Pollution Program Office to support a review of information on 

 marine debris in several areas, including the Gulf of Mexico and 

 the Caribbean Sea, that would be useful when considering 

 designation of the Gulf as a "Special Area" under Annex V. 



On 27 October 1988, the Coast Guard published proposed rules 

 to implement the amendments to the Act to Prevent Pollution from 

 Ships relating to Annex V. The proposed rules addressed most of 

 the Commission's comments although they did not reguire Certifi- 

 cates of Adeguacy for large ports and marinas servicing commer- 

 cial and recreational vessels that only ply U.S. waters. On 28 

 April 1989, the Coast Guard published interim rules that became 

 effective on 30 May 1989 to implement MARPOL Annex V. Comments 

 on those rules were accepted by the Coast Guard through 31 

 December 1989. In 1990, it is expected that the interim rules, 

 perhaps with some modification, will be adopted as final rules. 



The interim rules apply to all U.S. ships (except certain 

 government-owned and operated ships) wherever they operate 

 throughout the world. They also apply to any foreign flag ships 

 when in navigable waters of the United States or within the U.S. 

 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. The term "ship" includes 

 commercial vessels, fishing vessels, recreational boats, and 

 virtually every other type of craft, as well as oil drilling 

 rigs, and offshore platforms. The rules also apply to ports and 

 terminals in that they must provide facilities to receive ship- 

 generated garbage. 



Among other things, the rules prohibit the disposal of all 

 plastics from ships into the oceans or navigable waters of the 

 United States. This includes synthetic ropes and fishing nets, 

 plastic bottles and cups, plastic bags, or any other garbage in 

 which these items are mixed. The rules also adopt discharge 

 limitations for other types of ship-generated garbage. These are 

 set forth in the table on the following page. 



Garbage that cannot be legally discharged at sea must be 

 returned to shore. Therefore, as noted above, the interim 

 regulations also reguire U.S. ports and terminals to provide 

 adeguate port reception facilities to receive and properly 

 dispose of garbage generated by the ships using that port. In 

 this regard, the rule reguires certain larger ports to obtain a 

 Certificate of Adeguacy from the Coast Guard. The purpose of the 

 Certificate is to ensure that the larger ports have the eguipment 

 and services needed to handle the types and amounts of garbage 

 brought in by the vessels it serves. 



The ports that must obtain Certificates include those that 

 service: oceangoing tankers or ships larger than 400 gross tons 

 carrying residues and mixtures of oil; oceangoing ships carrying 

 noxious liguid substances; and fishing vessels that off-load more 

 than 500,000 pounds of commercial fishing products annually. 



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