Vessel utilization is carefully controlled to 

 minimize the necessity for tank cleaning. 



Special pollution abatement instructions and 

 informational bulletins are issued to ship 's masters. 

 They are required to report on the abatement 

 procedures followed by means of the official Oil 

 Record Book and in many cases on additional 

 company report forms. ' ' 



While it is believed that these practices are 

 being followed by most U.S. flag tankers, the 

 number of foreign flag tankers that enter and clear 

 our ports is twice that of the U.S. flag tankers that 

 do so and the foreign flag tankers seem to be less 

 inclined to follow the API recommendations.^ " 



b. The Convention for the Prevention of Pollution 



(i) Article VIII To make it practical to pro- 

 hibit the discharge of oil into the sea, Article 

 VIII obligates State Parties to promote the con- 

 struction of shore facilities to handle waste oil. 

 These facilities would be used primarily by the 

 independent tanker owners who do not own 

 marine terminals and account for approximately 

 three-fourths of the world's tanker fleet. 



The United States did not adhere to this Article 

 because it regarded the provision of waste oil dis- 

 posal facilities on shore as the business of local 

 municipalities, port authorities, oil terminals and 

 private contractors. The United States National 

 Committee for the Prevention of Pollution of the 

 Sea by Oil explained why the United States took 

 this action, even though its waste oil disposal 

 I facilities are thought to be well above the world 

 standard: 



// a foreign vessel were detected discharging oily 

 wastes off the U.S. coast (beyond the three-mile 

 limit), and the government whose flag the ship 

 flies sought to penalize the vessel as the result of a 

 report from the United States, the shipowner 

 might defend himself on the ground that the ship 

 was bound for a U.S. port at which no facility 

 existed. In that event the country of registry 



presumably would report the ship 's statement to 

 the United States authorities making reference to 

 Article VIII, placing the United States in an 

 embarrassing position if in fact no "adequate 

 facility existed in that port. "^ ' 



(ii) Definition of "oily mixture" This defini- 

 tion in Article I of the Convention is, of course, 

 crucial. There is evidence that a density of 100 

 parts or more of oil in one nulUon parts of the 

 mixture is unlikely to foul the surface of the water 

 for long or pollute beaches or harm waterfowl, but 

 that higher concentrations would do so.^^ A 

 definition of pollution in such terms makes it very 

 difficult to enforce the Convention "since the 

 strength of the mixture would be impossible to 

 prove without samples."^ ^ 



(Hi) Exceptions {a.) Making the Convention 

 inapplicable to tankers of under 150 tons and 

 other ships of under 500 tons was intended to 

 exempt thousands of small vessels which would 

 present some countries with enforcement prob- 

 lems they could not administratively handle. Naval 

 ships and auxiliaries were exempted because it was 

 considered inappropriate to subject them to in- 

 spection by other authorities. Great Lakes ships 

 were exempted because the problem of pollution 

 in these waters is within the jurisdiction of the 

 International Joint Commission, established under 

 the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 between the 

 United States and Canada.^ ^ 



See Hearings on S. 1591 and S. 1604 Before 

 Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution of Senate 

 Committee on Public Works, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 220 

 (1967). 



20 



See Moss, A Communication . . . , supra note 17, at 

 3. 



2 1 



Official Report of United States National Commit- 

 tee for the Prevention of Pollution of the Seas by Oil, Pt 

 II, at 7 (Dept of State, 1959). This Committee was 

 organized in 1956 in furtherance of a recommendation of 

 the London Conference which produced the 1954 con- 

 vention that Nations should establish national committees 

 to keep the problem of oil pollution under review, to 

 foster research and study and to refer pertinent informa- 

 tion to an international clearinghouse. The United States 

 acted on this recommendation even though it had not 

 signed the convention. 



The committee is composed of representatives of 

 the interested departments of the Federal government and 

 works closely with private associations interested in the 

 problem. 



Detection of Oil Emissions from Ships at Sea by 

 Observation from Aircraft, at 10 (A Study Prepared in the 

 United Kingdom by Department of Scientific and Indus- 

 trial Research, Warren Spring Laboratory, Oct. 1964). 



23 



Official Report, supra note 21, at 3. 



24 



Signed at Washington, Jan. 11, 1909, entered into 

 force May 5, 1910, 36 Stat. 2448, T.S. 548, III Redmond 

 2607. 



VIII-86 



