MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1995 



November 1996 outlining its plan for bringing Navy 

 vessels into compliance with the requirements. The 

 new deadlines require all surface ships to comply with 

 the plastic discharge prohibitions by the end of 1998 

 and with special area discharge restrictions by the end 

 of 2000. Navy submarines must comply with all 

 Annex V restrictions by the end of 2008. 



To help develop its compliance plan for Annex V, 

 the Navy initiated a series of studies to evaluate 

 options for storing, processing and transferring waste 

 to shore, to assess the fate and impact of solid wastes 

 processed by new pulpers, and to examine existing 

 and potential onboard waste destruction technologies. 

 On 12 October 1995 the Navy also announced that it 

 was preparing an environmental impact statement on 

 plans for disposing of shipboard solid waste and asked 

 for comments on approaches it should consider in 

 those plans. In addition, the Navy invited agency 

 officials, representatives of environmental groups, and 

 technical experts familiar with Annex V and related 

 solid waste technology to attend the first of two 

 planned meetings to review and discuss Navy compli- 

 ance plans. The meeting was held on 3 November 

 1995 and a representative of the Commission partici- 

 pated. The second meeting is to be held early in 1996 

 when the studies mentioned above are completed. 



On 22 November 1995 the Commission responded 

 to the Navy's 12 October request for comments. In 

 its comments, the Commission noted that the Navy's 

 many efforts to address practical problems associated 

 with Annex V restrictions represented an outstanding 

 commitment to meeting compliance goals and that 

 they placed the Navy at the forefront of efforts to 

 control ship-generated sources of marine debris 

 pollution. Through information transfer to other fleets 

 in the United States and abroad, the Commission 

 noted the Navy's efforts should lead to substantial 

 benefits beyond the compliance of Navy ships alone. 



Recognizing the absence of a simple universal 

 garbage disposal solution for the many different types 

 and needs of Navy vessels, the Commission noted that 

 it seemed necessary to match the broad array of 

 provisioning, processing, training, storage, transport, 

 and disposal options to the yarious needs of different 

 classes of Navy vessels or individual vessels. Devel- 

 oping technologies, such as plasma-arc pyrolysis, may 



provide a simpler solution in the future, but in the 

 Commission's opinion, it would be inappropriate to 

 assume their development could meet compliance 

 needs in the short term. 



The Commission also noted the Navy's particular 

 success in addressing plastic wastes through efforts to 

 reduce plastics in ship supplies, plastic storage poli- 

 cies, and development of the thermal plastic proces- 

 sor. Noting that plastic items are among the most 

 hazardous to marine life, the Commission noted that 

 these steps were a particularly important contribution 

 to reducing marine debris impacts. In light of plans 

 to install plastic processors on all Navy ships by 1998, 

 the Commission suggested the improved ability to 

 handle plastic wastes might make it useful to shift ship 

 provisioning back towards plastic supplies in order to 

 reduce other waste materials that may be more diffi- 

 cult to process and store. With respect to other 

 options, the Commission noted that experience with 

 cruise ships and other vessels operating in special 

 areas suggests that commercially available incinerators 

 and compactors also should be carefully examined for 

 possible use on some Navy ships. 



While recognizing the unusual space constraints on 

 military vessels, the Commission emphasized that 

 allocating suitable space for waste storage on vessels 

 was essential. Therefore, if it was not already being 

 done, the Commission suggested that steps be taken to 

 estimate the range of waste storage needs for different 

 waste materials for all types of Navy vessels, given 

 available processing options, and then to identify the 

 best way to address storage needs to handle those 

 volumes on a vessel-by-vessel basis. Also understand- 

 ing that the Navy was examining options to shuttle 

 solid wastes from ships to port aboard tending supply 

 ships, the Commission suggested consideration also be 

 given to hiring or purchasing other vessel tenders to 

 meet this need if its existing vessels could not perform 

 this function. In this regard, it noted that this may 

 need to be only an interim measure, pending develop- 

 ment of new technologies. 



National Research Council Study on Annex V 



In 1995 the National Research Council published 

 the results of a two-year study entitled "Clean Ships, 

 Clean Ports, Clean Oceans," which examined U.S. 



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