Baltic Region makes progress on wildlife response planning
Of the nine coastal states in the Baltic Region, five have developed plans for oiled wildlife response and others have made progress toward this goal, according to a HELCOM report.
Putting international collaboration to the test
Phase two of the Global Oiled Wildlife Response System (GOWRS) project recently kicked off in Belgium providing another two years in which to further the objective of developing and improving international cooperation and preparedness for oiled wildlife incidents.
EP Arctic Report: Oiled wildlife response plans should be developed
The European Parliament (EP) Resolution of 16 March 2017, An integrated EU policy for the Arctic (2016/2228(INI)), includes wording suggested by Sea Alarm encouraging all Arctic states to develop oiled wildlife response plans.
EUROWA project comes to a close (for now)
After two years of working together, Sea Alarm and its project partners concluded the EU-funded EUROWA project at the end of 2016. The project has broken much new ground in European oiled wildlife response.
Creating targeted training for responders, governments and industry
Training has always been an important component of Sea Alarm’s work, and in the last few years, the organisation has concentrated on assisting wildlife responders, governments and industry with developing their skills and knowledge in a variety of training formats.
A new self-assessment tool for oiled wildlife response preparedness
How prepared are we for oiled wildlife response?
This is a question regularly considered by the HELCOM Response (Baltic Sea Area) Expert Working Group on Oiled Wildlife Response (EWR-OWR), chaired by Sea Alarm.
To help with making an accurate assessment of their level of preparedness, the Working Group decided to develop a self-assessment tool to aid countries in gauging and reporting on their progress toward preparedness for response to oiled wildlife.
Paving the way for international oiled wildlife response assistance
The third meeting of experts involved in the Global Oiled Wildlife Response System (GOWRS) project took place last month in Delaware, USA.
The project– a two-year initiative funded by the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) as part of the Oil Spill Response Joint Industry Project (OSR-JIP) – aims to design an international system for oiled wildlife response expertise that can be mobilized for assistance in complex oiled wildlife scenarios.
A heartfelt thank-you from Brussels
The Sea Alarm team were shocked and saddened by recent events in Brussels. Our thoughts are very much with the victims, their families and friends. We and our families were lucky – we are all safe, but we have been…
Second meeting of global wildlife response project takes place in Brazil
The second in-person meeting of ‘JIP20’, an oil-industry-funded project to develop a system for mobilising international oiled wildlife response resources, was held in Brazil in February. Aiuká, one of the participating organisations, hosted the meeting at their oiled wildlife response facility in Praia Grande, near Santos.
Texel field exercise tests NL wildlife response strategy
In December 2015, a field exercise at ECOMARE, on the Wadden Sea island of Texel, tested local oiled wildlife response capability and ECOMARE’s ability to function as a stabilisation centre. Sea Alarm and Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend organised the exercise as part of the Dutch national oiled wildlife training and exercise programme.
EUROWA Module project in final year
Sea Alarm’s staff is heavily involved in the EUROWA Module project, which is co-funded by the European Commission. The project has just started its second and last year, in which two training events are amongst the main deliveries.
Technical discussion day at ITOPF
In January, Sea Alarm visited the International Tanker Owners Oil Pollution Federation (ITOPF) in London for a full day of oiled wildlife response discussions with the members of ITOPF’s team.