Oil spill off UAE shuts beaches: MARPOL, OPRC and IOPC Funds
Ras Al Khaimah, the UAE emirate beside the Strait of Hormuz, closed all its beaches until further notice on 24 October 2026. Its statement gave no reason. A day earlier, an offshore oil leak had shut beaches in neighbouring Umm Al Quwain and Sharjah. The UAE said it was working to contain oil leaking from a tanker offshore.
Syllabus: Prelims · Geography; GS3 · Environment & Conservation; GS3 · Disaster Management
Why this matters for UPSC
GS3 (environmental pollution, disaster management) and GS2 (international institutions). Prelims can ask what MARPOL, the OPRC and the 1992 Civil Liability Convention provide and where Ras Al Khaimah lies; Mains, how the Indian Coast Guard and NOSDCP handle oil spills.
Why it matters
A closed beach is the visible part of a spill; the larger loss falls on people who live off the sea. Fishermen have been urged to keep away from the affected waters, and in Umm Al Quwain fishing is a mainstay of the economy, so every day ashore is income lost. Oil that drifts into mangroves and onto sand is harder to remove than oil still at sea, so a slow response costs more. India faces the same risk along its own coast, where much of the oil it uses arrives by tanker. Whether a fisherman or a hotel owner is paid after a spill depends on the global rules on liability and compensation, and on how fast the national plan swings into action.
Prelims pointers
- MARPOL: adopted at the IMO on 2 November 1973 and absorbed by its 1978 Protocol; in force since 2 October 1983; six technical Annexes, Annex I on oil.
- MARPOL Annex I: its 1992 amendments made double hulls mandatory for new oil tankers; it lists the "Gulfs" area as a Special Area, in effect there from 1 August 2008.
- OPRC: adopted on 30 November 1990, in force since 13 May 1995; ships must carry a shipboard oil pollution emergency plan; its OPRC-HNS Protocol followed in 2000.
- 1992 CLC exemptions: war or an exceptional natural phenomenon; damage wholly caused by a third party's intent to harm, or by government negligence over navigational aids.
- 1992 Fund: up to 203 million SDR per incident since 1 November 2003; financed by levies on those receiving over 150,000 tonnes of crude or heavy fuel oil yearly.
- Supplementary Fund (2003 Protocol, in force 2005): raises the total for one incident to 750 million SDR; in force for 33 States on 6 January 2026, not India.
- Indian Coast Guard: Central Coordinating Authority for oil spill response, entrusted with India's marine environment since March 1986; Pollution Response Centres at Mumbai, Chennai, Port Blair and Vadinar.
- Merchant Shipping Act, 2025 (No. 24 of 2025): assented on 18 August 2025; defines the Civil Liability Convention as the 1992 CLC; commences on dates the Centre notifies.
Practise a UPSC-style question
Consider the following pairs:
(Emirate of the UAE : Geographical feature)
1. Ras Al Khaimah : Shares an international border with Oman
2. Umm Al Quwain : Lies wholly on the eastern coast facing the Gulf of Oman
3. Sharjah : Has coasts on both the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman
4. Abu Dhabi : Smallest of the seven emirates by area
How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
- (a) Only one
- (b) Only two
- (c) Only three
- (d) All four
Show the answer
Answer: (b) Only two
Answer: (b) Only two. Pairs 1 and 3 are right; Umm Al Quwain is a Gulf-side emirate and Abu Dhabi is the largest.
Pair 1: correctly matched. Ras Al Khaimah stretches along the Gulf shore next to the Strait of Hormuz and shares the UAE's international border with Oman.
Pair 2: not correctly matched. Fujairah is the only emirate wholly on the eastern coast; Umm Al Quwain lies between Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah on the Gulf side.
Pair 3: correctly matched. Sharjah is the only emirate with coasts on both the Persian (Arabian) Gulf in the west and the Gulf of Oman in the east.
Pair 4: not correctly matched. Abu Dhabi, the federal capital, is the largest emirate at about 67,340 sq km; Ajman is the smallest.
Eliminate: Judge pair 4 first: Abu Dhabi is the largest emirate, not the smallest, so not all four pairs can be right. Out: (d).
Eliminate: Pair 2 is also wrong, since Fujairah is the emirate wholly on the eastern coast, so at most two pairs stand. Out: (c).
Eliminate: Pairs 1 and 3 both hold, so exactly two pairs are correctly matched. Out: (a).
Trap: Swapped attribution. Fujairah's position, wholly on the eastern coast, is pinned on Umm Al Quwain, which faces the Persian Gulf.
Remember: Fujairah lies wholly on the east coast; Sharjah touches both coasts; Ras Al Khaimah borders Oman.
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