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leave port, ensuring the payment of a levied fine or penalty or the posting of a 

 penalty bond or other surety. Foreign vessels outside United States navigable 

 (territorial) waters may not be stopped and boarded for violations of the 1954 

 Convention. A foreign vessel is advised immediately of its suspected violation, 

 and a report of the incident is sent by message to the district commander. The 

 Coast Guard unit covering the incident also files a written violation report, docu- 

 mented with photographs and any other evidence which may be obtained. Foreign 

 vessels are boarded routinely in United States ports and cliecked for compliance 

 with oil record book requirements. Reports of prohibited discharges and oil 

 record book violations bx» vessels of nations signatory to the 11)54 Convention are 

 transmitted via the Department of State to the nation of registry for prosecution 

 under domestic law. Violations of the 1954 Convention present serious evidentiary 

 problems, since a discharge in excess of 100 parts oil i)er million parts mixture 

 must be proved, and because of various "excepted or legal discharges" which may 

 be claimed in defense. Furthermore, tankers must discharge oily mixtures beyond 

 the present prohibited zones (or "more tlian 50 miles from the nearest land" 

 under the 1969 Amendments), but ships other than tankers are required to dis- 

 charge oily mixtures only "as far as practicable from land". Although it may be 

 assumed that a visible oil slick will approach the 100 ppm limit, there is no 

 known way to measure quantitatively the oil content of a discharge unless the 

 oily mixture is in an enclosed body of water of known or measurable quantity 

 unless a vessel is observed and photographed discharging gross quantities of 

 oil into the sea, the establishment of a case rests on the possibility that the 

 oil recoi'd book was improperly maintained. The collection of samples is a prac- 

 tical impossibility on the high seas, where violations are generally detected by 

 fixed-wing aircraft. 



8. From the standpoint of practicality, is it more difficult to enforce an opera- 

 tional discharge standard based on parts per million or a vessel construction 

 standard? 



An operational discharge standard based on parts oil per million parts mix- 

 ture certainly presents greater practical enforcement difficulties than a vessel 

 construction standard, for two reasons. First, adherence to an operational dis- 

 charge standard must rely heavily on human judgment. Discharges of oily mix- 

 tures must be carefully monitored to control oil content. Unless a law enforce- 

 ment officer skilled in vessel operations is placed on every ship, we must rely 

 upon the diligence and integrity of vessel masters, who operate within severe 

 competitive constraints. A vessel construction standard, however, such as segre- 

 gated ballast, tanks for retention of oily wastes on board, and so forth, greatly 

 reduces reliance upon human judgment. Control of oily discharges is essenti- 

 ally built into the vessel, eliminating critical monitoring functions. Second, it 

 is far more difficult to demonstrate violation of an operational discharge stand- 

 ard than of a vessel construction standard. In the former case, we must document 

 the discharge, determine the oil content, prove that the discharge was not a 

 legal exception, and so forth, requiring that we be on-scene at the time of the 

 discharge and take samples, which is rarely practical on the high seas. Viola- 

 tion of a vessel construction standard, on the other hand, would generally be 

 detectable at any time in any port, merely by boarding and inspecting the vessel. 



0. What devices arc bring investigated by the Coast Guard to improve enforce- 

 ment capability, i.e. labeling or m,arlcing of oil, sensors, infrared cameras, satel- 

 lites, etc? 



The Coast Guard Office of Research and Development is currently investigating 

 several techniques for airborne oil surveillance. A multi-sensor detection pro- 

 totype will detect and map oil slicks ov€;r a 50 mile swath, day and night, in all 

 weather. A laser surveillance system will identify oil t.vpe by characteristic 

 fluorescent emission spectra. Imagery from Skylab and the Earth Resources 

 Technology Satellites will be evaluated for the applicability of satellite detec- 

 tion of oil slicks. Microwave thickness determination will add quantification 

 capability to the multi-sensor detection system. Differential TV using low-light- 

 level cameras will also improve oil detection capability. Besides these airborne 

 .systems, sensors being developed for fixed installation in port areas might also 

 be installed on buoys close offshore. The "tagging" of oil for identification pur- 

 poses, i.e. the addition of unique, innocuous foreign substances to oil at its 

 source, is also being examined by the Coast Guard. This technique offers great 

 potential for positive identification of discharged oil, but its enormous cost makes 

 implementation unlikely. Besides these systems under development, the Coast 

 Guard now has an operational Airborne Remote Sensing System for the detection 

 of oil utilizing infra-red and ultraviolet sensors aboard three Coast Guard air- 

 craft. Three more aircraft will be fitted with these sensors by next month. 



