Throughout its 20 years of existence, Sea Alarm has assisted many European countries by motivating, initiating, informing and facilitating national processes, with the aim of raising awareness and improving response planning and capacity building.
Spanish oiled wildlife response stakeholders came together on 3 and 4 March 2020 in Madrid at the headquarters of the Fundación Biodiversidad for an oiled wildlife workshop focused on improving processes for oiled wildlife response at the regional and national level.
In its 20 year history Sea Alarm has been active across the globe, carrying out numerous activities to advance wildlife response preparedness with a large number of stakeholders.
In 2019, Sea Alarm was invited by Shell Shipping & Maritime to participate in a large-scale oil spill response exercise – Exercise Silver Mermaid – in Aarhus, Denmark.
Recently Belgian authorities approached Sea Alarm with the offer to help to house the EUROWA equipment stockpile. That equipment has now been moved to a warehouse in Ostend.
Work has begun on the oiled wildlife response programme introduced in our December 2017 newsletter.
Sea Alarm was invited by the Russian branch of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to assist with a unique project that aims to protect the Arctic environment against the effects of oil pollution.
As of October 2017, the leadership of a five-year (2017-2022) oiled wildlife programme has been contracted to Sea Alarm.
In October 2017, the HELCOM Expert Working Group on Oiled Wildlife Response organized a three-day event which included a working group meeting, wildlife response manager training and a stakeholder exchange of current activities and good practices.
Sea Alarm’s Hugo Nijkamp attended a workshop for authority representatives on the existing arrangements for oiled wildlife response preparedness.
The European Parliament (EP) Resolution of 16 March 2017, An integrated EU policy for the Arctic (2016/2228(INI)), includes wording suggested by Sea Alarm encouraging all Arctic states to develop oiled wildlife response plans.
In December 2015, a field exercise at ECOMARE, on the Wadden Sea island of Texel, tested local oiled wildlife response capability and ECOMARE’s ability to function as a stabilisation centre. Sea Alarm and Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend organised the exercise as part of the Dutch national oiled wildlife training and exercise programme.