Environmental salvage in the context of salvage law

Salvage is not only an ancient right but one peculiar to maritime law. The most important principle of marine salvage is the "No Cure-No Pay" basis, if there is no recovery, there is no payment, whatever the expense of the operation. However, with the development of science and technology, environmental pollution has been a serious problem in the shipping industry because the increasing shipping capacity brings variety of cargoes. Therefore, this principle has changed in recent years to reflect the public interest in prevention of damage to the environment. Today, the necessity of environmental protection challenges the tradional salvage system either. Today, the development environmental salvage has a very important role within the traditional salvage system. In the study, the environmental salvage, especially the American and English practices have been explained within the scope of 1989 London Convention by evaluating the standard clauses. The International Salvage Union (ISU) has initiated proposals in order to amend the 1989 London Salvage Convention. In the study, the possible solutions have been assessed for providing a different reward named international salvage reward, previously the liability salvage, in return for the efforts to prevent or minimize the marine pollution in line with the demands of salvage industry. Furthermore, the extent and legal motives of rewarding the efforts to prevent environmental pollution under the salvage law and whether alternative solutions exist or will be established in other legal fields have been analyzed. Keywords: Salvage, Salvage Award, Environmental Salvage Reward, SCOPIC, Special Compensation, Insurance