Background (short)
Increasing shipping and maritime activities are important drivers for anthropogenic pressure on the marine environment in the Mediterranean Sea. Pressure from maritime transport includes potential chemical pollution from oil and Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS), dumping of garbage at sea, release of sewage, biofouling and non-indigenous species introduction. As documented in a great number of scientific researches, chemical pollution by oil and other harmful substances has impacts on water, seabed, fauna and flora. The level of risk of an accident occurring in the Mediterranean Sea is driven by two factors: traffic density as well as routes for oil and chemical tankers. In addition, illicit discharges of oil from ships remain a concern.
Mediterranean coastal States recognised the need to give special protection to the Mediterranean against pollution due to the operation of ships when the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) was adopted on 4 February 1975. The 1967 Torrey Canyon oil spill accident, which resulted in massive oil pollution, raised the public awareness on pollution from shipping activities. Concern was expressed regarding possible oil and other harmful substances that may be released in the Mediterranean Sea, a semi-closed marine area. This led to the establishment of the MAP first Regional Activity Centre (ROCC – Regional Oil Combating Centre, now REMPEC – Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea) and to the adoption of the Protocol Concerning Co-operation in Combating Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Oil and other Harmful Substances in Cases of Emergency (“the 1976 Emergency Protocol”) to the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution (“the Barcelona Convention”). This Protocol was revised in 2002 to include prevention of pollution from ships to emergency situations and is today referred to as the Protocol concerning Cooperation in Preventing Pollution from Ships and, in Cases of Emergency, Combating Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea (“the 2002 Prevention and Emergency Protocol”). The Protocol addresses pollution incidents, which includes both accidental pollution and illicit discharges. Pollution from oil and other hazardous substances were also addressed internationally in a number of conventions adopted under the aegis of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), some of which provides for stricter regime in the Mediterranean Sea. Although action at regional and international level has resulted in a significant decrease of massive oil pollutions from ships, incidents and illegal discharges are still responsible for the release of oil, oily mixtures and other HNS at sea. It is on these grounds that the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention included a Common Indicator (CI 19) on “occurrence, origin (where possible), extent of acute pollution events (e.g. slicks from oil, oil products and hazardous substances), and their impact on biota affected by this pollution” under Ecological Objective 9.
Background (extended)
Risk of accidents. The Mediterranean is a major shipping lane. It is estimated that around 80% of global trade by volume and over 70% of global trade by value are carried by sea (UNCTAD, 2015), with approximately 15% of global shipping activity by number of calls and 10% by vessel deadweight tons (dwt) (REMPEC, 2008) taking place in the Mediterranean. The area is an important transit route for shipping, with two of the narrowest and busiest straits in the world: the Strait of Gibraltar and the Bosphorus Strait. The Mediterranean is a major transit route. In 2006, around 10,000, mainly large, vessels transited the area en-route between non-Mediterranean ports. In addition to hosting an important transit lane for international shipping, the Mediterranean Sea is also a busy traffic area due to Mediterranean Sea born traffic (movement between a Mediterranean port and a port outside the Mediterranean), and short sea shipping activities. It is estimated that around 18% of the shipping traffic in the Mediterranean Sea takes place between two Mediterranean ports (REMPEC, 2008). Figure 1 is a representation of the maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea.
Although several factors contribute to maritime casualties, the correlation between traffic density and accidents causing a pollution is confirmed by the fact that “collisions allisions” represent the first cause of accidents (26%) resulting in an oil spill as recorded by The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited (ITOPF) between 1970 and 2016. In the Mediterranean, the “collision/contact” category accounts for 17% of accidents reported to REMPEC, after “grounding” (21%). The contribution of other accident types are as follows: “fire/explosion”: 14%, “cargo transfer failure”: 11%, “sinking”: 9%, and “other accidents”: 28%. Several studies, based on the daily traffic crossing the Istanbul Strait and the Bosphorus, identified the east Mediterranean / Black Sea area as one of the top areas presenting the greatest probability of a shipping accident occurring.
The Mediterranean is an important route for oil tankers’ shipments. The Mediterranean Sea is also a major route for tankers. The REMPEC study mentioned above shows that the Mediterranean is both a major load and discharge centre for crude oil. Approximately 18%, or 421 million tonnes, of global seaborne crude oil shipments which in 2006 amounted to approximately 2.3 billion tonnes, take place within or through the Mediterranean. The following figures (Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4) present the oil export areas and overseas destinations through the Mediterranean Sea.
Figures 3 and 4 above emphasis that the East Mediterranean area is at risk: in addition to being an area where traffic is dense, it is also a hot spot because of tanker routes from the Black Sea and the Middle East.
Deliberate discharges at sea. It was demonstrated, with the use of satellite imagery and other observation tools that deliberate oil pollution occurrences are high along busy traffic lanes. In the Mediterranean, there is evidence that the distribution of oil spills is correlated with the major shipping routes, along the major west-east axis connecting the Strait of Gibraltar through the Sicily Channel and the Ionian Sea with the different distribution branches of the Eastern Mediterranean, and along the routes towards the major discharge ports on the northern shore of the Adriatic Sea, east of Corsica, the Ligurian Sea and the Gulf of Lion (UNEP/MAP, 2012).