Sea Alarm attended the HELCOM Response meeting that took place from 23-25 September in Stockholm, Sweden. An important agenda item was the discussion of a paper prepared by Estonia, Sea Alarm and WWF that seeks to include oiled wildlife response in the HELCOM Response Manual.
The Norwegian Ornithological Society (NOF) has observed 34 species of birds affected by the Full City spill, which occurred in southern Norway on 31 July. While NOF representatives have to date observed over 1,500 oiled birds in the field, the total number of birds affected by the spill is predicted to be far higher.
The Norwegian Oiled Wildlife Response Network (NOW) is leading the organisation and coordination of the response. Sea Alarm’s Roser Gasol has been on-site since 2 August, providing assistance together with Sea Alarm’s other on-site team members Claude Velter (Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend), Sascha Regmann (Project Blue Sea, Germany) and Tania Regmann (Project Blue Sea, Germany). Three RSPCA experts will be joining the international response team on 10 August.
Sea Alarm is pleased to announce that the preliminary programme for the 10th International Effects of Oil on Wildlife (EOW) Conference has been published. Please visit the EOW website for further details.
Sea Alarm recently moved into a new office. Located in the same building as the previous office, the new office is much larger and looks directly out onto the Place du Beguinage, one of the nicest little squares in the…
Sea Alarm’s Hugo Nijkamp was present at the OTSOPA meeting, held in Rotterdam from 26-28 May. He reported on recent developments in the European scene of oiled wildlife response and preparedness, including the EMPOWER initiative, the decision by Helcom Response to include oiled wildlife response in the Response Manual, and the upcoming Effects of Oil on Wildlife (EOW) Conference. OTSOPA is the technical committee of the Bonn Agreement, the regional agreement for mutual oil pollution response cooperation between coastal states in the North East Atlantic.
Following this presentation, OTSOPA decided to include a chapter on oiled wildlife response in the Bonn Agreement Counter-Pollution Manual, which is a significant step towards the further recognition of integrated oiled wildlife response.
Sea Alarm attended an international meeting jointly organised by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and DG Environment on 30 June at EMSA’s new headquarters in Lisbon. The meeting’s overarching objective was to discuss integrated issues of oil spill response in Europe by exploring how aspects of civil protection (shoreline response) and marine rescue and oil spill combat at sea could be better integrated at both national and European levels. Representatives from civil protection agencies and oil spill response authorities of most European coastal states participated, as well as representatives from the secretariats of some of the regional conventions.
In order to develop a better understanding of current nature conservation and protection issues in the Mediterranean, Sea Alarm’s Roser Gasol attended the Ninth Meeting of Focal Points for Specially Protected Areas (SPAs) in Malta on the 3-6 June 2009. This biennial meeting is organised by the Tunisian-based Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA), whose primary role is to assist the Contracting Parties in the implementation of the Protocol on Specially Protected Areas and Biodiversity within the framework of the Barcelona Convention.
At the recent Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) meeting in June, Sea Alarm discussed the possibilities for increased preparedness for oiled wildlife response in the Mediterranean with representatives of RAC/SPA and ACCOBAMS (Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area).
Several Portugese NGOs are working together to develop an oiled wildlife response plan for Portugal (see earlier newsletters). A working group has been tasked with the preparation of the first draft of the plan, which will be reviewed by the entire group once completed. The working group has determined the principles for the notification and communication procedures, established the main geographical challenges, and identified the texts and structures that could be adopted from the Belgian oiled wildlife response plan, which is being used as a model.
In the event of an oil spill incident in the Netherlands, the care of oiled birds is delegated to the Oiled Bird Foundation Netherlands (SON) as part of the integrated oiled bird response plan. Comprised of the five coastal rehabilitation centres in the Netherlands, SON is incorporated in the Netherlands as a Foundation. Sea Alarm regularly attends SON’s bi-annual board meetings as an observer, the last of which was held 29 May at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Ostend.
Sea Alarm attended the UK National Standing Environment Group Chairs Meeting, which took place in London on 29 April. Organised annually by the Maritime and Coastal Agency (MCA), the purpose of the meeting is to inform Environmental Group Chairs and key individuals about eventual changes in the UK National Oil Spill Plan or related documents and procedures, and discuss recent developments, case histories and relevant current topics. This is the second time Sea Alarm has been invited to the meetings as an observer, taking the opportunity to report on relevant international developments in the field of oiled wildlife preparedness and response.
Sea Alarm has received clearance from the European Commission to publish the RIOS (Reducing the Impact of Oil Spills) Action Plan, which assimilates the conclusions and recommendations from the RIOS workshop held in April 2008. Sea Alarm plans to make…