Exercising oiled wildlife response in Egypt

Sea Alarm was invited by Aramco Overseas to attend the RA ATUM 7 oil spill exercise in Alexandria, Egypt on 1-3 November. The large scale event was a combination of a table top and a field exercise, to practise a tier-3 oil spill response on the basis of the Egyptian national oil spill plan. Sea Alarm participated in the two day table top exercise and was positioned in the national environmental group of the Planning Section.
This group had to anticipate and plan for the response activities, on the basis of environmental information, including the identification of resources at risk on the basis of vulnerability maps, developing a waste management plan and developing an instant response plan for oiled wildlife. The exercise brought various wildlife issues to the table and motivated the Egyptian authorities to have a closer look at the needs for a wildlife response as one of the outcomes of the exercise.