The European Module for Oiled Wildlife Emergency Response Assistance (EUROWA) project, introduced late last year, got off to a strong start with a weeklong meeting hosted by the RSPCA, a project partner, at their Mallydams Wood Wildlife Centre.
A very productive three-day meeting of representatives from leading European wildlife response organisations included review of the response management guidelines that Sea Alarm helped to produce. Experts from the UK, Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Spain, The Republic of Ireland, and the Netherlands attended the meeting, as well as observers from ITOPF and OSRL.
Sea Alarm recently was informed by the European Commission that the EUROWA proposal (European Module for Oiled Wildlife Emergency Response Assistance) has been selected for European funding.
Following an earlier discussion in 2009, Benoit Loicq from the European Community Shipowners Association (ECSA) visited the Sea Alarm offices in Brussels last September. The aim of this meeting was for both organisations to present their activities and look at areas of common interest. Mr Loicq explained the setup and programme of ECSA, which is an international association made up of the national shipowner associations in each EU Member State. ECSA works to promote and represent European shipping interests though specialised committees, including an Environment and Safety Committee.