The Maritime Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) has identified 26 ships responsible for polluting Sri Lankan waters within the past year, based on data from a satellite monitoring project in collaboration with the French government. The initiative uses advanced satellite technology to monitor and analyze incidents of maritime pollution.

Sri Lanka's marine ecosystem has suffered significant damage in recent years from two major shipwrecks: the New Diamond and X-Press Pearl. The New Diamond caught fire and sank 38 nautical miles off the east coast in September 2020, while the Singapore-registered X-Press Pearl sank near Colombo Port after a fire in May 2021. Both incidents caused extensive harm to marine life and coastal environments.

Following these disasters, MEPA launched a pilot project with a French company to monitor fuel spills in Sri Lankan waters using satellite technology. The project’s findings revealed that 26 ships had contributed to marine pollution in the past year.

Project Manager Olivier Germane noted, "Stakeholders were surprised by the findings, likely not expecting such extensive pollution in our national waters. There were 115 pollution incidents in just 12 months, meaning more than half of the satellite images showed evidence of pollution."

The total estimated volume of pollutants released into the waters exceeded 6 million liters, averaging 500,000 liters per month—equivalent to the amount discharged by the X-Press Pearl incident every month.

Germane added, "We were able to identify potential polluters in 26 cases, providing grounds for possible actions to be taken."