Page 116: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 1996)

OIL SPILL TECHNOLOGY non-use values into option (desire of society to preserve the option to use as a natural resource in the future), existence (to know that it simply exists) and bequest (know it wil be available for future gen- erations).

There have been various attempts to develop methodologies to determine the non-use value of the environment. The most con- troversial example is probably contingent valuation methodology (CVM). Concern about the theo- retical and speculative nature of such methodologies and their arbi- trary and inconsistent result led the IOPC Fund to pass a

Resolution in 1980 affirming that "the assessment of compensation to be paid by the IOPC Fund is not to be made on the basis of an abstract quantification of damage calculated in accordance with the- oretical methods." This opposition to theoretical methods has recent- ly been reaffirmed by the IOPC

Fund's Assembly.

Editor's Notes

The IOPC, or International Oil

Pollution Compensation Fund, is part of the Civil Liability (1969) and Fund Conventions (1971), and is guided by criteria established by a Working Group in 1994. These two Conventions reportedly pro- vide compensation totaling approximately $90 million in the event of a spill of persistent oil from a laden tanker which causes pollution damage in a contracting

State. It should also be noted that contingency valuation, or CVM, as referred to by Mr. White in his speech, is no longer used by U.S. government agencies in the process of assessing damages related to an oil spill.

Matarah Offers Wall

Cabinet Spill Kit

Matarah Industries Inc., located in Milwaukee, Wis., has expanded its comprehensive line of spill kits with the addition of a mount- able, wall cabinet spill kit. Unlike drum-style spill kits, this 15-gallon kit can be stored off of the floor and out of the way until needed. The wall cabinet kit has a "lock-down" feature to ensure the contents can- not be depleted until their use is required. The non-corrosive, weath- erproof cabinet is also highly visible to facilitate application during emergencies.

The kit is refillable and can be cus- tomized to suit operators' needs, including the contents of the kit, which can vary from materials designed for aggressive or non- aggressive response to liquid or oil spills. Materials included in the kit include sorbent socks, pads, pillows and disposal bags.

For more information on

Matarah Industries, Inc.

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New Night Vision

Product Debuted

ITT Night Vision introduced two hands-free night vision viewers, the ITT Night

Mariner 200 and 210, which are compact, lightweight and head-moun table. "Three years after venturing beyond the defense industry and into marine markets, we found ourselves overwhelmed by requests for hands-free units," said Elaine F. Tuttle, vice president and director of commercial products for ITT

Night Vision.

The Night Mariner 200 and 210 work in the dark by col- lecting minute amounts of undetectable light and inten- sifying it, creating near-day- light, green-tinted conditions through the eyepiece.

The Night Mariner 200 uses

Generation II technology, while the 210 model features the latest Generation III tech- nology.

ITT Night Vision products include:

ITT Night Mariner for recre- ational and commercial boaters, ITT Night Quest for public recreational use and

ITT Night Enforcer for law enforcement.

For more information on the new products from ITT

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Maritime Reporter/Engineering News

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CESS Praises Port State

Control Programs

At a recent meeting in

Tokyo, the Committee for the

Elimination of Substandard

Ships (CESS) commended those in charge of the opera- tion of port state control pro- grams around the world.

CESS said that as more ships are being inspected each year, the number of identified defi- ciencies is also decreasing. "While the group is pleased with port state control progress to date, we still need to see an improvement in the progress of removal of these unsafe ships from the world's trade routes," said CESS

Chairman Rafael Gutierrez.

The Committee also discussed the need for improved ship scrapping facilities around the world, and specifically applauded the efforts of

Japan to finance the opera- tion of a modern shipbreaking facility in India, which is scheduled to begin operation in 2000. Attending the Tokyo meeting were representatives from the American

Shipbuilding Association,

Association of European

Shipbuilders and

Shiprepairers, the Korea

Shipbuilders Association and the Shipbuilders Council of

America.

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