MEPC considers U.S. Caribbean ECA - MarineLog

Posted October 1, 2010 - MarineLog

A proposal for a U.S. Caribbean Emission Control Area is among the items that was on the agenda for the September 27 to October 1, 2010 meeting of IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC).
Currently, there are two designated ECAs under Annex VI, the Baltic Sea area and the North Sea area, and a third area, the North American ECA, was adopted in March 2010, with expected entry into force in August 2011.
The area of the proposed U.S. Caribbean ECA includes waters adjacent to coasts of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The northern and southern boundaries of the proposed area would extend roughly 50 nautical miles (nm) and 40 nm, respectively, from the territorial sea baseline of the main island of Puerto Rico. The western edge of the proposed area would generally run north-south, about half way between the Puerto Rican island of Mona and the west coast of the main island. The eastern edge of the proposed area would generally run north-south, but extend eastward through the area between the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands and also eastward through the area between Saint Croix and Anguilla and Saint Kitts. The proposed ECA is bounded such that it does not extend into marine areas subject to the sovereignty, sovereign rights, or jurisdiction of any state other than the United States.

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