Meetings – Page 5

Sea Alarm seeks cooperation with ECSA

December 23, 2010

Following an earlier discussion in 2009, Benoit Loicq from the European Community Shipowners Association (ECSA) visited the Sea Alarm offices in Brussels last September. The aim of this meeting was for both organisations to present their activities and look at areas of common interest. Mr Loicq explained the setup and programme of ECSA, which is an international association made up of the national shipowner associations in each EU Member State. ECSA works to promote and represent European shipping interests though specialised committees, including an Environment and Safety Committee.

Oiled wildlife response and responders in the UK

August 6, 2010

Sea Alarm attended the 2010 meeting of UK Standing Environment Group chairs in London on 3 June. Saskia Sessions was able to make a presentation introducing Sea Alarm to the SEG Chairs new to their posts, explaining our role, recent developments in oiled wildlife response in Europe and to explore possible UK activities in oiled wildlife preparedness.

Recommendation on oiled wildlife response planning adopted

August 6, 2010

At the recent Ministerial Meeting in Moscow, Ministers from all contracting parties to the Helsinki Convention have adopted a new Recommendation called “Integrated oiled wildlife response planning in the Baltic Sea Area”. This Recommendation was developed by Sea Alarm in close cooperation with Estonia and WWF-Finland.

OTSOPA 2010

August 6, 2010

Sea Alarm worked closely together with the Bonn Agreement Secretariat to prepare a paper for the OTSOPA 2010 meeting with a proposal for a new chapter on wildlife response in the Counter Pollution Manual. OTSOPA (Working Group on Operational, Technical and Scientific Questions Concerning Counter Pollution Activities) had requested such a proposal at their previous meeting in 2009. Sea Alarm and the Secretariat designed a questionnaire which was sent to all Bonn Agreement Contracting Parties, in order to get an updated overview of current wildlife response arrangements in the area of the Agreement.

EMSA Stakeholder consultation meeting

August 6, 2010

Sea Alarm was invited to attend a stakeholder consultation meeting at the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) on 5 March in Lisbon, Portugal. EMSA is an EU agency working towards safer and cleaner shipping and has a multi-annual programme dedicated to preparedness and response to pollution at sea from ships.

NGO Networking in Turkey

November 18, 2009

While in Istanbul attending the Black Sea Commission ESAS AG meeting, Sea Alarm took the opportunity to organise a Turkish national NGO meeting hosted at MEKE Marine premises. The main aim of the meeting, held on 4 November 2009, was to bring Turkish NGOs together and to have a look at past experiences, exploring each other’s specific expertise and interest in the matter and the contributions that each could bring to an integrated oiled wildlife response.

Sea Alarm at the Black Sea Commission

November 18, 2009

Sea Alarm attended the 18th Meeting of the Environmental Safety Aspects of Shipping Advisory Group of the Black Sea Commission that took place in Istanbul, Turkey on the 4 and 5 of November 2009. The ESAS AG Group, an integral part of the Black Sea Commission institutional structure, coordinates the regional approach to emergency response, particularly international response to accidents involving extraction, maritime transport, handling and storage of oil and hazardous chemicals.

Helcom moving swiftly to integrate oiled wildlife

September 25, 2009

Sea Alarm attended the HELCOM Response meeting that took place from 23-25 September in Stockholm, Sweden. An important agenda item was the discussion of a paper prepared by Estonia, Sea Alarm and WWF that seeks to include oiled wildlife response in the HELCOM Response Manual.

Bonn Agreement Parties to include Oiled Wildlife Response in Counter-Pollution Manual

July 1, 2009

Sea Alarm’s Hugo Nijkamp was present at the OTSOPA meeting, held in Rotterdam from 26-28 May. He reported on recent developments in the European scene of oiled wildlife response and preparedness, including the EMPOWER initiative, the decision by Helcom Response to include oiled wildlife response in the Response Manual, and the upcoming Effects of Oil on Wildlife (EOW) Conference. OTSOPA is the technical committee of the Bonn Agreement, the regional agreement for mutual oil pollution response cooperation between coastal states in the North East Atlantic.

Following this presentation, OTSOPA decided to include a chapter on oiled wildlife response in the Bonn Agreement Counter-Pollution Manual, which is a significant step towards the further recognition of integrated oiled wildlife response.

EMSA and DG Environment Workshop

June 30, 2009

Sea Alarm attended an international meeting jointly organised by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and DG Environment on 30 June at EMSA’s new headquarters in Lisbon. The meeting’s overarching objective was to discuss integrated issues of oil spill response in Europe by exploring how aspects of civil protection (shoreline response) and marine rescue and oil spill combat at sea could be better integrated at both national and European levels. Representatives from civil protection agencies and oil spill response authorities of most European coastal states participated, as well as representatives from the secretariats of some of the regional conventions.

Meeting of Focal Points for Specially Protected Areas in the Mediterranean

June 15, 2009

In order to develop a better understanding of current nature conservation and protection issues in the Mediterranean, Sea Alarm’s Roser Gasol attended the Ninth Meeting of Focal Points for Specially Protected Areas (SPAs) in Malta on the 3-6 June 2009. This biennial meeting is organised by the Tunisian-based Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA), whose primary role is to assist the Contracting Parties in the implementation of the Protocol on Specially Protected Areas and Biodiversity within the framework of the Barcelona Convention.

Cooperation with REMPEC

June 14, 2009

At the recent Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) meeting in June, Sea Alarm discussed the possibilities for increased preparedness for oiled wildlife response in the Mediterranean with representatives of RAC/SPA and ACCOBAMS (Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area).