Saving our marine environment

The Greek container ship Amoproz ran aground 800m off the coast of Oluanpi's Lungpan Park (鵝鑾鼻龍盤公園) on Jan. 14, and since then, the ship's hull has gradually become submerged. Due to the large quantity of oil leaked, the surrounding marine environment has already become polluted, and the area's marine ecological system faces catastrophe. The shipping company and the Kenting National Park Administration seem not to have come up with any appropriate measures so far to deal with the problem, while the coast guard can only "closely" monitor the situation.

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 (海洋汙染防治法) and the role and function of the authorities charged with its administration.

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 (海岸巡防署) under the Executive Yuan, and some assisting administrative authorities, such as the customs, harbor and shipping authorities, etc. But in the present situation, even these administrative authorities can do little more than "closely monitor" the situation, finding it difficult to enforce anything.

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.