Report: Correspondence Group on Plastic Litter from Ships

The International Maritime Organization has published the report of the Correspondence Group on Marine Plastic Litter from Ships.

The Correspondence Group on Marine Plastic Litter from Ships was established by PPR 10 to consider the draft amendments to MARPOL Annex V to provide for the reporting mechanisms, the modalities, and the information to be reported to Administrations and IMO to facilitate and enhance reporting of the loss or discharge of fishing gear.

Terms of reference

The Sub-Committee instructed the Correspondence Group on Marine Plastic Litter from Ships to (PPR 10/18, paragraph 13.61):

"Using document PPR 10/13 relating to fishing gear reporting as a basis, and taking into account documents PPR 10/13/4, PPR 10/13/6, PPR 10/13/8 and MEPC 79/INF.13, as well as comments and decisions made at PPR 10, the Correspondence Group, with the option of meeting virtually as a complement to the work by correspondence and taking into account relevant decisions by the Council and MEPC if members of the Group agree to do so, is instructed to:

.1 consider and provide final advice on which data, if any, should be mandatory to report, taking into consideration appendix III of annex 3 to document PPR 10/13, based on discussion of the Correspondence Group established at PPR 9, and provide advice on whether to amend MARPOL Annex V fishing gear reporting requirements, or to allow Member States to collect the data using their own resources and legislation, taking into consideration paragraphs 58 and 59 of document PPR 10/13;
.2 further consider and advise on what methods of data reporting should be used and who will be responsible for reporting based on options presented in paragraphs 69 to 72 of document PPR 10/13; and
.3 consider and advise on if coastal States should have access to the IMO database and, if so, what level of access they should have (i.e. access to aggregated data, or access to reports of individual losses/discharges, taking into consideration paragraphs 83, 84 and 96.3.4 of document PPR 10/13; and

based on the outcome of discussions of terms of reference .1 to .3 above, as necessary:

.4 further develop functionalities for the templates and discuss whether any other functionalities need to be added to the database in addition to those of annex 2 to document PPR 8/8;
.5 further consider the draft amendments to MARPOL Annex V to provide for the reporting mechanisms, the modalities and the information to be reported to the Administrations and IMO to facilitate and enhance reporting of the accidental loss or discharge of fishing gear, based on annex 3 to document PPR 10/13;
.6 further consider guidelines for the development and management of the lost or discharged fishing gear IMO database based on annex 4 to document PPR 10/13;
.7 further develop appropriate draft amendments to the 2017 Guidelines for the implementation of MARPOL Annex V (resolution MEPC.295(71)) to support the implementation of the contemplated draft amendments to MARPOL Annex V based on annex 5 to document PPR 10/13; and
.8 submit a written report to PPR 11."

This report was published on 17 November 2023.

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