Gulf of Mexico spill
August 6th, 2010
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. Read more…
Project with WWF NL
August 6th, 2010
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).Developments in international preparedness
August 6th, 2010
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. Read more…
Oiled wildlife response and responders in the UK
August 6th, 2010
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. Read more…
Revamp of oiledwildlife.eu
August 6th, 2010
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. Read more…
Recommendation on oiled wildlife response planning adopted
August 6th, 2010
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. Read more…
OTSOPA 2010
August 6th, 2010
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. Read more…
Developments in Ireland
August 6th, 2010
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. Read more…
Sea Alarm at the Adriatic Oil Spill Conference
August 6th, 2010
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. Read more…
Turkey IBRRC training
August 6th, 2010
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. Read more…