On April 20 2010 an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico caused the deaths of 11 people and also a fire which finally destroyed the platform. The safety valves on the sea floor failed to work and did not close the well that had been drilled, out of which thousands of barrels of oil started flowing into the marine environment. This continuous flow has only recently been stopped after many efforts, complicated by the depth at which the oil was leaking from the seafloor (1500 metres). BP is expecting to stop the leak permanently somewhere in August by drilling two relief wells. This means that for a number of weeks more oil will flow into the Gulf. A lot of the oil spilled could remain at sea for many weeks, months or years before coming ashore. Shoreline impacts and cleanup will last for a long time.As part of the response activities, an oiled wildlife response has been set up, which is fully integrated into the overall response. Two main control units have been set up, one for birds (lead by TriState Bird Rescue Research) and one for marine turtles and mammals (lead by Oiled Wildlife Care Network). Response activities include search and collection (on beaches, in marshes, at sea), impact assessment, rehabilitation and release. Almost 1200 oiled birds have been taken into rehabilitation (as of July 18) of which some 511 have been already released. The picture shows an oiled brown pelican (photo Associated Press).
Sea Alarm has been following the incident almost from the beginning and put together an archive of relevant information and news articles published on the issue. We have been collecting quantitative data as published by the US Fish and Wildlfie Service and on blogs. We have used those data to present a number of summarising figures which have been published on the incidents page of www.oiledwildlife.eu.
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Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon spill started, WWF The Netherlands contacted Sea Alarm and asked if Sea Alarm could help them following the developments. WWF was very concerned with the spill happening so close to the Mississippi Delta and all its natural values. For many weeks Sea Alarm has provided WWF with almost daily updates on the developments in the Gulf, with special attention to the wildlife response that has been taking place. Picture shows vulnerable coastal habitat being protected by a boom (photo by Associated Press).
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Sea Alarm has taken further strong steps forward in the development of a set of instruments that can be used for an international mobilisation of oiled wildlife response experts in case of an incident. Sea Alarm’s 24/7 notification and information centre is permanently available for Oil Spill Response Members, which include the globally operating oil companies, but also for any other party in need of advice or expertise. Together with Oil Spill Response’s legal department, Sea Alarm has developed various standard contracts by which an oiled wildlife response can be put in place. These contracts, which are now in a final drafting phase, will facilitate the quick setup of an oiled wildlife response coordinated by Sea Alarm and carried out by Sea Alarm together with mobilised experts from the leading wildlife response organisations which can be subcontracted. In principle these tools will further enable Sea Alarm to facilitate a professional response worldwide. A next step will be to further formalise the international cooperation between leading oiled wildlife responders and move away from the ad-hoc arrangements that have always characterised international responses, towards a guaranteed, professional global response service.
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Sea Alarm attended the 2010 meeting of UK Standing Environment Group chairs in London on 3 June. Saskia Sessions was able to make a presentation introducing Sea Alarm to the SEG Chairs new to their posts, explaining our role, recent developments in oiled wildlife response in Europe and to explore possible UK activities in oiled wildlife preparedness. Sea Alarm is normally invited to attend these meetings which are organised each year by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (authors and coordinators of the national contingency plan for oil spill incidents). As part of this national plan, the UK’s Environment Group is charged with providing environmental advice to decision-makers during an oil spil, including how oiled wildlife response would be mobilised and put into operation. There are also 16 regional Standing Environment Groups (or SEGs) in place, which are ready to provide coordinated environmental advice for their area to the incident command.
In addition to local authorities, the SEGs also have representatives from the UK statutory nature conservation bodies and key NGOs such as the RSPCA and SSPCA. These two charities would normally form the backbone of a large-scale oiled wildlife response in the UK, with RSPCA operating in England and SSPCA operating in Scotland. During the trip, Saskia was also able to visit SSPCA’s Middlebank Wildlife Rescue Centre in Dunfermline. Ways of strengthening operational links between these two organisations were discussed, particularly for oiled wildlife incidents which may cross the English-Scottish border.
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As part of an internal project that had started already in 2009, Sea Alarm has been working to develop a total remake of the existing www.oiledwildlife.eu. A new design was developed and some exciting facilities were added. The website now looks totally different and will have many surprises for those of you who frequently visited the old version. For instance we have added a database of spills in Europe and elsewhere around the globe in which wildlife was affected. We are still in the process to adding information but you will already recognise the potential of this tool.
The new website will be the home of EMPOWER, the initiative that was started last year and aims to assist European NGOs to professionalise their contribution to national oiled wildlife responses.
We invite our readers to have a critical look at this new product and feed us back their opinions. We would strongly appreciate any help, advice and assistance to make this website a high quality path to relevant information on oiled wildlife response and preparedness. Thank you!
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At the recent Ministerial Meeting in Moscow, Ministers from all contracting parties to the Helsinki Convention have adopted a new Recommendation called “Integrated oiled wildlife response planning in the Baltic Sea Area”. This Recommendation was developed by Sea Alarm in close cooperation with Estonia and WWF-Finland.
Recommendations under the Helsinki Convention are not legally binding, but they are considered as strong incentives and most of the Contracting Parties will act to become compliant with their contents.
The new Recommendation further completes the instruments that Helcom has been putting into place over the last few years. Most important is the new amended Helcom Response Manual that was published last December into which aspects of wildlife response are now integrated. This means that Contracting Parties can now use the instruments of the Manual to request and offer mutual assistance in case of an oiled wildlife incident. The texts of the proposed amendments to the Manual were also developed by Sea Alarm, Estonia and WWF Finland.
The text of the new Recommendation can be found via http://www.helcom.fi/Recommendations/en_GB/rec31E_6/.
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Sea Alarm worked closely together with the Bonn Agreement Secretariat to prepare a paper for the OTSOPA 2010 meeting with a proposal for a new chapter on wildlife response in the Counter Pollution Manual. OTSOPA (Working Group on Operational, Technical and Scientific Questions Concerning Counter Pollution Activities) had requested such a proposal at their previous meeting in 2009. Sea Alarm and the Secretariat designed a questionnaire which was sent to all Bonn Agreement Contracting Parties, in order to get an updated overview of current wildlife response arrangements in the area of the Agreement. They also studied the Counter Pollution Manual to see which chapters may need to be amended to include oiled wildlife response preparedness.
Sea Alarm was invited to the OTSOPA meeting, which was held 25-28 May in Antwerp, to present the proposal. In the discussions that followed several countries indicated that they needed more time to study the proposal. It was agreed that between now and OTSOPA 2011, countries will provide their comments, on the basis of which Sea Alarm is invited to present a final proposal.
The Bonn Agreement’s Counter Pollution Manual is a shared document between all Contracting Parties of the Agreement. The Manual includes all agreed procedures for providing mutual assistance in the case of a complicated pollution incident in one of the countries. Wildlife response so far was not recognised in the manual, but clearly this will soon change. In this respect OTSOPA is on the same path as the Helsinki Convention where the arrangements for oiled wildlife response have recently been agreed.
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After a long period of quiet, the issue of oiled wildlife response planning became active again in Ireland. This followed on from a letter by the Irish Coast Guard to all 20 coastal Counties with a request to send in their shoreline response plan. Already a few years ago the Coast Guard had requested the Counties to develop such a plan according to a standard format. In that format there was also a paragraph on integrated oiled wildlife response planning.
The reminder has triggered some Counties to have a closer look at the pre-spill requirements that are needed to incorporate an oiled wildlife response activity as part of their shoreline response. A few of them approached the Irish Seal Sanctuary for advice. The Sanctuary, which is coordinating the joint efforts of a wide range of Irish NGO’s who are interested in contributing to a wildlife response, is now working with these Counties to look at planning, equipment and training. Sea Alarm is supporting the Sanctuary in their efforts.
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Sea Alarm was invited to make a presentation at the 1st Adriatic oil spill conference organised by OSEC, which took place on 12-14 May in Opatija, Croatia. This was the first regional conference of this kind and brought together stakeholders and experts in oil spill response from all six countries bordering the Adriatic - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia. The Adriatic Sea is under consideration as a particularly sensitive sea area (PSSA), given that it is a ‘hot spot’ for shipping and also home to many endangered wildlife species, such as Mediterranean monk seals, sea turtles and large numbers of migratory birds.
As none of the Adriatic countries yet have a wildlife plan in place, Sea Alarm made a presentation on what oiled wildlife response means in practice and how important it is to develop plans integrated with the wider oil spill response to minimise the damage of an oil spill on Adriatic wildlife. This was also an opportunity to inform and remind the audience about the MoU being developed between Sea Alarm and REMPEC. This MoU, once finalised, will allow Mediterranean coastal states (Barcelona Convention Contracting Parties) to call on Sea Alarm for help and advice during an oiled wildlife incident via REMPEC’s Mediterranean Assistance Unit.
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Sea Alarm’s Saskia Sessions made a presentation during a training course on oiled wildlife rehabilitation in Ankara, Turkey on 3-7 May. This training was for wildlife rehabilitators, scientists, veterinarians and environmental NGOs on techniques and key considerations for hands-on rehabilitation of oiled wildlife. The training course was hosted by BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) pipeline company, as part of their ongoing efforts to improve preparedness for an oil spill from the pipeline. The course was delivered by trainers from the International Bird Rescue and Research Centre (IBRRC) and included detailed lectures and some demonstrations of key aspects of rehabilitation from capture through to release, including safety and appropriate facilities for rehabilitation of wildlife.
Sea Alarm has been working in Turkey to try to improve national preparedness for an oiled wildlife incident, aiming as a first step to bring the large group of NGOs together as a national network which can be called on by the authorities or industry in the event of an oiled wildlife incident. This training provided an opportunity to meet more of the organisations and individuals who could play a role in responding to an oiled wildlife incident in Turkey and explain Sea Alarm’s role in more detail.
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