Unit 15: Cleaner Oceans
International Maritime Organization (IMO)
| Oil pollution IMO came into being just before the big boom in the international oil trade. Within less than two decades the world tanker fleet increased in tonnage by ten times and the ships themselves grew in size by the same amount. One result of this was an alarming increase in pollution of the seas, especially oil pollution. Such pollution was caused not only by tanker accidents but as a result of routine shipping operations like the cleaning of cargo tanks. Since it came into being IMO has been at the forefront of pollution control and as a result of various conventions that they have sought agreement for, the number of accidental oil spills has fallen (see Diagram 1: Accidental oil spills). More recently, they have begun to look more closely at pollution from land rather than from shipping operations. A recent report from the United Nations suggested, for instance, that lubricating oils are an important source of marine contamination - for example, bilge water containing used crankcase oil. One of the most important tasks undertaken by IMO is the setting of standards which are then incorporated into international conventions. Some examples of these are shown in Table 1. |
A tanker on fire -- oil spills increased after the oilboom but decreased after a number of international conventions were signed through the work of IMO. |
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 
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