Managing Disposal at Sea

Since 2001, the percentage of permitted disposal at sea sites requiring no management action has been above Environment Canada’s target of 85%. With the sole exception of 2005, no management actions were required. This result demonstrates that Canada’s ocean disposal sites are being used in a sustainable manner and impacts to the sites are occurring as predicted.

Monitored disposal at sea sites requiring no management action, Canada, 2001 to 2010

Monitored disposal at sea sites requiring no management action, Canada, 2001 to 2010

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How this indicator was calculated

Source: Data provided by the Marine Protection Program, Environment Canada..

Disposal at sea is the deliberate discarding of approved material from a ship, aircraft, platform or other structure at sea. Without a permit, it is illegal to dispose of any substance at sea in Canada. The material disposed of at sea is primarily dredged material, fish and excavation waste.

Canada protects its marine environment by regulating disposal at sea through a permit system under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. This permit system also allows Canada to meet its obligations on preventing marine pollution by disposal at sea, as set out in the London Convention, 1972 (Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter) and the 1996 Protocol to the London Convention.

Managing what is discarded at sea prevents marine pollution by controlling the material disposed of at these sites. The Managing Disposal at Sea indicator reports the annual percentage of monitoring events that did not trigger a management action at marine disposal sites.

A management action is a change in how waste is managed at a disposal site. The change is made when monitoring data show waste is having a different effect on the environment than predicted during the permit assessment, or when the sustainable use of the site is questioned. Since 2001, there has been one instance of management action taken as a result of disposal site monitoring. The management action resulted in the permanent closure of the site.

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