The pollution of our oceans is a global problem that has arisen as a consequence of the industrialization of the world and the intensified shipment of crude oil and the products of its refinement. Pollution from sunken ships is a lesser-known but important issue that threatens the stability of our oceans and marine ecosystems.

Most potentially polluting sunken vessels were sunk at or around the time of World War II and continue to deteriorate. Among these wrecks are vessels that still contain fuel or other dangerous substances in their tanks or holds. It is estimated that there could be up to 22 billion gallons of fuel and more than 8,500 at-risk vessels under the world’s oceans. Most wrecks that have lain on the seabed for more than 60 years succumb to corrosion, so there is a considerable likelihood of petroleum products seeping out of many of them. The issue of fuel leakage is no longer “if” but instead “when” it will happen.

Recent response efforts in the United States of America and elsewhere have led to interest from both government and industry to systematically identify, investigate, and potentially offload the oil remaining onboard wrecks before they begin to leak. Databases have been developed by several countries to prioritize wrecks based on the amount of oil on-board and the probability of pollution spillage.

In 2004, the U.S Navy successfully removed 2.8million gallons of oil from USS Mississinewa, which sunk during WWII in 1944. However, despite the success of the oil removal it is important to highlight that only after leakage was reported in 2001 action was taken. The leak and potential additional oil leaks from the USS Mississinewa were life threatening to the environment and habitants of Ulithi Atoll ( located in the Yap state of the Federated States of Micronesia).

One of the issues raised during the Oil removal project in 2004 was the fact that the majority of these sunken vessels are War Graves. So, special considerations are required. However, because of the imminent threat to the environment and life outweighs any possible delays such special considerations may require. Because of the advanced deterioration of these sunken vessels the special considerations ought to be overlooked in order to focus on saving the living.

As a recent example of the global cooperation needed to combat this issue, in 2014, Finland, Estonia, and Sweden began to cooperate through their Sunken Wreck Environmental Risk Assessment (SWERA) project. The main objectives of this program were to conduct a wreck survey, create wreck models, risk assessment of different salvage operation alternatives, and develop innovative technological solutions for oil removal operations.

The oil, chemicals and unexploded ordnances still on board these vessels pose a grave and imminent danger to the people, marine and coastal environments, fisheries, and species of our oceans. More should be done, on a cooperative, global level, to improve guidelines and strategies for responding to pollution from wrecks; no one country can solve this problem alone.

• Center for Environmental Legal Studies [United States of America]
• Center for Large Landscape Conservation [United States of America]
• Environmental Law Program at the William S. Richardson School of Law [United States of America]
• Hawai'i Conservation Alliance Foundation [United States of America]
• International Council of Environmental Law [Spain]
• SYLVIA EARLE ALLIANCE (DBA MISSION BLUE) [United States of America]