Ships have changed the world. Consider the role that sea-going vessels have had in rise of some of the greatest civilizations: those of ancient India and China, the Vikings, or the Mediterranean-based Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans. Maritime traffic has allowed cultural, biological, and commercial exchange, profoundly influencing the development of both individual societies and the world as a whole¹. And maritime military might has allowed nation states to increase and retain their power, perhaps more than any other kinds of technology. This is as true today as it was centuries ago.

Yet ships and shipping have changed the world in less obvious ways as well. For all the benefits maritime vessels have provided societies, these have come at a largely hidden environmental cost. Through merchant marine and naval shipping activities, countries have both deliberately and inadvertently exported pollution, affecting marine species and in some cases changing the very nature of entire marine ecosystems.

That the oceans are a repository for all sorts of human-derived wastes is something most people know something about, given the striking images in the media of debris-laden waterways, syringes washing ashore on beaches, and plastic entangling seals, turtles, and birds. But exporting pollution occurs in more subtle, and infinitely more damaging, ways. Here we focus on three ways that pollution is exported, whether deliberately or inadvertently, and the consequences of such pollution for marine ecosystems worldwide. These phenomena include ship disposal at sea, the spreading of alien species, and the proliferation of underwater noise pollution.

Ship Decommissioning, Ship-Breaking, and Ship Disposal

Shipping is big business, financially, of course, but also in terms of the sheer numbers of ships out on the sea. The number of ocean-going vessels, ranging in size from pleasure boats to aircraft carriers, is staggering. The Lloyds registry alone has 200,000 entries for merchant ships larger than 100 gross tons, and this number is dwarfed if one adds military, fishing, and private vessels to the mix. In 2005, the total number of merchant ships of at least 1,000 gross tons was 30,936². This number does not include military vessels (for which information is difficult to compile), research vessels, ships used in oil and gas exploration, or commercial fishing vessels, all of which can be extremely large and probably number in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands collectively.

Today, ships are floating hazardous waste sites, containing heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, non-biodegradable plastics, hydrocarbons, and even nuclear materials. And although the London Dumping Convention stipulates that vessel disposal on the high seas is prohibited³, countries continually dispose of ships at sea within their waters, or export their hazardous waste-laden decommissioned ships to other countries, which are eager to get paid fees and largely ignorant of the consequences.

The struggles between maritime nations having to dispose of aging ships and developing countries who are willing to scrap them continue to this day. But these conflicts are cropping up between developed countries as well, as the public and special interest groups take note of the hazards of accepting such hazardous waste for disposal. Just last May (2007), the Basel Action Network and the Sierra Club, represented by EarthJustice, sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) to prevent resumption of U.S. exports of contaminated naval vessels to foreign countries. This lawsuit means that the Bush Administration’s plans to export nine “Ghost Fleet” decommissioned naval vessels was put on hold. The vessels contain tons of materials contaminated with carcinogenic and toxic substances such as PCBs, asbestos, mercury, and used fuel.

The decision was hailed as a victory by environmental groups as well as American labor organizations. Martin Wagner of Earthjustice stated the following in response to the ruling: "The management of U.S. toxic waste is a U.S. responsibility. Why dump our trash in other countries when we can take care of it here and create new jobs at the same time?"⁴

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¹ J. H. Bentley. 1999 Sea and Ocean Basins as Frameworks of Historical Analysis The Geographical Review, Vol. 89, abstract accessed on http://www.questia.com on June 12, 2007
²Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook
³The London Dumping Convention of 1972 will eventually be superceded by the 1996 Protocol to the London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Waste and Other Matter when it comes into force. Twenty six ratifications are need to have the protocol enter into force; 20 countries have ratified it to date. See www.ban.org/Library/BRIEFP6.pdf
⁴www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2007/2007-05-31-09.a