February 2014
Sea Alarm is nominated for the Thor Heyerdahl Maritime Environmental Award for work in conservation and raising awareness of the importance of professional oiled wildlife response. Activities cited in the nomination included assisting stakeholders (e.g. Belgium, Ireland, and Germany) in various countries in developing the the wildlife component of their oil spill response plans, organising regional and international conferences bringing wildlife responders, regulators and industry together to share knowledge, and providing initial training and on-going preparedness exercises for interested parties.
Facilitated by Oil Spill Response (OSRL), and in cooperation with Massey University’s Wildbase (New Zealand), Sea Alarm presents a new course on Wildlife Response Planning in Singapore, designed to introduce agencies and individuals involved in oil spill response to the components of incorporating wildlife into overall spill response activities, aiding them in planning for oiled wildlife.
March 2014
Sea Alarm organizes and attends the ninth meeting of the European Oiled Wildlife Expert Group in Mallydams, UK where work continues on the personnel and management aspects of their upcoming European Oiled Wildlife Response Manual, and the group discusses initiatives, projects and funding proposals related to their joint efforts.
During a two day discussion session in Vancouver, in cooperation with Guelph University, Sea Alarm provides advice to leading officers of the Canadian Wildlife Service on effective oiled wildlife planning, the benefits of integrating wildlife rehabilitation as a response option, and a smart structure for setting up a national preparedness programme with regards to the complexity of the country.
May 2014
Sea Alarm gives a one–day course on Oiled Wildlife Preparedness and Response to the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) at their Marmara Research Centre as part of their ‘Maritime Accidents–Hazardous Waste Management, Restoration of Contaminated Areas and Wildlife Rehabilitation’ workshop.
Sea Alarm travels to Ireland to present a workshop and training session for the Shannon Estuary Anti-Pollution Team (SEA-PT), the Irish Coast Guard, and interested NGOs, based on the response procedure, customised for the Shannon area, developed by Sea Alarm in 2013. Included in the workshop is a short course on oiled wildlife response, a table–top exercise, and hands–on practical skills exercises.
Sea Alarm attends IOSC 2014 in Savanah, USA, presenting two papers and staffing a booth on the exhibition floor to expose attendees to the oiled wildlife aspect of spill response.
June 2014
Hugo Nijkamp and Claude Velter deliver a two–day Wildlife Response Planning Course in Brunei for Oil and Gas Operators’ emergency response officers, exploring the risks to wildlife from oil and gas operations and the need to develop in-country response capability, including optimum locations for wildlife care facilities needed in such an incident.
Sea Alarm accepts, with regret, the resignation of Joy Bruce–Radcliffe, our Office Manager, who returns to the UK with her family. During her time at Sea Alarm Joy implemented much more efficient office systems and procedures and supported staff in developing and managing projects.
Paul Kelway presents a joint Sea Alarm/Oil Spill Response (OSRL) paper on quality oiled wildlife planning and preparedness from a global perspective at the 37th Arctic Marine Oilspill Program (AMOP) Technical Seminar in Alberta, Canada as part of the first ever, full day Wildlife Session at AMOP. Sea Alarm supports the attendance of RSPCA staff who present during the session as well.
Saskia Sessions attends OSRL’s Annual General Meeting in Southampton where industry participants are given a short demonstration of OSRL’s wildlife equipment and an explanation of the OSRL-Sea Alarm partnership. Saskia also gives a presentation to OSRL consultants and staff on oiled wildlife response planning.
July 2014
Saskia Sessions and Venessa Strauss of partner organisation SANCCOB (South Africa) conduct a site visit to Angola as part of an oil industry preparedness project, meeting with key NGO and government stakeholders to discuss wildlife preparedness in that country, and visiting coastal area as part of the information gathering process.
August 2014
Paul Kelway, Global Preparedness Coordinator, moves to Brussels after working remotely from the US for a year. Paul’s primary role is in augmenting existing international response cooperation and developing a stronger infrastructure for integrated response across the globe.
September 2014
Sea Alarm, in partnership with the Spanish NGO Submon, develops the wildlife component for a major table-top exercise organised by Shell in Tarragona, Spain. Sea Alarm and Submon then work on the planning and operational aspects of the simulated wildlife response for the drill, which is based on a tanker collision occurring several miles offshore.
October 2014
Sea Alarm and Oil Spill Response (OSRL) organise and facilitate an Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) sponsored workshop, attended by 40 representatives from industry, government and relevant NGOs, which includes presentations and tabletop exercises focused on local scenarios.
As part of its ongoing work with Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, Sea Alarm provides continued assistance to the Stichting Olievogelopvang Nederland (SON) in developing its role in oiled wildlife preparedness and response in the Netherlands. A Sea Alarm contractor, Simone Jay, supplies key administrative and logistical support for the organisation, including translating oiled wildlife care documents into Dutch for SON members to access.
Sea Alarm gives a presentation to Total’s oil spill expert committee at La Défense, Paris on the role of Sea Alarm and current international arrangements and initiatives in oiled wildlife preparedness and response.
Saskia Sessions celebrates five years as Senior Technical Advisor with Sea Alarm. Her experience within the oil response industry at OSRL and at the governmental level within EMSA, has made a significant contribution to Sea Alarm’s international credibility.
November 2014
Sea Alarm is notified that its EUROWA project, developed in partnership with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA, UK), Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend (WRCO, BE), ProBird (DE) and WWF Finland (FI), has been funded by the European Commission. Experts from the Estonian Fund for Nature (ELF, EE) and Nantes Atlantic College of Veterinary Medicine (Oniris, FR) will also participate in the two year project to develop Tier 3 oiled wildlife response capabilities within the EU.
The last 2014 meeting of the European Oiled Wildlife Response Experts is held in Hamburg Germany for a final review of the response management guidelines that Sea Alarm helped to produce and a check of the oiled wildlife response stockpile Sea Alarm maintains in Germany.
Hugo Nijkamp represents Sea Alarm at the 19th meeting of HELCOM RESPONSE, which was held in Tallinn, Estonia. He presents an update of recent developments, including e.g. the completion of the new IPIECA Good Practice Guide and the contracted EUROWA Module project. As the chairman of the Expert Working Group on Oiled Wildlife Response that was created under HELCOM RESPONSE, he reports on progress made in 2014. While in Tallinn, Hugo also meets with the CEO and other representatives of the Estonian Fund for Nature.
December 2014
Saskia Sessions, Hugo Nijkamp and Claude Velter give a two-day course on Oiled Wildlife Preparedness and Response to the Claims Management Team at International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Funds). The course demonstrates that the quality of oiled wildlife response is strongly related to the level of planning and preparedness and enables the IOPC Funds team to better understand the complexities of oiled wildlife response.
Paul Kelway attends the OSRL Extraordinary General Meeting in Singapore to present on an upcoming multi-organisational wildlife response project being coordinated by Sea Alarm and funded by the oil industry as part of a Joint Industry Project.
Sea Alarm turns 15 on 17th December.