Potentially Polluting Wrecks

2.05pm – 2.30pm BST, 1 July 2026 ‐ 25 mins

Environmental Ethics and Sustainability at Sea

Harriet will discuss the UK MOD’s proactive management of environmental risk relating to shipwrecks. The MOD’s stance is that the sinking of a ship does not cause the ownership of a vessel to cease; it remains the property and liability of the owner. MOD therefore accepts that the environmental risk posed by wrecks of ships which sank when under its control, sits with MOD. Harriet and her colleague comprise the SALMO Wrecks Management Program (WMP) team, who manage the MOD worldwide inventory of >5,700 post-1870 Potentially Polluting Wrecks (PPW), most of which sank during WWI and WWII. The WMP aims to pre-empt and mitigate the risk of wrecks polluting oil and chemicals from ammunition.

It is currently especially evident that this is not an historical issue, because A) WWI wrecks are over 100 years old and WWII wrecks are reaching that age. Therefore they are close to tipping point (some are leaking already) and B) This will be an issue for generations in another 100 years due to the Russian, Ukrainian and Iranian fleets and tankers, which are still being sunk.

Speakers

Harriet Rushton

SALMO Wrecks Environmental Manager, UK MOD

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Harriet Rushton

SALMO Wrecks Environmental Manager, UK MOD

Harriet is a marine biologist by trade, whose worked for MOD since 2018, in various environmental management roles. She now forms half of the SALMO Wrecks team managing the environmental risk posed by the MOD’s inventory of over 5,700 Potentially Polluting Wrecks around the world.