INTRODUCTION TO THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT AND POLLUTION - Marine Pollution: What Everyone Needs to Know - page 15

able to evolve resistance to contaminants. Also, long-lived spe-
cies tend to be higher up on the food web, fewer in number,
and to accumulate higher levels of contaminants over a long
period of time. Their slow reproduction makes potential pop-
ulation recovery from declines very slow. Slow reproduction,
combined with high accumulation of contaminants, makes
them particularly vulnerable to reproductive effects. Transfer
of fat-soluble contaminants (e.g., PCBs, DDT) from females
into the yolk of developing eggs exposes the next generation
to these chemicals even before they are hatched.
What laws regulate marine pollution?
The ocean, as well as marine pollution from land-based
sources, is governed by legal frameworks at the international,
national, state, and local levels. Multilateral and bilateral trea-
ties and other agreements are in place for fishery management,
shipping, protecting biodiversity, and pollution. The multina-
tional treaty on pollution is the International Convention for
the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, commonly known
as MARPOL, which regulates discharges into the ocean.
MARPOL is a comprehensive treaty that regulates pollution
from ships. Six annexes to the treaty set out regulations for
different aspects of pollution. Annex I covers prevention of
pollution by oil from operational measures and from acciden-
tal discharges; Annex II regulates pollution by noxious liquid
substances carried in bulk (some 250 substances were evalu-
ated and included in the list); Annex III specifies requirements
for the issuing of detailed standards on packing, marking,
labeling, documentation, stowage, and quantity limitations
for “harmful substances”; Annex IV contains requirements to
control pollution by sewage (the discharge of sewage is prohib-
ited, except when the ship has an approved sewage treatment
plant or is discharging disinfected sewage using an approved
system); Annex V governs garbage and bans discharge of plas-
tic from ships; and Annex VI limits sulfur oxide and nitrogen