January
Sea Alarm begins a yearlong recap of the first 20 years of the organisation’s existence in a series of articles which focus on various aspects of our work.
February
Hugo Nijkamp attends the 27th HELCOM Response meeting of the SHORE Network, which is dedicated to oil spill response onshore, where improvement of coordination between at-sea, onshore and wildlife response is a key topic.
The Global Oiled Wildlife Response System holds an in-person meeting in the UK which includes a joint equipment exercise with OSRL.
March
A national oiled wildlife response workshop in Spain, organised by the Fundacion Biodiversidad (Biodiversity Foundation within the Ministerio para la Transicion Eclogica y el Reto Demografico (MTERD/Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge) ), the Spanish NGO Submon and Sea Alarm aimed at improving oiled wildlife response on the regional and national level.
Sea Alarm, an invited participant, presents on the challenges of oiled wildlife response in the Arctic as part of the Arctic Preparedness Platform for Oil Spill and Other Environmental Accidents (APP4SEA) Twitter conference.
April
Sea Alarm and REMPEC renew their MoU, continuing a ten-year relationship in oiled wildlife response preparedness.
May
Hugo Nijkamp chairs a session of the HELCOM Expert Working Group-Oiled Wildlife Response (EWG-OWR) where each Baltic state was invited to present updates on their oiled wildlife response planning efforts, and other developments in their countries.
June
Daniela Barreras Biesot and Hugo Nijkamp present two wildlife specific webinars for OSRL members.
September
Hugo Nijkamp chairs a second meeting of the HELCOM EWG-OWR, continuing work on oiled wildlife response planning in the Baltic region.
Sea Alarm and Germany organize a HELCOM EWG-OWR focused on the potential for cooperation and information exchange among Contracting Parties on both sides of shared borders.
Sea Alarm staff participate in a joint online OSRL and UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency workshop aimed at understanding and improving oiled wildlife response in the UK.
October
An update for the 2009 oiled bird response plan (SBV2.0), co-written by Hugo Nijkamp and Simone Jay, a Sea Alarm contractor who also serves as the coordinator of Dutch oiled wildlife response network SON-Response, in close consultation with Rijkswaterstaat, in the Netherlands is delivered to stakeholders.
Hugo Nijkamp gives a presentation on UK oiled wildlife preparedness at the October online OSRL UK Members Day.
November
Hugo Nijkamp and Saskia Sessions-Puplett attend the online 28th meeting of HELCOM Response. At the meeting the 2020 Expert Working Group on Oiled Wildlife Response (EWG-OWR) report of oiled wildlife preparedness and response activities is presented and adopted.
Three proposals to be included in the new Baltic Sea Action Plan, concerning improved wildlife awareness and response, developed by Sea Alarm in cooperation with the Swedish government, WWF Finland and the Finnish government are approved by HELCOM Response to be reviewed at the Ministerial Meeting in 2021.
Chapter 7 of the HELCOM Response Manual is also approved at the 28th HELCOM Response meeting setting the stage for its submission to the Helsinki Commission for final approval in 2021.
Christophe Blazy joins the Sea Alarm team as Technical Advisor, bringing his experience at REMPEC to the team.
December
Sea Alarm signs a new multi-year agreement with OSRL with the goal of supporting OSRL members in developing their oiled wildlife response preparedness.
EUROWA-2, a two-year project to continue development of oiled wildlife preparedness in Europe, receives funding from the European Commission’s Civil Protection Financial instrument ensuring the work of the EUROWA project can continue and expand to additional countries. The project, starting in January 2021, will be coordinated by Sea Alarm in cooperation with WWF Finland, Submon (Spain) and Royal NIOZ (the Netherlands).