There is also evidence that the scooters are a larger source of marine oil pollution than previously thought.

Worldwide, the panel estimated, 70 percent of marine oil pollution comes from fuel users, not producers or shippers.

The new report is the academy's third examination of marine oil pollution since 1975, but the first since the Exxon Valdez spill.

Offshore drilling causes far less marine oil pollution than tanker and barge spills of transported oil from overseas.

The Mediterranean Sea constitutes 0.7% of the global water surface and yet receives seventeen percent of global marine oil pollution.

When it comes to this problem of marine oil pollution, the citizens of Europe, as well as the environment and the maritime sector, expect a Europe that takes strong action.

International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC) is an international maritime convention establishing measures for dealing with marine oil pollution incidents nationally and in co-operation with other countries.

When fuel use on water, either inland or offshore, is also taken into account, the report says, about 85 percent of the 29 million gallons of marine oil pollution in North America each year comes from users - drivers, businesses, boaters - and not from the oil industry.

Enduring images of oil-coated sea otters have left the impression that leaking tankers are the cause of marine oil pollution, but a new study finds a much less obvious villain: runoff carrying traces of oil, gas and grease from countless highways, lawn mowers, parking lots and airports.