Maritime adviser calls on region to protect its waters

In brief remarks yesterday at the opening of a regional workshop on Port Reception Facilities and Waste Management at the Ministry of Works and Transport Head Office, Port-of-Spain, IMO Regional Maritime Adviser Colin Young said that the convention also known as the MARPOL Convention can play a significant role in ensuring the protection of the region’s waters and its resources.

Despite the recognition of the importance of protecting marine resources, he said, there have been challenges impeding the implementation of the convention’s instruments in the Caribbean.

“We at IMO understand that the regulatory framework is now quite comprehensive, and that new regulations should only be developed if there is a clear and demonstrable need to do so,” he said.

The IMO, he said, “has been actively engaged in efforts to reduce the administrative burdens and red tape associated with regulatory compliance for Member States, shipowners and their staff.” As part of its mandate, the IMO he said, developed the Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme to assist Members States to “give full and complete effect” to the instruments to which they are party.

In that context, Young said his office conducted a survey in 2015 to determine the status of implementation of IMO instruments in the region.

As at June 2015, of the 14 Caribbean Member States (including Trinidad and Tobago) supported by the Office of the RMA, he said, ratification of the convention annexes I and II stood at 86 percent, annexe III 86 percent, annexe IV 71 percent, annex V 86 percent and annexe VI 64 percent. However, he said that implementation of these annexes into national legislation, stood at 25 percent, 25 percent, 20 percent, 33 percent, and 22 percent respectively.