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Editors --- "Conference Report: Workshop on the Prevention of Marine Pollution in the Asia Pacific Region" [2000] MarStudies 20; (2000) 113 Maritime Studies 29

• CONFERENCE REPORT
• Workshop on the Prevention of Marine Pollutionin the Asia Pacific Region Townsville, 7-12 May 2000

CONFERENCE REPORT

Workshop on the Prevention of Marine Pollution in the Asia Pacific Region Townsville, 7-12 May 2000

A regional workshop on ‘The Prevention of Marine Pollution in the Asia Pacific region’ was held in Townsville between Sunday 7 May and Friday 12 May 2000. About 120 participants attended the workshop from Australia and other Asia Pacific countries with representatives also from various international agencies, including the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). The workshop was organised by Environment Australia and to some extent, followed on from the workshop held in Townsville in April 1998 on ‘Working Together on Ship and Land-based Marine Pollution’. About 28 informative papers on various aspects of marine pollution were presented in plenary to the workshop which also broke into working groups to consider specific issues, such as introduced marine pests and land-based marine pollution. The consensus among participants at the end of the workshop was that quite a lot had been achieved during the week. These outcomes were incorporated into a comprehensive workshop statement.

Major issues for the workshop included the importance of community awareness of marine pollution and the need to see the problems of marine pollution in the broader economic, social, political and cultural context. This context suggests both some of the problems of marine pollution and possible solutions. The problems arise from the economic and social impacts of marine pollution. These include the adverse consequences for public health of contaminated rivers and beaches, the loss of food sources through the destruction of fish stocks, and the collapse of industries, particularly tourism, fishing and aquaculture, that depend on a clean and healthy marine environment. The associated economic, political, social and cultural interests need to be mobilised to provide some of the solutions.

Generally the problems of marine pollution are well-known and technical solutions have been identified. Also to some extent, the legal frameworks have been established but the appropriate actions are not being taken in many countries and levels of pollution in the region are still increasing. Participants thought that much more could done to promote awareness of the consequences of marine pollution at all levels. Senior politicians needed to be aware of the economic and social consequences of marine pollution and this awareness needed to migrate down to the community level where ultimately there had to be ownership of programs at a ‘grass roots’ level. People working on marine pollution at a macro-level also used a lot of ‘jargon’ that was not necessarily understood at a community level.

Participants acknowledged that land-based marine pollution was the major problem but while this was within the charter of the workshop, most workshop activities focused on ship-based pollution. To some extent, different epistemic communities deal with land-based pollution and ship-based pollution (represented, for example, by the different international agencies responsible at a global level) and there would be merit in bringing these communities more together. A clear need exists for a more integrated approach to marine pollution, which encompasses all sources of marine pollution. This approach will be adopted at the subsequent workshop in the series probably to be held in mid-2002.

With regard to ship-based marine pollution, the workshop noted the trend with the focus of international concern away from oil tankers towards ships’ bunker oil as the major potential hazard to the marine environment. The clean-up costs after a spill of heavy bunker oil from any type of vessel could be disproportionately large and some container vessels and bulk carriers were carrying very large quantities of bunker oil. Discarded fishing gear was another growing concern with ship-based pollution, particularly as fishing nets and lines made of synthetic fibres could last a long time in the sea before degrading. There is clear evidence that these nets and lines go on providing a serious threat to marine life.

Perhaps the real value of the workshop was in its clear focus on the problems of Asia Pacific. Many of the priority problems with marine pollution are now to be found in this region and these are exacerbated by high levels of shipping traffic and coastal development in Asia Pacific and the relatively large number of sensitive marine areas in the region. Some valuable lessons have already been learned in the Asia Pacific region. These include the success of the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Sea of East Asia (PEMSEA) demonstration projects in the seas of East Asia and the model maritime code developed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. These are positive developments but there is still an enormous amount of work required. This will be facilitated, at least in the South Pacific, by the regional oceans policy now mooted for development for that ocean. Such a policy would provide the appropriate integrated regional framework for dealing with the problems of marine pollution.