International Wildlife Responders meeting

Making the most of the fact that many of the leading oiled wildlife response groups were scheduled to attend the IOSC in Portland, Sea Alarm took the opportunity to organise a dedicated meeting of these organisations back to back with the Conference. The aim of the meeting was to start new discussions on international cooperation between these organisations at a global level. From the observation that many changes are taking place in the way the oil industry wants to be prepared respond to oil spills following the Deepwater Horizon incident, it seems likely that there will be an increased interest in including wildlife in the process of building higher levels of response preparedness. Wildlife responders therefore need to work on their own preparedness to respond together internationally and to partner with the oil industry on response plan development and generating effective response models. The responder meeting in Portland lasted a few hours and aimed to raise the issue and explore the interest amongst the groups to start working together more structurally. The next meeting of this group is planned to take place in January back to back with the 11th Effects of Oil on Wildlife Conference in New Orleans.