Bilge Dumping

Bilge dumping at sea:
Why should I care?

Bilge dumping has remained hidden for decades because it typically occurs far out at sea. This type of pollution occurs when cargo vessels and tankers illegally dump oily bilge water into the ocean. Bilge water forms in most modern cargo and container vessels from the heavy oil they use for fuel. This oil produces a thick, oily sludge that drains into the bottom of the vessel and needs to be emptied regularly. International law specifies how bilge water should be treated to protect ocean ecosystems. But SkyTruth has discovered that many ships bypass costly pollution prevention equipment by simply flushing the bilge water directly into the sea. And they routinely get away with it. (Read our report on bilge dumping to learn more.) Our project Cerulean analyzes thousands of satellite images each day to detect oil slicks and identify polluters.

DW’s Planet A created an excellent explanatory video about bilge dumping, featuring the role of satellites (that’s us!) and whistleblowers in bringing this egregious pollution problem to heel.

Our goal is to stop oil pollution at sea

SkyTruth has analyzed satellite imagery from around the world, documenting bilge dumping for years in Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, West Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere. We’ve spoken with government officials, coastal business owners, advocacy groups, and others concerned about oil pollution washing up on beaches from vessels offshore, harming fisheries, wildlife, and coastal livelihoods. We believe this problem is serious, widespread, and has been long unaddressed. Until now.

Thanks to generous support from AWS, SkyTruth’s project Cerulean is now automating the analysis of thousands of satellite images every day through machine learning algorithms that identify bilge dumping globally. As more and more satellites are launched, covering even larger areas of the Earth, Cerulean will detect bilge dumping everywhere it is occurring.

The 2019 AWS re:Invent Hackathon for Good helped kick-start our automation effort. There, SkyTruth was one of four nonprofits chosen to tap the brainpower of dozens of engineers, computer scientists, and other experts for free. Since then, we’ve continued to make progress by processing thousands of satellite images a day and teaching our model how to identify oily slicks left by vessels. We are also using Automatic Identification System radio broadcasts from vessels to identify the most likely perpetrators and work with partners to bring them to justice.

Our goal is to stop oil pollution at sea

SkyTruth has analyzed satellite imagery from around the world documenting bilge dumping for years, including in Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, West Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere. We’ve spoken with government officials, coastal business owners, advocacy groups and others concerned about oil pollution washing up on beaches from vessels offshore, harming fisheries, wildlife, and coastal livelihoods. We believe this problem is serious, widespread, and has been long unaddressed. Until now.

Thanks to generous support from AWS, SkyTruth is now automating the analysis of thousands of satellite images every day through machine learning algorithms that identify bilge dumping globally. We call this effort Cerulean. As more and more satellites are launched, covering even larger areas of the Earth, Cerulean will detect bilge dumping everywhere it is occurring.

The 2019 AWS re:Invent Hackathon for Good helped kick-start our automation effort. There, SkyTruth was one of four nonprofits chosen to tap the brainpower of dozens of engineers, computer scientists, and other experts for free. Since then, we’ve continued to make progress by processing thousands of satellite images a day, and teaching our model how to identify oily slicks left by vessels. We are also using Automatic Identification System radio broadcasts from vessels to identify the most likely perpetrators and name names.

Our goal is to stop oil pollution at sea

A vessel suspected of bilge dumping.

Get involved

Cerulean is creating a database and notification system that informs governments, activists, researchers, businesses, journalists and others about this common illegal practice; allowing them and others to finally hold violators accountable for their actions. If your organization is interested in this dataset, or can leverage our global pipeline to deliver justice to these oceanic polluters, email us at hello@skytruth.org.