In August 2001 a State of Emergency was declared in Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) following a significant oil spill from the USS Mississinewa, a sunken WWII US military oil tanker, in the remote and environmentally sensitive atoll known as Ulithi Lagoon. Due to the severity of the spill, a complete ban on fishing within the lagoon area was imposed by the Environment Protection Agency and Marine Resources Department of Yap State. The spill occurred over a two-month period between July and August 2001. A request for assistance to the US Navy to plug the leak and salvage the cargo was made by the President of FSM. He also requested the assistance of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to do an independent study on the wreck and determine the environmental impacts of the oil spill from the sunken vessel. This paper highlights the response to oil spills from the vessel and the findings of the field environmental assessment in Ulithi lagoon and surrounding islands. It also addresses the issue of more than 1000 WWII shipwrecks around the Pacific and the strategy and database currently being developed by SPREP to document and address the pollution risk posed to environmentally sensitive Pacific Island Nations.

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