pro-environment laws may not be as effective in solving environmental problems as we might expect. Of course, the fact that agents of change (environmentalists, individuals in government, academics etc.) were successful in pushing for such laws is definitely a step in the right direction. However, the actual implementation of the laws is another difficulty altogether, especially for environments like the ocean which are difficult to regulate especially at night or during inclement weather which is when the dumping usually occurs. This makes it easier for seafarers to avoid being caught for their intentional pollution. Therefore, laws protecting the ocean are arguably lacking due to the difficulty in detecting illegal activity to even enforce the laws.
Do give this article a read as it contains lots of details on how the dumping process occurs and other interesting insights which I didn’t cover in this blog post.
Reference:
https://www.dw.com/en/exclusive-how-chronic-oil-pollution-at-sea-goes-unpunished/a-61201989
