It is widely documented that marine debris is detrimental to the marine ecological environment. While there are various sources of marine debris, that generated by ships constitutes a significant proportion. Annex V of MARPOL 73/78 is to regulate the discharge of garbage from ships; in particular, it prohibits all kinds of plastics from being discharged into ocean. However, most fishing vessels are virtually exempt from such regulations due to their low gross tonnage, below 400 t. Given the great number of fishing vessels operating around the world, it can be argued that fishing vessels are a common source of marine debris. This paper aims to propose measures that will fill the gap in international regulations in addressing the problem of vessel-source garbage pollution.