THE ROLE OF CORPORATIONS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE MARINE-ENVIRONMENT

Despite a significant body of well-founded legislation oil pollution i ncidents still occur. There are a number of reasons for this less than perfect environmental performance. The principal factor in their reso lution is, however, the explicit recognition of the role of corporate organizational behaviour in determining the quality of the marine envi ronment. Environmental management does not end with government legisla tion and its policy derivatives but must be implemented offshore. Nume rous commercial entities are implicitly tasked with implementing envir onmental management at the operational level. The hydrocarbon industry on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf is utilized to illustrate the various facets of corporate environmental scanning, communication and decision-taking which feature in their environmental performance.