Is it a free-for-all?
Published:Friday | July 9, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter
A PARLIAMENTARY committee expressed shock yesterday when it was disclosed that Jamaica had no legislative framework in place to impose sanctions on persons or the owners of ships who pollute Jamaican waters.
Member of the Infrastructure and Physical Development Committee of Parliament, Luther Buchanan, quizzed government officials about sanctions that would apply when ships pollute the marine environment locally.
Harbour master with the Port Authority of Jamaica, Captain Hopeton Delisser, told the committee that regulations were now being crafted to deal with the issue.
He said the draft document was now with the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel.
"So Captain, presently, we have nothing? It's a free-for-all? You come, you pollute and you leave?" Buchanan questioned.
Nepa's limited powers
Responding, Delisser suggested that the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) could take action against offenders.
However, Peter Knight, chief executive officer of NEPA, said his agency had no such powers.
"I don't see how NEPA would be able to develop a programme for the sanitisation of the vessel if there are no procedures and facilities in place," Knight stressed.
Committee members also wanted to know whether there was evidence of ships polluting the Kingston Harbour.
The harbour master said that while there was no clear evidence of this occurring, he suspected that it had been done.
Land-based material
However, Delisser said the most significant source of pollution in the Kingston Harbour was land-based material.
Solid waste and contaminants flow through the Sandy Gully, Rio Cobre and the Tivoli Gully and are dumped into the Kingston Harbour.
Another area of serious concern was the waste oil flowing from gullies into the sea that affects the hull of vessels.
According to Delisser, ships leaving Jamaica en route to the United States have had to spend significant resources to clean their hulls as contaminated vessels would be subject to detention and huge fines in the US.