The Act provides for the protection of ecologically sensitive marine resources; to enhance environmental quality of territorial waters and adjacent international waters; to give effect to certain international conventions relating to pollution of the sea; to implement port-state control to improve management of ship generated wastes and prevent harm to safety, health and the marine environment from shipping activities; and to encourage good environmental operating practices in commercial, cruise liner and leisure shipping and in ports, marinas and harbours; and for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing

The law prohibits the dumplings or discharging from any land-based source of persistent plastics and other persistent synthetic material, including netting and ropes, which may remain in suspension in the sea in such a manner as to: (a) interfere materially with fishing, navigation and other legitimate uses of the sea; or (b) present a risk to the health or safety of any living marine resource. It also prohibits vessel discharges into the territorial sea of any plastics, including but not limited to synthetic ropes, synthetic fishing nets and plastic garbage bags.