Hello friends!!

You have all seen the recent tragedy in our country's maritime region. A very traumatic moment. For this reason, I wanted to make an explanation of the law of the sea. I think a lot of people may not know about this. I didn't learn academically about this law of the sea at the university. However, I read many articles about this and I critically analyze the law on this area in our country by reading the Act. So today I thought it is a timely valuable topic to bring this article to give an explanation about the basic international and local law regarding this incident. So please read this start to end to being a person who protects mother nature and get an idea of law.

The ocean is really like a different world. Its ecosystem is home to rare fish, coral reefs, turtles, and seahorses. Even the scientific facts of this beautiful ocean have not yet been discovered by us. Although man is fortunate enough to experience this beauty, the damage done to these oceans by human activities will not be recouped with money or anything else. The damage caused to Sri Lanka by this ship will not be able to be repaired for many more years

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What are the ways in which marine pollution occurs?

🙁 Discharge of chemicals from industrial plants and by the ships into the sea.

This is a very serious situation. Many developed countries are seriously polluting the oceans because of the chemicals they emit from their industries. In our country the sea area is also damaged by these chemical materials by express pearl ship. Have you heard about Minamata disease in Japan in 1956? It is terrible to look at even those photos.

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This minamata area was named as Death Valley after this disease. Death arrived to people who were living in this area by also human’s creation. Mercury in the effluent from a factory in the area had caused the poisonous bodies of the fishes in the sea. Eventually, the fish-eaters and even the dogs and cats died. The symptoms here were very dangerous.

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I think now you can understand the danger of marine pollution. I mentioned here just an example. There are so many problems like this all around the world because of this pollution.

🙁 Another form of marine pollution is the dumping of sewage, hospital waste, and shipwrecks.

🙁 The most serious of these is the dumping of plastic waste such as plastic bottles, shopping bags and food packaging into the sea. Did you know that millions of tons of plastic are released into the sea every year? Below are the 10 countries in the world that will currently release the most plastic colluvial into the sea by 2021.

⦁ China ( 59,079,741 tons)
⦁ USA
⦁ Germany
⦁ Brazil
⦁ Japan
⦁ Pakistan
⦁ Nigeria
⦁ Russia
⦁ Turkey
⦁ Egypt

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It is a pity that marine life is dying so fast due to human activities and that the creatures included in the Red Data Book are dying forever.

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I will now explain the situation in terms of marine law in international law in relation to the explosion of this ship.
The Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, was first enacted on November 16, 1994. This can be considered as the perfect law of ocean law. It covers a wide range of topics, including shipping, local waters, fishing, and the use of maritime boundaries in warfare.

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In ancient times the sea was used only for fishing. However, due to the activities of the countries, such laws were enacted and the local maritime boundaries of each country were shown. According to the third clause of this agreement, the local water boundary is 12 miles wide. But today it is spread over 200 miles.

Well, let me tell you how, under international law, action can be taken against this ship.
If there is shipping in the sea, they must symbolize the flag of the country. This rule is used under the freedom of high seas concept. Thus, every state must keep a list of their ships. And the insurance company or the country must ensure about the sea worth of the ship such as being equipped with the necessary equipment, alarms and signaling systems, etc. So we must research the questions of this express pearl ship.

The inland seashore is the state territory of the coastal state and is under its sovereignty. The legal regime of such an area is governed by national law taking into account the standards of international law. The Coastal State implements administrative, civil and criminal jurisdiction over all ships floating under any flag. Under that law we have the power to arrest the caption of the ship and the staff.

After this convention, the UN organization resolved many treaties with the members to protect the sea. Some of them are,

⦁ Convention on the territorial sea and contiguous Zone ( 1958)
⦁ Convention on the High seas ( 1958)
⦁ Convention on the Continental Shelf
⦁ Convention on Fishing and conservation of Living Resources
⦁ Oslo Convention on the prevention of marine Pollution from Land-based Resources
⦁ Barcelona Convention
⦁ London convention (1974)

So if some country signed these conventions as a party and ratification, the international sea laws apply for the territorial law. Sri Lanka is just a party for some conventions above.

Ok now I tell you What is the law in our legal system. I researched about the Marine pollution prevention Act No.35 of 2008 regarding this case. There are so many Acts but mainly I give my attention to this law.

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In the head of this act describes the aim of this law as below.

An Act to provide for the prevention, control and reduction of pollution in the territorial waters of Sri Lanka or any other Maritime Zone it's foreshore and the coastal zone of Sri Lanka and for Matters connected therewith or incidental thereto

Under this Act, a Marine Environment Protection Authority has been established which has the power to carry out legal activities related to shipping, port operations and marine environment. Subsections A and B of Section 7 of the Act provide for the prosecution of cases involving this ship in the courts of this country.

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This authority has jurisdiction over individuals and institutions that can sue the country's maritime region in the event of a disaster. Accordingly, they are liable for criminal and civil offenses if they neglect their responsibilities despite their ability to prevent the ship from catching fire.(under sections 26 and 34 of the Act).
Under Sections of 6, 9(5), 10,23 and 24 can also apply for this incident. In summary, sections included at section no. 6 is about what are the functions of the authority, section 9(5) about any ship using the high sea concept from our sea area that must be under this section. This authority has the power to take prescribed steps against anyone who pollutes the sea. Section 10 describes that.

So guys this is my critical review under international and territorial law apply for this express pearl ship incident. This is a huge area for study. I found there is no specific law in our country to charge compensation for incidents like these. Just using civil law.!! But compared to other countries they have strong marine laws. Unfortunately, still we are not amend the law timely. I know this damage will never cannot be recovered by money. But I think at least we are not getting the compensation we deserve. 😥 I wish for never happen like this damage again in any country.

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Stay safe!!