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Marine Pollution Bill in the offing

By Kofi Ahovi
The Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) has drafted a Marine Pollution Bill and other legislations to enable the government to meet its policy objective of commencing offshore oil and gas production in the country.

The bill addresses regulations for the prevention of pollution by oil, noxious liquid substances in bulk, harmful substances carried by sea in packaged from, sewage, garbage and air pollution from ships.

It also gives contracting parties the mandate to inspect ships including tankers and other supply vessels to ensure that their operations are safe and will not pollute the marine environment.

The Bill also incorporates the provision of other conventions including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 (UNCLOS Part XII) dealing with the protection and preservation of the marine environment; 1996 protocol to the convention on the prevention of the marine pollution by dumping waste and other matter, International convention on civil liability for oil pollution,1992; International convention on the establishment of an international fund for compensation for oil pollution damage, 1992 and International convention on oil pollution preparedness, response and co-operation 1990.

The bill is expected to be made available to the minister of transport very soon who will then submit it to cabinet for approval.

The other regulations include the Offshore Petroleum (Health and Safety) Act, the Ghana Shipping (Safety Zone and Pipeline Protected Area) Regulation 2010, Ghana Maritime Offshore Installations (Safety) Regulation, the Ghana Shipping (Amendment) Act 2010, The Ghana Maritime Authority (amendment) Act 2010 and the Offshore Petroleum (Marine Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2010.

Since independence, Ghana is yet to put in place a comprehensive Marine Pollution Act covering all the relevant conventions and instruments of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in order to effectively prevent possible ships’ source pollution of the Ghana’s marine environment.

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