Sea Alarm recently has started work on a five year contract with Rijkswaterstaat, the Netherlands, to assist with the coordination, development and management of an exercise programme on oiled wildlife response and preparedness in the Netherlands.
The 11th Effects of Oil on Wildlife Conference will take place from 24-28 January 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. EOW is the premier international conference for oiled wildlife preparedness response and provides an important forum for wildlife response NGOs around the world to meet and exchange information on latest developments, knowledge and experience gained in dealing with oiled wildlife.
Sea Alarm was busy over the Christmas period in the response to an oil spill incident in Nigeria. The incident occurred on December 21st at an FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Off-loading) Unit operated by an OSRL member in the Bonga oil field, 120 kilometres off the Nigerian coast.
Sea Alarm is continuing its efforts to help Baltic countries to develop their oiled wildlife preparedness by assisting with organisation of two international events in 2012. These events had been proposed as part of a HELCOM Work Programme on Oiled Wildlife Preparedness and Response, submitted by Estonia, Sea Alarm and WWF Finland and adopted in 2010.
A new Bonn Agreement Counter Pollution Manual Chapter on oiled wildlife response was adopted at the May 2011 meeting of OTSOPA (the Working Group on Operational, Technical and Scientific Questions concerning Counter Pollution Activities).
Sea Alarm is coordinating an exciting project on post-release survival rates of rehabilitated seabirds, which has been made possible through financial support provided by the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF).
Oiled wildlife response had a high profile at the 2011 International Oil Spill Conference (IOSC) in Portland, as for the first time in the event’s history it had a dedicated wildlife session, chaired by Hugo Nijkamp. Sea Alarm also exhibited at the event.
Making the most of the fact that many of the leading oiled wildlife response groups were scheduled to attend the IOSC in Portland, Sea Alarm took the opportunity to organise a dedicated meeting of these organisations back to back with the Conference.
In early November 2011, Sea Alarm facilitated a one day volunteer awareness event in Limerick, Ireland, in cooperation with the Shannon Port Authority and the Irish Seal Sanctuary. The event aimed at providing background information to a group of 25 selected volunteers from the Shannon Estuary area who had expressed an interest in assisting with a future oiled wildlife incident.
Sea Alarm had several opportunities in 2011 to meet face to face with oil industry members of Oil Spill Response () at its shareholder meetings in June and December. Sea Alarm had a small exhibition stand at both of OSRL”s Shareholder meetings, which took place in San Francisco in June and in Southampton in December.
Sea Alarm has made important steps in 2011 towards developing better preparedness for Arctic oiled wildlife incidents. Saskia Sessions was invited to make a presentation at the October meeting of the Arctic Council’s Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group (EPPR).
ITOPF is one of Sea Alarm’s key partners and the two organisations have been cooperating for over a decade now, both when responding to oil spills and also in some wildlife preparedness activities. A presentation day was held at ITOPF’s offices in London in October, to strengthen this relationship and bring some of ITOPF’s newer staff up to speed with Sea Alarm’s work.