only be discharged beyond 12 miles from land. In addition, 

 each government party to the Convention with a coastline 

 bordering the Special Area must undertake efforts to ensure 

 that adequate port reception facilities are provided in all 

 bordering ports as soon as possible. To pursue development 

 of a proposal to designate the Gulf of Mexico as a Special 

 Area, the Coast Guard and the Department of State initiated 

 consultations with the Government of Mexico, which presently 

 is not a party to the Convention. 



During the 26th Session of the Committee, the U.S. 

 delegation advised the Committee of the status of its efforts 

 regarding Special Area status for the Gulf of Mexico. The 

 U.S. delegation reported that, while representatives of the 

 Government of Mexico indicated that they agreed in principle 

 with the proposed designation, they felt that final agreement 

 must await their accession to the Convention and, thus, a 

 proposal for designating the Gulf of Mexico as a Special Area 

 was not put forward during the 2 6th Session. 



Research Activities 



To help improve information on marine debris in certain 

 ocean areas, the Marine Mammal Commission and the National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Ocean 

 Pollution Program Office jointly supported a contract study 

 to review information on the status of marine debris problems 

 in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the Gulf of 

 Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and waters off the west coast of 

 Baja California. The purpose of the study was to: (a) obtain 

 published and unpublished information on the sources, amounts, 

 types, and effects of marine debris in these areas, and (b) to 

 identify programs being undertaken to define and mitigate 

 problems caused by marine debris in this area. 



The study report, entitled "Persistent Marine Debris in 

 the North Sea, the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, the Wider Caribbean 

 Area, and the West Coast of Baja California," was completed in 

 July 1988 (see Appendix B, Heneman and the Center for 

 Environmental Education 1988) . Among other things, the report 

 concludes that: vessel traffic appears to be the major source 

 of marine debris in the North Sea, and the greatest problems 

 in the area involve effects on sea birds and aesthetic impacts 

 on certain beaches; aesthetic impacts near major urban centers 

 in the northeast United States is the best documented marine 

 debris problem in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, and numerous 

 sources of debris complicate potential mitigation efforts; 

 tar appears to be the most prevalent type of floating marine 

 pollutant in the Wider Caribbean area (including the Gulf of 

 Mexico) while plastics, glass, and other litter from ships 

 and land-fills near island shorelines are sources of significant 

 amounts of marine debris; the greatest impacts of marine 



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