In my previous post, I discussed DW’s investigation into illegal bilge pollution by seafarers on cargo ships. One last thing I’d like to talk about from the article is the usage of satellite imagery to monitor oil dumps, which I thought was a great way of applying the technology to detect the largely elusive activity.
Satellite images have been used by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) since 2007 to monitor where potential illegal oil dumps may be in EU waters. The discharge creates a distinctive trail of oil slick which can be detected as seen in the picture below. Though algae can be mistaken for these trails, the agency’s experts cross-reference the images with ship-location data. DW reports that tens of thousands of potential illegal oil dumps have been identified this way, which could be correlated to how illegal dumps in EU waters have decreased.
However, EMSA says that illegal oil dumps are still regular occurrences. The number of spills they detect is still relatively low. EMSA estimates that around 3000 illegal oil dumps occur annually in EU water, meaning that about 8 occur per day, and most of them are not detected.
Moreover, the prosecution of perpetrators is also low. This is because there is a critical 3-hour time-frame that the individual EU states must act within upon receiving alerts regarding the spills, which is often not met. In fact, only 1.5% of spills alerted by EMSA were able to be verified by the state authorities in 2019. The short time frame is crucial because “The longer it takes authorities to verify a spill in situ, the less likely they are to find oil, as spills begin to dissipate”, according to the DW article. As such, polluters are generally never caught.
Despite the low success rate, I think that it is still imperative that there is an official agency to do this work. Bilge (oily wastewater) pollution has been outlawed globally for good reason. Polluters should not be allowed to go scot-free given how they are causing great harm to the seas and their ecosystems. This includes the transboundary implications that the pollution will have on ecosystems away from the location of the dumps and also on the communities dependent on these marine environments.
The above map shows that potential oil dumps are concentrated around European and north African waters, as well as around Asia (Southeast Asia in particular).
Another organisation that has been investigating bilge pollution is SkyTruth. They analyse satellite imagery worldwide, not just in Europe like EMSA. They also investigate other pollutive activities and their website has a plethora of information on those issues.
References:
-https://www.dw.com/en/exclusive-how-chronic-oil-pollution-at-sea-goes-unpunished/a-61201989
-https://skytruth.org/bilge-dumping/
