previous Annual Reports, the Commission worked closely with other 

 Federal agencies and the Congress to secure its ratification. 



As part of the ratification process, the U.S. Senate 

 unanimously adopted a Resolution on 5 November 1987 providing its 

 advice and consent. In doing so, the Senate noted that Annex V 

 provided for designating "Special Areas" in which dumping of all 

 garbage, except for food wastes, is prohibited beyond 12 nautical 

 miles from land. Because of particularly severe marine debris 

 problems on Texas beaches and because large numbers of endangered 

 sea turtles occur in the Gulf of Mexico, the Senate included an 

 understanding in its Resolution that the U.S. Government would 

 make every reasonable effort to seek designation of the Gulf of 

 Mexico as a Special Area under the Annex. 



In addition, because existing U.S. law did not provide clear 

 authority to regulate disposal of garbage by ships as set forth 

 in Annex V, Congress had to pass implementing legislation. This 

 need was addressed by H.R. 3674, which was passed by the House of 

 Representatives and the Senate on 18-19 December 1987. Title II 

 of the bill, entitled the "Marine Plastic Pollution Research and 

 Control Act of 1987," amended the Act to Prevent Pollution from 

 Ships and provided the needed authority in the United States to 

 implement Annex V requirements. The bill was signed into law by 

 the President on 29 December 1987 and became effective on 31 

 December 1988, the date on which the provisions of Annex V 

 entered into force. 



The U.S. Coast Guard has responsibility for administering 

 and enforcing the amendments to the Act to Prevent Pollution from 

 Ships that relate to Annex V. To help implement the new 

 requirements, the Coast Guard published a Federal Register notice 

 on 24 June 1988, announcing its intent to draft related rules and 

 requesting comments. The notice indicated that the Coast Guard 

 would not consider rules related to "Special Area" status for the 

 Gulf of Mexico until that designation, which would require 

 amending Annex V, had been formally adopted under MARPOL. 



The Commission, in consultation with its Committee of 

 Scientific Advisors, reviewed the Federal Register notice and 

 sent comments to the Coast Guard on 25 July 1988. As noted in 

 the 1988 Annual Report, the Commission recommended, among other 

 things, that: the term "disposal" be defined to include the loss 

 of garbage into the sea due to improper handling and storage 

 aboard ship as well as intentional disposal; large ports and 

 marinas serving vessels using only U.S. waters be required to 

 obtain Certificates of Adequacy for their port reception 

 facilities; and operational guidelines on handling, processing, 

 and storing garbage aboard ship be developed to facilitate the 

 use of procedures and technology that would enhance compliance 

 with Annex V and the amended Act. The Commission also advised 

 the Coast Guard that it was cooperating with the National Ocean 



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