Arctic oiled wildlife response

Sea Alarm presented a paper on Arctic oiled wildlife response at the International Maritime Organisation/World Maritime University Conference on Oil Spill Risk Management, which took place in Malmö, Sweden in March 2011.The theme of the conference was focussed on responding in ever more challenging or remote environments as oil becomes harder and more expensive to extract. There is growing global concern about the risk of a serious oil spill in the Arctic, given the increasing amounts of exploration and production in the region and the uniqueness and sensitivity of its wildlife. In her presentation, Saskia Sessions outlined the logistical and practical challenges of responding to an oiled wildlife incident in the Arctic, including the difficulties of responding in and around ice, and highlighted the need for international cooperation to pool the limited resources currently available for dealing with oiled wildlife at these high latitudes. Sea Alarm is looking at initiatives for better national and regional preparedness for oil spills which could threaten Arctic wildlife. The conference was well attended by representatives of government and industry. Proceedings are available .