§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action is being taken to prevent the dumping by ships in(a) United Kingdom and (b) international waters of prohibited materials; and what estimate he has of the total tonnage of material so dumped.
§ Mr. CurryDumping at sea is controlled in the United Kingdom by part II of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985, under which a licence is required for disposal operations. The Act's requirements apply to all vessels dumping in United Kingdom waters, and more widely to British vessels and to vessels loaded in the United Kingdom. The ban on dumping without a licence will be extended to all vessels in United Kingdom continental shelf waters by the Environment Protection Bill currently before Parliament. Licensed disposal operations are inspected, and samples of waste are analysed, to enforce the legislation.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport has introduced regulations to implement the provisions of annex V of MARPOL 73/78—the international convention for the prevention of pollution from ships 1973, as amended by the 1978 protocol. The regulations which came into force on 31 December 1988 enforce restrictions on the disposal of garbage into the sea and include a complete ban on the discharge of plastics. These regulations apply to all United Kingdom-registered ships and to foreign-registered ships while in United Kingdom waters.
From time to time reports are received of illegal dumping, normally of unlicensed rather than prohibited materials. All such reports are investigated but it is not possible to give any estimate of the tonnage involved.