It may be several years before a diplomatic conference is called to adopt this instrument. One issue to be addressed by the new convention is the need for an international framework to confront pollution threats posed by elderly wrecks. As the condition of such wrecks deteriorates, there is an increasing risk of pollution from corroding tanks. It is not unusual for a vessel to be lost yet still pose a potential threat to the marine environment. One recent example is the chemical tanker Ievoli Sun, lost off the Channel Islands in October 2000.
Services provided by ISU salvors include the recovery of pollutants from wrecks.
Cargo recovery operations Fuel was removed from the wreck of the Cita, when the vessel grounded in the Scilly Isles. One example of a pollutant recovery operation concerned the vessel Cita, which grounded at St. Mary's, in the Scilly Isles, in 1997. Salvors removed bunkers from the wreck. In Japanese waters, salvors responded during 1997 to a serious pollution threat from the capsized fore section of the tanker Nakhodka. This Russian tanker was on a voyage from China to Kamchatka, with a cargo of 19,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, when it broke in two in the Sea of Japan.