You can often buy absorbent pads from chandleries , boatyards or marinas :
► Place absorbent pads under the engine and gear box ; monitor these and pump out regularly into a suitable container . Dispose of responsibly ;
► Use a bilge sock to absorb oil and fuel in the bilge ;
► Fit a filtration system to your bilge pump to easily remove oil from the water ; cartridges can be replaced cheaply . Filters can achieve less than 5 ppm overboard discharge .
► Alternatively , ensure the pump is cleaned regularly with non-phosphate based cleaners and the resulting liquid disposed of responsibly ;
► If you do have oily bilge water , invest in a cheap hand pump and discharge directly into a suitable container ; dispose of responsibly .
What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor ?
The UK Merchant Shipping Regulations have recently been amended to bring them into line with updated requirements of the internationally agreed Standards of Training , Certification and Watchkeeping Convention ( STCW ).
Among the amendments is a reduction in the alcohol limits for seafarers . These limits are now less than the limits for car drivers in
England and apply to professional mariners on all UK-flagged ships and to any ship operating in UK waters .
The Act of Parliament that was amended is the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 . Section 80 of this act applies the same standards to non-professional or recreational mariners .
However section 80 has not been enacted because it was originally intended to make regulations exempting small , low speed vessels .
All attempts to satisfactorily define exactly a small , low speed vessel came to naught , and now the matter appears to have been forgotten , at least for the time being , although it only needs the signature of the Shipping Minister for Section 80 to become law .
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