Americas News
Canada: Scrubber Waste Water Discharge Left out of Marine Protected Area Regulation
Ministers formalising minimum protection standards for Canadian marine protected areas (MPAs) at an event in Vancouver last week proscribed activities such as oil and gas activity and bottom trawling fishing (in MPAs established from April 2019) but did not include the discharge of scrubber waste water.
The Canadian government has said that it intends to tighten regulations on scrubber water discharge and oily bilge water, sewage, grey water and food waste discharge in MPAs in Canada's territorial waters by 2025 or 2026 following public consultation, according to Canadian news provider the National Observer.
But the perceived lack of action on the discharge of scrubber wastewater drew criticism from environmentalists.
Anna Barford, shipping campaigner with Stand.earth, said that it was disappointing to see that Canada had not taken a leadership role on ship wastewater pollution in MPAs, according to the report.
Waste water from scrubbers captures pollutants from a ship's exhaust and can be discharged into open sea or held onboard to be offloaded when the ship docks.
