observance of provisions for safety navigation by all concerned, strict management of cargo operations and down-to-earth countermeasures taken for marine pollution.
Fig. 10 shows occurrences of marine pollution by area, suggesting that the coasts on the Japan Sea side are less likely to suffer from marine casualties than that on the side of Pacific Ocean, which are heavily congested with shipping traffic.
(2) Subsequently, a rough calculation by The Japan Association of Marine Safety suggested that there are roughly 10,000 tankers operating throughout the Japan Sea yearly, and about half of them do not call at ports in Japan. The tankers' trade routes are varied and complex as shown in Figs.11and 12. The noteworthy points featured by these trade routes are, firstly, that aged tankers are operated on these routes carrying low-priced crude oil from China and Korea to Russia. [Fig.13] Secondly, on the route to Korea, where the quantity of oil imports has rapidly increased in proportion to increasing consumption, various tanker incidents have been reported lately around that country. Moreover, it is expected that an increasing number of tankers will navigate in more complicated ways in the Japan Sea in association with oil exploitation projects in Sakhalin in the future.
(3) If we look at the sea conditions in the Japan Sea, there appear to be unusually high waves in winter, just as we experienced with the casualty of the NAKHODKA [Fig.14]. Also, both sea currents and strong North westerly seasonal winds head toward Japan.
(4) Although the current rate of marine pollution incidents in the Japan Sea is relatively low, if we take the above discussion into account and realize that unseaworthy tankers are increasingly navigating under harsh climatic conditions, serious marine casualties and marine pollution caused by them will be more likely to occur in the Japan Sea than today.
3. Oil Spill Control System and Organization
(1) In Japan, the Law relating to the Prevention of Marine Pollution and Maritime Disaster prescribes the requirements for overall measures to be taken to protect the marine environment.
(2) To ensure the consolidation of the oil spill control system and organization, the Law specifically provides for;
・ Stockpiling materials and equipment for control of oil spill to be arranged by Maritime Safety Agency and Japan Maritime Disaster Prevention Center.
・ To establish councils as regional organizations ensuring coordinated oil control activities by governmental and private sectors.
・ Basic oil control measures to be taken by the party responsible for the cause under the causer-to-blame principle.
・ In case of exigent oil spills implementation of oil control measures by Maritime Safety Agency, and Maritime Safety Agency's oil control instructions to Japan Maritime Disaster Prevention Center.
・ Measures to remove oil that has washed ashore as an intrinsic task of local government.
(3) As shown in Figs. 15 and 16, stockpiling of materials and equipment for oil control has, reflecting the aforementioned characteristic geographical distribution of oil pollution, a bias toward the bay areas on the side of the Pacific Ocean and the Seto Inland Sea.
4. My Wishes
Listed below are the difficulties met in the process of commanding spilled oil control and cleanup operations at sea, in other words, hints suggesting what should be done in the future.
(1) Desseminating accurate and prompt information on the wrecked vessel and the cargo carried.
It is indispensable to obtain relevant information to determine countermeasures as soon as possible, considering temporal changes of oil properties under rough weather in the open sea. In the present case, information on the tanker's loading condition when wrecked could be gathered through interviews with rescued crew members. Furthermore, vessel's drawings, etc., could be obtained at a rather early stage from the charterer, thus it is desirable to establish an international system so that information useful for drawing up an oil control plan at an early enough stage in countries whose coastlines are expected to be
