Abstract

• State has prescriptive and enforcement jurisdiction under international law to exercise over the vessel for the prevention of vessel-source oil pollution within internal waters and territorial sea. A state may operate in the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea 1982 as the ‘flag State’, the ‘coastal State’ or the ‘port State’ with the subject of obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment. Vessel-source oil pollution may be caused by shipping activities and accidents at sea. Vessel-source oil pollution is one of the major issues for the protection of the marine environment. This paper analyses the role of the State jurisdiction to control the vessel-source oil pollution by implementing the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL73/78), and other regulatory conventions. States need to enact sufficient national laws by ratifying the international conventions on marine pollution to protect vessel-source oil pollution. When exercising jurisdiction, to effective control over vessel source oil pollution, all of the Coastal/ port and flag State need to cooperate on that matter. In addition, States need to manage the navigational system to protect the collisions and grounding.