1. Author
acknowledges
with grateful
thanks the
IMO and the
KIMO projects
for references,
excerpts and
inputs.
The author
is a graduate
engineer and
a PG from
NMIS, Mumbai
working with
GESCO.
18 Marine Engineers Review (India) www.imare.in | November2016
Background
Dharma is protected by Truth; Learning
is protected by Yoga; Health & beauty is
protected by cleanliness and the clan &
humanity is protected by good conduct.
“Swachh Bharat Abhiyan “is a
cleanliness campaign run by the
government of India and is initiated by the
Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi. This
campaign was officially launched on the
145th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi
on 2nd October 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi.
He had tried for a clean India in his time by
motivating people through his campaigns
and slogans which however achieved little
success owing to various socio economic
reasons and non-involvement of people
across various classes society.
The Swachh Bharat campaign is the
biggest ever cleanliness drive of India,
launching of which involved over 3 million
people including students from schools
and colleges. To give this a further impetus
Finance Ministry of India has initiated
Swachh Bharat cess. According to which
everyone a cess of 0.5% is collected across
various services in India which goes directly
to the cleanliness campaign.
Safe Seas and Cleaner Oceans
Maritime Industry has been
promulgating Safe Seas and cleaner
oceans for decades. Further to the
London Convention, the International
maritime organisation has initiated several
regulations considering disposal of ship
generated wastes under MARPOL and
has even introduced new annexes to the
MARPOL 73/78 to cover disposals of
various types of wastes generated on
board so as to regularise & control the
pollution of the seas and keep the oceans
clean & SWATCHH.
Marine litter is a global concern,
affecting all the oceans of the world. Every
year millions and millions of tons of litter
end up in the ocean worldwide, turning it
into the world’s biggest landfill and thus
posing environmental, economic, health
and aesthetic problems. Indeed it is one
of the gravest and a growing threat to our
oceans and our coastlines. Poor practices
of solid waste management, lack of
infrastructure and a lack of awareness of
the public at large about the consequences
Sameer Sagvekar
“Cleaner Coast”
and the
“Swachh Abhiyan”
Health, Safety, & EnvironmentHealth, Safety, & Environment

2. 19Marine Engineers Review (India)November2016 | www.imare.in
of their actions aggravate the situation
substantially.
London Convention
The “Convention on the Prevention of
Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes
and Other Matter 1972”, the “London
Convention” for short, is one of the first
global conventions to protect the marine
environment from human activities and
has been in force since 1975. Its objective
is to promote the effective control of all
sources of marine pollution and to take all
practicable steps to prevent pollution of
the sea by dumping of wastes and other
matter. Currently, 87 States are Parties to
this Convention.
In 1996, the “London Protocol” was
agreed to further modernize the Convention
and, eventually, replace it. Under the
Protocol all dumping is prohibited, except
for possibly acceptable wastes on the so-
called “reverse list”. The Protocol entered
into force on 24 March 2006 and there are
currently 47 Parties to the Protocol.
The objective of the London
Convention and Protocol in line with the
SWATCHH campaign is to promote the
effective control of all sources of marine
pollution. Contracting Parties shall take
effective measures to prevent pollution
of the marine environment caused by
dumping at sea.
Widely the purpose of the London
Convention is to control all sources of
marine pollution and prevent pollution of
the seas through regulation of dumping
into the sea of waste materials. A so-called
“black- and grey-list” approach is applied
for wastes, which can be considered for
disposal at sea according to the hazard they
present to the environment. For the blacklist
items dumping is prohibited. Dumping of
the grey-listed materials requires a special
permit from a designated national authority
under strict control and provided certain
conditions are met. All other materials or
substances can be dumped after a general
permit has been issued.
The purpose of the Protocol is
similar to that of the Convention, but the
Protocol is more restrictive: application of
a “precautionary approach” is included as a
general obligation; a “reverse list” approach
is adopted, which implies that all dumping
is prohibited unless explicitly permitted;
incineration of wastes at sea is prohibited;
export of wastes for the purpose of
dumping or incineration at sea is prohibited.
Extended compliance procedures and
technical assistance provisions have been
included, while a so-called transitional
period allows new Contracting Parties to
phase in compliance with the Protocol
over a period of five years, provided certain
conditions are me
Cleaner coast and the issues
Approximately 10 million tonnes of
litter end up in the world’s oceans and the
seas each year. The term “marine litter”
covers a range of materials which have
been deliberately discarded, or accidentally
lost on shore or at sea, and it includes
materials that are carried out to sea
from land, rivers, drainage and sewerage
systems or the wind.
What we find on our beaches is not
the full extent of the marine litter load in
the environment. It is estimated that 70%
of marine litter is on the seabed, 15% is
floating in the water column and 15% is
what we find on our shores.
Sources of Marine Litter
 Litter discarded in towns and cities
 Litter dropped at the beaches
 Poorly managed industrial waste &
discharges
 Dumped or Lost shipping goods &
containers
 Lost/discharged fishing gear
 Litter blown by the wind
 Microbeads from domestic & personal
care products
 Sewage related litter
Types of Marine Litter
Marine litter includes a wide variety of
different types of debris and these can be
classified into several distinct categories:
 Plastics including moulded, soft, foam,
nets, ropes, buoys, monofilament line
and other fisheries related equipment,
smoking related items such as
cigarette butts or lighters, and micro
plastic particles
 Metal including drink cans, aerosol
cans, foil wrappers and disposable
barbeques
 Glass including buoys, light globes,
fluorescent globes and bottles
 Processed timber including pallets,
crates and particle board
 Paper and cardboard including
cartons, cups and bags
 Rubber including tyres, balloons and
gloves
 Clothing and textiles including shoes,
furnishings and towels
 Sewage related debris (SRD) including
cotton bud sticks, nappies, condoms
and sanitary products.
Impacts of Marine Litter on coast & the
sea
Economic loss
Marine debris is an eyesore along
shorelines around the world. It degrades
the beauty of the coastal environment and
in many cases, may cause economic loss
if an area is a popular tourist destination.
Habitat Damage
Marine debris can scour, break,
smother and otherwise damage important
marine habitat, such as coral reefs. Many of
these habitats serve as the basis of marine
ecosystems and are critical to the survival
of many other species.
Wildlife Entanglement and Ghost fishing
One of the most notable types of
impacts from marine debris is wildlife
entanglement. Derelict nets, ropes, line, or
other fishing gear, packing bands, rubber
bands, balloon string, six-pack rings, and a
variety of marine debris can wrap around
marine life. Entanglement can lead to injury,
illness, suffocation, starvation, and even
death.
Ingestion
Many animals, such as sea turtles,
seabirds, and marine mammals have
been known to ingest marine debris. The
debris item may be mistaken for food and
ingested. Debris ingestion may lead to
loss of nutrition, internal injury, intestinal
blockage, starvation, and even death.
Vessel Damage and Navigation Hazards
Marine debris can be quite large and
difficult to see in the ocean, if it’s floating
below the water surface. Encounters with
marine debris at sea can result in costly
vessel damage, either to its structure or
through a tangled propeller or clogged
intake.
Alien Species Transport
If a marine organism attaches to
debris, it can travel hundreds of miles and
land on a shoreline where it is non-native.
Invasive species can have a devastating
impact on fisheries and local ecosystems
and can be costly to eradicate.
Environmental impact of shipping
The environmental impact of shipping
includes greenhouse gas emissions,
acoustic, ballast water discharges and
oil pollution. The International Maritime
Organization (IMO) estimates that Carbon
dioxide emissions from shipping were

3. Health, Safety, & Environment
20 Marine Engineers Review (India) www.imare.in | November2016
beds, producing risks to public health. A
large cruise ship (3,000 passengers and
crew) generates an estimated 55,000
to 110,000 litres per day of black water
waste. Annex IV of MARPOL is devoted to
prevention of sewage pollution by ships.
Solid waste
Solid waste generated on a ship
includes glass, paper, cardboard,
aluminium, steel cans and plastics
etc. It can be either non-hazardous or
hazardous in nature. Solid waste that
enters the ocean may become marine
debri and can then pose a threat to marine
organisms, humans, coastal communities
and industries that utilize marine waters.
With large cruise ships carrying several
thousand passengers, the amount of waste
generated in a day can be massive and can
put a strain on port reception facilities,
which are rarely adequate to the task of
serving a large passenger vessel. MARPOL
annex III and V deals with such wastes.
Bilge water
On a ship, oil is often found to leak
from engine and machinery spaces or from
engine maintenance activities and mixes
with water in the bilge, the lowest part of
the hull of the ship, but there is a filtering
mechanism to clean bilge water before
being discharged through a monitoring
system. A number of cargo and cruise lines
have been charged with environmental
violations related to this issue in recent
years.
Challenges
Marine litter is not a problem that
can be easily solved. Even if no additional
litter entered the sea today, the problems
of yesterday’s debris will still be washing
ashore in hundreds of years’ time. However
thatdoesn’tmeanthatitshouldbeaccepted.
There are a growing number of very
effective national charities, environmental
groups and local community networks
working on the marine litter issue, from
lobbying at the highest level of government
and industry to organising reactive beach
clean events after storms deposit another
tideline of trash on the beach.
There is also growing collaboration
and communication between these groups
to deliver more effective solutions, as it is
fast becoming clear that together we will
be more effective in the face of the marine
litter crisis.
Implementing the following
recommendations could save thousands
equal to 2.2% of the global human-made
emissions in 2012 and expects them to rise
substantially by 2050 if no action is taken.
Ballast water
Ballast water discharges by ships
can have a negative impact on the marine
environment & coast. Cruise ships, large
tankers, and bulk cargo carriers use a
huge amount of ballast water, which is
often taken on in the coastal waters in one
region after ships discharge wastewater or
unload cargo, and discharged at the next
port of call, wherever more cargo is loaded.
Ballast water discharge typically contains
a variety of biological materials, including
plants, animals, viruses, and bacteria.
These materials often include non-native,
nuisance, invasive, exotic species that can
cause extensive ecological and economic
damage to aquatic ecosystems along with
serious human health problems.
Ballast water convention dealing with
ballast water issues has just been ratified
on 8th September 2016 after years of
debates and discussions at IMO and will
come into force from 8th September 2017.
Oil spills
Most commonly associated with ship
pollution are oil spills. While less frequent
than the pollution that occurs from daily
operations, oil spills have devastating
effects. While being toxic to marine life,
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs),
the components in crude oil, are very
difficult to clean up, and last for years in
the sediment and marine environment.
Marine species constantly exposed to
PAHs can exhibit developmental problems,
susceptibility to disease, and abnormal
reproductive cycles. Annex I of MARPOl
convention deals in detail with all aspects
of Oil pollution by ships.
Sewage
The cruise line industry dumps
255,000 US gallons (970 m3) of greywater
and 30,000 US gallons (110 m3) of black
water into the sea every day. Blackwater
is sewage, wastewater from toilets and
medical facilities, which can contain
harmful bacteria, pathogens, viruses,
intestinal parasites, and harmful nutrients.
Discharges of untreated or inadequately
treated sewage can cause bacterial and
viralcontaminationoffisheriesandshellfish

4. 21Marine Engineers Review (India)November2016 | www.imare.in
of lives each year, ensure cleaner coastal
air and reduce ecological damage from
shipping.
Strong Legislations
Discharge and disposal of litter
into water be sea, rivers, canals, nallahs
or waterways be prohibited with heavy
penalties and fines. Patrolling and
continuous monitoring would be essential.
Clean up ship recycling
Ratify and follow Hong Kong
International Convention for the Safe and
Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships
– 2009 at an early date.
Improve port management.
Port authorities should review
their policy towards handling of marine
litter and how to control and monitor
same. Environmental non-governmental
organizations should campaign to increase
public awareness to control marine litter
and of port development. Port reception
facilities which are grossly inadequate at
most of the Indian ports are in need to be
urgently reviewed and updated.
IMO and Environment policies
The International Maritime
Organization (IMO), which regulates
international shipping, is actively looking
at several issues involving environment,
global warming and overall safe operation
of ships and must be complimented for
the hard work being put in by the member
states.
Measures already taken have
shown to be successful in reducing ship-
sourced pollution, litter and illustrate the
commitment of the Organization and the
shipping industry towards protecting the
environment.
The work of the IMO Marine
Environment Division is directed by the
Marine Environment Protection Committee,
the MEPC in short, which is IMO’s senior
technical body on marine pollution related
matters. It is aided in its work by a number
of IMO’s Sub-Committees, in particular the
Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention
and Response (PPR).
The original focus of its work was
the prevention of marine pollution by
oil, resulting in the adoption of the
first ever comprehensive antipollution
convention, the International Convention
for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
(MARPOL) in 1973. This has undergone
some amendments over the last few
years to include a much wider range of
measures to prevent marine pollution
and now includes regulations addressing
pollution from chemicals, other harmful
substances, garbage, sewage and under
Annex VI adopted in 1997, air pollution and
emissions from ships.
Other Global Initiatives on Marine
litters to keep cleaner coast are:
 Monitoring systems of marine litter;
 The management of abandoned and
lost fishing gear;
 Reception facilities for marine garbage
and waste;
 The development of economic
instruments to better control the
problem;
 Addressing the tourist, diving sectors
and industries;
 Cooperation with global and regional
beach clean-up campaigns;
 The development of outreach and
educational material.
Also there are three additional and
different projects which it is felt will make
good improvement. they are:
Dive against Debris project for scuba
divers, whilst it is still in its infancy, the
project aims to provide critical information
on underwater marine litter. Scuba divers
can record the litter on the Dive against
Debris database and collect this litter and
are uniquely positioned to do so.
Take Your Trash Home: Beach users
are responsible for any waste they generate
and members of the public be required to
take all their litter home when visiting rural
beaches or to ensure they provide easy and
appropriate recycling facilities across their
site.These recycling facilities and additional
bins must be managed to ensure the litter
never enters the marine environment.
Littering Penalties: Raise awareness
that littering is an offence and levy penalties
to act as a deterrent to would be offenders.
Conclusion
Public concern about the pollution and
health impact of shipping remains muted
because activities of the industry are not
much visible to the masses. Admittedly
while the industry is a backbone of the
global economy and its activities happen
far from where most people live, it is often
beyond the jurisdiction of local regulators.
We cannot rely only on new ship designs
and engine innovation to minimize the
ecological footprint of shipping; today’s
ships might be in use for another 20-30
years or more. Several issues must be
addressed together to make the industry
greener.
These challenges are not new but the
way we address them must be if we are
to significantly reduce marine litter and
restrain further environmental damage.
What is clear is that without strong action
to tackle the sources of marine litter, the
damage and the costs associated with it
will continue to rise.
“Key to survival is the environmental
protection and involvement with the
SWACHH campaigns”. 