The Greek container ship Amoproz ran aground 800m off the coast of Oluanpi's Lungpan Park
Perhaps because the accident happened just before the lunar new year holiday, and because it happened off the southernmost tip of Taiwan, it hasn't attracted media attention. The media seems to have ignored our nation's newly formulated Marine Pollution Prevention Law
On Nov. 1 last year, Taiwan formally announced the establishment of the Marine Pollution Prevention Law's initial control framework. The central authority in charge of administering this law is the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA, 環保署), while at the local level, the special municipalities and city/county governments are responsible. Still, from the central to the local governments, the story has been "no manpower, no equipment."
In the EPA, there are only between one and three people in charge of the matter, and local governments involved appear to be clueless. Thus, law enforcement agencies can't help but place complete reliance on the Coast Guard Administration (
For conservation reasons, it will probably be impossible for the national park to use dispersants on the spill. It is also difficult for the park to direct those public and private institutions which have the capacity to handle oil spills -- like Chinese Petroleum Corp, Formosa Plastics Group, or the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau. Thus, although the Marine Pollution Protection Law has already been formally announced, everyone can only sit and watch.
What is most desperately lacking now is additional manpower at the central government level, and cooperation from local government in setting up a unitary command system, plus pollution prevention training and equipment for the implementing agency (the Coast Guard).
In a show of initiative, the US government enacted the Oil Pollution Act one year after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound. Even so, ecologists are pessimistic about the recovery of marine ecology in the area within 25 years. Serious pollution can have a deep impact on marine ecosystems.
Taiwan cannot overlook the importance and urgency of the issue simply because of financial difficulties. The government should review the Oluanpi incident and identify the flaws in the implementation of the Marine Pollution Prevention Law.
Oil pollution needs to be handled within a short initial time frame. The Oluanpi spill has dragged on for weeks and yet everyone is at a loss about what to do. The recent cold fronts and bad weather have also dimmed the prospects of salvaging the situation. The Marine Pollution Prevention Law requires the Executive Yuan to establish a task force for major marine pollution incidents, and the EPA to establish a separate task force for general marine pollution incidents and draft a marine pollution contingency plan.
But these mechanisms are after all "static" in nature and may not have much effect. We expect more efforts from the authorities and enforcers in the areas of manpower, equipment and training. Also, the government should consider establishing a national center for marine pollution contingency response and studies or a marine pollution prevention foundation to conduct long-term research on marine pollution and to train professionals. In particular, it is not appropriate for the authorities to take lightly the question of how people, ships and equipment can initiate rescue work, install oil booms around the spill and clean it up in the shortest time possible.
Coastal areas should be classified and managed according to their topography, geography and ecological sensitivity. Plans should also be drawn up for the prevention and control of marine pollution. In 1998, the government enacted the ROC Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf Law and the ROC Sea Territory and Contiguous Zone Law. Soon afterwards, it also announced the country's marine territory baseline.
But to this day, Taiwan's "internal waters," which are the most significant in terms of sovereignty, are still freely frequented by foreign vessels. The Oluanpi area and the area between Taiwan proper and Penghu belong to such internal waters. The government should strictly regulate shipping in the area and forbid or restrict shipping in ecologically sensitive areas (such as national park areas and fishing resources). But while making these regulations, Taiwan also needs to take care of developments in maritime transportation and international practice as well as ecological conservation.
Apart from how the Oluanpi incident is applicable to the National Park Law, the government should also review problems in the Marine Pollution Prevention Law and take the necessary steps to rectify them. Apart from demanding compensation from the shipping company concerned, the Kenting National Park should also quickly start an ecological survey as well as a clean-up and possible recovery work.
Chiau Wen-yan is an associate professor of marine environment and engineering at National Sun Yat-sen University.
Translated by Scudder Smith and Francis Huang
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