Revealed: ships may dump oil up to 3,000 times a year in Europe’s waters
Up to 3,000 cases of oil dumped by commercial ships may be happening every year in European waters, according to a new investigation, which found the scale of illegal “bilge dumping” is likely to be far higher than publicly acknowledged.
Bilge water is a mix of liquids from the engine room of a ship along with other potentially toxic substances including lubricants, cleaning solvents and metals such as lead and arsenic, which collects at the bottom of the vessel.
Dealing with this oily wastewater – by treating it to remove pollutants or by offloading it at port – is expensive. To cut down on operational costs, some ships simply dump it directly into the ocean, where it can pose a serious threat to marine life.
A six-month investigation by Lighthouse Reports, a European non-profit newsroom, with ninepublications across Europe, used satellite technology, whistleblowers’ testimonies and freedom of information requests to document hundreds of incidents of potentially illegal oil spills from ships. It found that despite the use of sophisticated satellite technology, countries were slow to act and prosecution levels were low, leading to what some experts say is a culture of impunity.
In Europe, marine oil spills are monitored by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) through its CleanSeaNet initiative, launched in 2007, which analyses satellite images to detect potential oil discharges from ships.
When the system identifies a potential spill, it sends an alert to the relevant EU country, which can observe the slick by sending out a boat or plane or by asking a nearby vessel to inspect it – sometimes the satellite picks up algal blooms or legal discharges of vegetable or fish oil. The national authority can then feed its
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