Public Law Studies Quarterly

Floating Damage; Feasibility of Compensating for Environmental ‎Damage to the Seas Caused by Maritime Transport

Document Type : Article

Authors

Mozhde Bostan 1
Alireza Arashpuor 2

1 Ph.D. in Private Law. Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics. University of Isfahan. Isfahan. Iran

2 Associate Prof., Department of Law, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22059/jplsq.2023.353427.3247
Abstract
Floating damage refers to the natural compensatory capabilities, the disappearance, or the invisibility of damage caused by harmful behavior or operations. Due to the characteristics of the seabed, the damages resulting from maritime transportation are fluid or floating, which creates a significant challenge for legal systems in protecting the marine environment. These challenges arise in three areas: the feasibility of assessing the damages, how to evaluate them, and finally, determining and issuing judgments regarding the damages incurred. This paper employs a descriptive-analytical method to address the concept of floating damage in the marine environment and to outline its characteristics. It concludes that the inefficiency of legal systems in protecting the marine environment is due to the lack of a specific victim in most marine environmental damages, the fluidity of the damages incurred, and ultimately the absence of clear criteria for assessing and compensating these damages. The paper suggests a strategic approach to compensating damages to the marine environment, the criteria should be the estimation and relative assessment of the damages, regardless of whether the damages are present, disappeared, or compensated naturally. Such estimations and assessments are carried out considering scientific, economic, and expert criteria. As a result, judicial decisions in this area focus on the feasibility of realization and continuity of the damage rather than its definitive or tangible realization.

Keywords

maritime transportation
‎maritime compensation ‎techniques
floating loss
‎capability and continuity of ‎marine loss
marine ‎environment.‎
Subjects

  1. English

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    1. B) Articles
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    1. C) Thesis
    2. Sin Hyok, P. (2019). Compensation for Marine Environmental Damage from Ship-Source Pollution. a dissertation in Master of Science in Maritime Safety Environmental Management. World Maritime University (Dalian Maritime University).

     

    References In Persian:

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    4. Salehi, Javad (2019). Compensation Liability to Deep Sea Area Environment in Customary International Law and the Inconsistent Approach of Seabed Disputes Chamber of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Public Law Studies Quarterly. 41 (1), 195-211. 22059/jplsq.2017.231605.1509 (In Persian).
    5. Seyrafi, Sasan; Mousavi, Seyed Fazlollah and Firouzpour, Kosar (2020). Conservation of Marine Biological Diversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. Public Law Studies Quarterly. 50 (3), 939-966. 22059/jplsq.2019.287638.2134 (In Persian).
    6. Talayee, Vahid (2009). The Evolution of International Environmental Law in the Field of Sea Protection, Emphasizing the Responsibility of Governments for Oil Pollution. International Relations Research Journal. 43, 43-80 (In Persian).
    7. Mousavi, Fazlollah and Tabatabaei Nejad, Seyed Mohammad (2014). Conflicts of Laws in Environmental Damage Actions. Private Law Studies Quarterly. 44 (3), 461-475. 22059/jlq.2014.52536 (In Persian).
    8. Mousavi, Seyed Fazlollah and Ghiyasian, Fahimeh (2011). Reparation of Environment Damages in International Law. Private Law Studies Quarterly. 41 (1), 327-346. 1001.1.25885618.1390.41.1.19.7 (In Persian).
    9. Mousavi, Seyed Fazlollah and Namdari, Mozhgan (2016). The Status of Aquatic in International Law with an Emphasis on animal species in the Mazandaran Sea. Collection of articles presented in the first national human rights conference with emphasis on the environmental challenges of northern regions of the country. 1-20 (In Persian).
    10. Armineh, Elham (2013). Compensability of Damages to the Environment. A. Thesis. Supervising by Azzizollah Fahimi. Ghom: University of Ghom, Law Faculty (In Persian).
Public Law Studies Quarterly
Volume 54, Issue 4
Winter 2025
Autumn 2024
Pages 2499-2522

  • Receive Date 07 January 2023
  • Revise Date 08 June 2023
  • Accept Date 10 September 2023

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