Marine Log - August 2008 - (Page 56) MARINESALVAGE August 2008 Vol. 113 No. 8 BY JOHN A. WITTE JR., PRESIDENT, AMERICAN SALVAGE ASSOCIATION SALVORS AS THE ULTIMATE nvironmental preparedness is a growing issue of concern across the world. As president of the American Salvage Association, I believe salvors play an essential role in the prevention of pollution entering our waters by keeping potential pollutants in the ship. Protection of the marine environment is an important component of a salvor’s everyday life. They are the ultimate environmentalists. By keeping pollutants contained in a stricken vessel, a significant portion of the environmental impact is removed. If contained, and subsequently removed with the vessel, a pollutant carried by a stricken vessel cannot impact the ENVIRONMENTALIST environment. Recent high profile casualties such as the Cosco Busan located in San Francisco Bay did not have a professional salvor in attendance at any point in the response. While this and similar incidents luckily did not result in a loss of the vessel, one could imagine how much worse the incident would have been if the vessel stability or condition was compromised to a point where the vessel began to sink or break up and there was no professional salvage expertise onsite to respond to the problem. In this regard the phrase “a penny’s worth of prevention is worth a pound of cure” quickly comes to mind. A salvor is typically an afterthought until the proverbial manure hits the fan. Why then are we normally the last ones invited to the party? In light of the national outcry to provide for a heightened level of marine environmental protection, and with the benefit of our nation’s significant response capabilities, our country must also take note of the threat to the ocean and coastal environments posed by the aging population of shipwrecks located off its coasts. This threat is not insignificant. The number of known targets tracked by NOAA through its Resource and Undersea Continued on page 55 E MARINELOG ISSN 08970491 A Simmons-Boardman Publication 345 Hudson Street, New York, N.Y. 10014 Tel: (212) 620-7200 Fax: (212) 633-1165 Website: http://www.marinelog.com Advertising Sales UNITED STATES New York Sales Office 345 Hudson St., 12th floor New York, NY 10014 Roland Espinosa Sales Director Tel (212) 620-7225 Fax (212) 633-1165 E-mail: respinosa@sbpub.com U.S. GULF COAST Jeff Sutley Tel (212) 620-7233 Fax (212) 633-1165 E-mail: jsutley@sbpub.com WORLDWIDE Europe Representative Donna Edwards, International Sales Manager e-mail: dedwards@sbpub.com Marine Log (UK) Suite K5 & K6 The Priory, Syresham Gardens, Haywards Heath West Sussex RH16 3LB Tel: +44-1444-416368 Fax: +44-1444-458185 Korea Young-Seoh Chinn JES Media International 2nd Fl. ANA Bldg. 257-1, Myungil Dong, Kangdong-Gu Seoul 134-070, Korea Tel: +822-481-3411 Fax: +822-481-3414 e-mail: jesmedia@unitel.co.kr CLASSIFIED SALES Diane Okon Classified Advertising Sales 20 South Clark St., Suite 2450 Chicago, IL 60603 Tel: (312) 683-5022 Fax: (312) 683-0131 E-mail: dokon@sbpub-chicago.com USPS 576-910 56 MARINE LOG AUGUST 2008 www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com
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