Chapter VIII — Impacts of Marine Debris 



pollution since 1985. Plans for the program's first 

 year were developed jointly by the Marine Mammal 

 Commission and the Service, and since then annual 

 program plans have been developed by the Service 

 with help from an ad hoc interagency advisory com- 

 mittee on which representatives of the Commission 

 have participated. In recent years, program funding 

 has ranged from $625,000 to $750,000 per year. As 

 the only program dedicated exclusively to addressing 

 the full range of marine debris sources and impacts, 

 the program has been a cornerstone of the Federal 

 Government's response to marine debris pollution. 



To help set priorities for program work in 1996, 

 the Service convened a meeting of its interagency 

 advisory committee on 14-15 June 1995 in Seattle, 

 Washington. Based on the committee's advice, the 

 Service developed a recommended program plan with 

 a target budget of $624,100. Most of the proposed 

 work for 1996 involved carrying forward previously 

 supported work to: 



• organize annual national volunteer beach clean-up 

 efforts; 



• remove entangling debris from endangered Hawai- 

 ian monk seals and monk seal haul-out beaches; 



• assess marine debris impacts on endangered sea 

 turtles in the North Atlantic; 



• maintain a public information and outreach pro- 

 gram on marine debris-related impacts, legal 

 requirements, and source reduction measures; 



• prepare and publish a quarterly marine debris 

 newsletter; 



• develop a national marine debris monitoring 

 program to detect trends in the sources and 

 amounts of marine debris; 



• monitor marine debris levels at selected Alaska 

 beaches; 



• develop port reception programs in the Gulf of 

 Maine to receive and recycle old fishing gear; 



• develop recycling programs for old fishing gear in 

 North Carolina and South Carolina; and 



• maintain a full-time program coordinator. 



Other projects proposed for support by the Service 

 included an assessment of entanglement rates among 

 northern fur seals and work to help develop an 

 international marine debris program in the Wider 

 Caribbean Region. 



On 27 October 1995 the Service requested Com- 

 mission comments on its recommended 1996 program 

 plan. However, the fiscal year 1996 appropriation bill 

 for the Department of Commerce included no funding 

 to continue the Marine Entanglement Research Pro- 

 gram. Although that bill was not signed, under the 

 continuing resolutions passed during the final months 

 of 1995, no funds were provided to maintain the 

 program. As a result, at the end of 1995 no measures 

 had been taken to implement projects in the proposed 

 program plan and none were expected to be taken in 

 1996. It is not clear what steps the Service might take 

 in the future to address the impacts of marine debris 

 pollution on marine mammals or other marine species. 



Annex V of the 



International Convention for the 



Prevention of Pollution from Ships 



The International Convention for the Prevention of 

 Pollution from Ships (also called the MARPOL 

 Convention) is an agreement signed in 1973 to estab- 

 lish an international framework for cooperation in 

 controlling accidental and deliberate pollution of the 

 marine environment by discharges from ships. The 

 Convention includes five annexes, one of which, 

 Annex V, establishes regulations to control the dis- 

 charge of ship-generated garbage. The Marine 

 Environment Protection Committee of the Internation- 

 al Maritime Organization oversees international efforts 

 to administer and coordinate work to implement the 

 Convention and Annex V. The principal features of 

 Annex V are (1) discharge limits on the disposal of 

 ship-generated garbage at sea, including a ban on all 

 disposal of plastics (see Table 12); (2) the designation 

 of "special areas" in which more stringent discharge 

 restrictions apply, and (3) requirements that ports in 

 nations that are party to the Annex have suitable, 

 convenient reception facilities to accept and properly 

 dispose of ship-generated garbage returned to port. 



Annex V entered into force on 31 December 1987 

 after the prescribed number of nations representing 50 

 percent of the world's commercial shipping tonnage 

 had filed instruments of ratification formally agreeing 

 to its terms. All nations that are party to the Conven- 

 tion, and that also formally accept the provisions of 



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