Book excerpt: A sharp, informed and thoroughly practical guide to contemporary and developing issues relating to sea pollution, prepared by leading academics and practitioners with everyday hands-on experience. Pollution at Sea focuses on a number of the vital private law issues – compensation, insurance, contract and tort – thrown up by contemporary developments in the law of pollution. The book also intends to offer a critical analysis on emerging public law concepts, such as the legal position of seafarers from the perspective of criminal law in cases of pollution and the impact of port state control as a pollution control mechanism. Pollution at Sea is divided into three parts: 1. Private Law Liability Regimes 2. Rights and Liabilities of Particular Parties 3. The Impact of Public Law on the Actors Concerned In part 1; various liability regimes are dissected, including those which have been under the spotlight in recent years. This section has particular international appeal, and many of the regimes discussed are based at least in part on international conventions, agreements or practices. In part 2; the impact of pollution at sea on third parties is considered, with respect to the legal position of parties that might be perused either by the victims of pollution incidents or in some cases by the parties liable by way of a recourse action. Finally in part 3; recent relevant developments, particularly in the realm of public law are covered.