Liability and Compensation for Pollution Damage to the Marine Environment

Humans, in their quest for development, had laid, and have continued to lay, an unrestrained siege on the environment. This siege has dire consequences for man and his environment, causing environmental pollution. The major culprit to marine pollution comes from activities in the shipping industry. While pollution of the marine environment by persistent oils has fewer long-term effects than may be expected, its immediate impact on the marine environment, human life and marine resources is often very devastating. These devastating effects of some major tanker oil spills on the marine and coastal environment, as well as the resulting economic losses and significant clean-up costs, have led to much public attention on the issue of ship-source oil pollution from ships that carry oil as cargo. This has acted as a catalyst for the development of a considerable body of international legal instruments to prevent and respond to such incidents and to provide financial compensation in respect of losses resulting from an oil pollution incident involving tankers. This chapter discusses liability rules under ship-source persistent oil pollution, ship-source non-persistent oil pollution and liability rules for marine pollution damage under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Claims and compensation for pollution damage under the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Funds compensation regime and claims and compensation outside the IOPC Funds compensation regime as well as under voluntary agreements for compensating ship-sourced oil pollution damage are discussed.