SkyTruth continues to find frequent instances of apparent bilge dumping in the waters of Southeast Asia. On March 23, Sentinel-1 imagery captured three likely bilge slicks off the coast of Madura Island in Indonesia.
This is the third entry in a multi-part series revealing the significance of bilge dumping globally. You can read parts one and two on SkyTruth’s blog.
Today, ninety percent of international trade relies on global shipping. From commercial to passenger vessels the world’s global fleet exceeds 95,402 ships plus around 2.8 million fishing vessels. With all this ocean traffic occurring every day, SkyTruth has been monitoring the oceans for bilge dumping; the illegal discharge of oily wastewater at sea. In this post, we explore regulations governing bilge dumping and consider why this practice is so widespread, despite these regulations.
My name is Alice Foster, and I started as an intern at SkyTruth this past January. But my journey to SkyTruth was a bit unexpected. Until recently, I was somewhat unenthusiastic about science, although I was interested in conservation issues. But after a few minutes in my first geology class, I was hooked.
Last year SkyTruth reported 163 accounts of likely bilge dumping across the world, from Brazil, to the Mediterranean, to Southeast Asia and elsewhere. As we described in our recent post, bilge dumping is the illegal release of untreated oily wastewater from a vessel’s lower hull. This wastewater, or bilge, appears as an oil slick in the ocean, which eventually disperses and can migrate to vulnerable coastlines.
My name is Matthew Ibarra and I am a new intern at SkyTruth. Originally I came to West Virginia University to study mechanical and aerospace engineering. However, as my time at WVU went on I became much less interested in engineering. I developed a passion for renewable energy and decided I wanted to shift my focus of study and work on environmental challenges.