General

Since EMPOWER membership was opened in November 2009, applications to join the network are starting to roll into Sea Alarm’s mailbox.

On Wednesday 18 November membership was officially opened for the EMPOWER Network. After almost 6 months of preparation the Network is now ready to expand beyond the 9 Founding Members. It is expected that in the end over 70 members from across Europe will have joined the network, which aims to improve the professionalism and capacity of NGOs in their responses to marine wildlife emergencies and cooperation with their national authorities. Membership of EMPOWER is free of charge and only requires the signing of a Code of Conduct and the submission of information on the applicant.

As a newcomer to the European scheme of Operational Grants to NGOs, Sea Alarm was recently audited in late October by a UK based team which was sent by the European Commission to check Sea Alarm’s financial and administrative structure. This is a standard procedure which provides essential information both to the Commission and the beneficiary of the grant if the internal procedure and structures comply with the standards set by the Commission. After three days of studying Sea Alarm’s administration and interviewing the staff, the auditors came to a positive end conclusion.

Sea Alarm recently moved into a new office. Located in the same building as the previous office, the new office is much larger and looks directly out onto the Place du Beguinage, one of the nicest little squares in the…

In an insightful podcast interview, Jay Holcomb, the Executive Director of the International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC), gives a touching account of his involvement in the six-month long response effort in the wake of the Exxon Valdez disaster, which occurred on 24^th March 1989 and ultimately killed more than 300,000 seabirds.

Third Conference a success The Third Sea Alarm Conference took place in Balbriggan, Ireland, November 1-3, 2004, and was organised by Sea Alarm and the Irish Seal Sanctuary. The conference, which was sponsored by Fairy, ITOPF, WWF, Fingal County Council,…