Coast Guard

Enforcement Under MARPOL V Convention on Pollution Expanded, Although Problems Remain Gao ID: RCED-95-143 May 30, 1995

As much as 1 million metric tons of garbage and plastics are dumped into the ocean each year, killing seabirds and marine mammals, creating safety hazards for shippers and boaters, and polluting shorelines and beaches. To mitigate this uncontrolled ocean dumping, the United States became a party to annex V of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships--known as MARPOL V--which restricts the discharge of garbage and plastics from ships of signatory countries. However, Congress has repeatedly expressed concerns about the Coast Guard's enforcement of MARPOL V provisions. This report discusses the Coast Guard's progress in enforcing MARPOL V and determines whether funds that Congress earmarked for 100 enforcement positions are being used for MARPOL-related ends. This report also describes the Coast Guard's educational and outreach efforts, which are intended to improve compliance with MARPOL V.

GAO found that: (1) the Coast Guard stepped up its MARPOL V enforcement efforts after congressional criticism in 1990 and 1992; (2) the number of cases involving MARPOL V violations has steadily increased from 16 in 1989 to 311 in 1994; (3) fewer than 10 percent of all cases have resulted in any penalties assessed to the violator, although many cases are still being processed; (4) although there are no accurate means to determine whether the Coast Guard is fully utilizing the additional resources that Congress provided for enforcing MARPOL V, nearly all the designated enforcement positions are filled; (5) in 1994, the Coast Guard's education and outreach efforts for MARPOL V expanded from targeting commercial shippers to other groups, such as boaters and fishermen; (6) the Coast Guard initiated the SeaPartners program to provide marine education to various participants, but it is unknown how the program will contribute to MARPOL V; and (7) the Coast Guard has revised its strategy for SeaPartners in fiscal year 1995 to clarify its mission.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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