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Resolution 1869 (2012) Final version
The environmental impact of sunken shipwrecks
1. Shipwrecks, ocean acidification
and the dumping of waste into oceans are among the biggest sources of
marine pollution. Some 75% of sunken wrecks date back to the Second
World War; their metal structures are ageing and their metal plates
are deteriorating, thus threatening to release their contents into
the ocean due to the effects of corrosion.
2. The North Atlantic Ocean contains 25% of the potentially polluting
wrecks in the world. These wrecks are estimated to contain nearly
38% of the total volume of oil trapped in sunken vessels. The Mediterranean has
4% of the world’s sunken vessels and around 5% of the estimated
oil volume. These numbers are high, considering its size and the
fragile marine environment of landlocked seas.
3. Oil is not the only threat to marine biodiversity. The warships
used in the Second World War also carried munitions which, over
the years, have become corroded to the point where they are liable
to start leaking significant quantities of toxic substances. Some
of these toxic substances, such as mercury, are not biodegradable
and can cause chemical contamination of the food chain.
4. Referring to the research carried out by the World Wide Fund
for Nature (WWF), Italy, and the non-governmental organisation,
Legambiente, and to the report of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Mediterranean on “Dumping of toxic and radioactive waste and
human trafficking in the Mediterranean”, the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe expresses a strong concern over the illegal
disposal of toxic and radioactive waste transported in old vessels
that have been deliberately sunk in the Mediterranean.
5. The Assembly therefore underlines that, without maps charting
these risks, no accurate assessment of the threat can be made. An
inventory of potentially polluting wrecks was compiled by Environmental
Research Consulting (ERC) in 2004. This International Marine Shipwreck
Database has identified some 8 569 potentially polluting wrecks
around the world, including 1 583 tank vessels. However, accurate
information and data on deep-sea wrecks below 600 metres are scarce.
6. The Assembly considers that decisions to salvage oil and other
dangerous substances from a sunken wreck must be based on sound
risk assessment and a thorough cost–benefit analysis since any salvage
effort is usually expensive, time consuming and risky.
7. The need for a common policy on the treatment and removal
of wrecks has long been a topic of discussion at the International
Maritime Organization. The Nairobi International Convention on the
Removal of Wrecks (Nairobi Convention), opened for signature in
2007, therefore provides a harmonised legal framework for dealing
with the issue of wrecks. The convention provides a set of rules
aimed at ensuring the prompt removal of any wrecks that may pose
an impediment to navigation or a threat to the environment and that
are located in States parties’ exclusive economic zones, environmental
protection zones or on their continental shelf.
8. The Assembly welcomes the inclusion in the Nairobi Convention
of a financial security regime which is intended to ensure that
the owners of sunken vessels are primarily liable and financially
responsible for marking and removing wrecks that pose a threat to
the environment.
9. However, the Assembly strongly regrets that only four countries
have so far signed the Nairobi Convention – that is Estonia, France,
Italy and the Netherlands – precluding its entry into force for
the moment.
10. In the light of the above considerations, the Parliamentary
Assembly recommends that the member States of the Council of Europe:
10.1. sign and ratify the Nairobi
International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks;
10.2. create a European database on wrecks, their location,
cargo and pollution potential, in co-ordination with national maritime
pollution bodies or within the framework of the regional sea conventions:
the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the
North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention), 1992, entered into force
on 25 March 1998; the Convention for the Protection of the Marine
Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona
Convention), 1976, amended in 1995; and the Convention on the Protection
of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (Helsinki Convention),
1974, revised in 1992;
10.3. carry out systematic assessments of wrecks to identify
any that pose a threat to the environment and keep this information
up to date;
10.4. support research in order to improve:
10.4.1. the
ability to predict rates of corrosion and degradation of sunken
wrecks for different conditions (water temperature, currents, etc.);
10.4.2. knowledge of the physical properties of oil and toxic
and radioactive substances in deep water, cold water and high-pressure
seawater environments;
10.4.3. the technology of remotely operated underwater vehicles
(ROVs), with a view to reducing the cost of identifying and locating
wrecks, as well as the cost of removing oil or neutralising toxic
or nuclear waste, and/or wreck removal;
10.5. consider setting up a European fund for old shipwrecks
whose owners are either unknown, not available or are insolvent,
to meet the cost of investigating and treating shipwrecks that pose
a threat to the environment.