A week-long meeting held in Brussels in September 2015 marked the beginning of a multi-stakeholder oiled wildlife response project to address the gap between oil spill response preparedness and wildlife response preparedness on a global scale.
In October, Sea Alarm, in cooperation with the Oiled Wildlife Response Network (OWRN, Ireland), Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend (WRCO, Belgium) and ProBird (Germany), facilitated two one-day training courses focusing on the early stages of oiled wildlife response.
In October Sea Alarm and partner organisation Pro-Bird co-hosted a wildlife response equipment exercise in Hamburg, Germany to review an existing stockpile of equipment, practice mobilising it, and make recommendations for improvements.
In the wake of the sinking of the Flinterstar authorities in Belgium and the Netherlands activated plans to respond to any oiled wildlife. Sea Alarm assisted wildlife responders and authorities in both countries for several weeks following the incident.
International Bird Rescue Rescue and Aiuká co-hosted the 2015 Effects of Oil on Wildlife (EOW) conference in May. This 12th EOW, held in Alaska, was originally planned to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.
Sea Alarm led a very well-attended training course in Brussels, which was kindly hosted by the European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordinating Centre (ERCC), introducing attendees to the complexities of oiled wildlife response and the importance of detailed planning for such responses.
Claude Velter, who has worked half time for Sea Alarm since 2012, has left his position as Senior Technical Advisor as of 1 May 2015 to take on an expanded role at the Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend (WRCO).
Information regarding the European Oiled Wildlife Response Assistance Module (EUROWA) can now be found online. Oiledwildlife.eu, the key reference site for oiled wildlife response in Europe, is hosting the EUROWA pages which feature background information, news, publications, and details of events related to the project.
The 2015 Interspill conference in Amsterdam provided Sea Alarm with the opportunity to present an analysis of the European Union’s Offshore Safety Directive’s oiled wildlife requirements to members of the oil and gas industry and spill response agencies.
In March, the annual meeting between key wildlife response organisations and Rijkswaterstaat took place, bringing together responders and authorities who cooperate on implementing and updating the national plan for response to oiled birds (Samenwerkingsregeling Besmeurde Vogels or SBV).
Sea Alarm is providing its oiled wildlife planning course, free of charge, to European authorities who have responsibility for this issue in their country. Registration is still open for the course which will be held on 16-17 April at the Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in Brussels.
The European Module for Oiled Wildlife Emergency Response Assistance (EUROWA) project, introduced late last year, got off to a strong start with a weeklong meeting hosted by the RSPCA, a project partner, at their Mallydams Wood Wildlife Centre.