ABSTRACT
The United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea has been criticized as having so far relegated the issues of the preservation of the marine environment to a secondary role. The former have emphasized that the primary role in the protection of the environment should be played by the flag states and the latter have been equally adamant that the coastal states should play the primary role in making and enforcing the regulations within their respective national jurisdictions. One of the most direct and common sources of pollution of the marine environment is pollutants originating from land or from man-made structures, through the dumping of waste and other materials at sea. The controversy about vessel-source pollution concerns the capacity both to devise regulations to control vessel-source pollution within the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone, and the high seas, and to enforce them.
