Sea Alarm attended the 12th HELCOM RESPONSE meeting on 17-19 February in Helsinki. During this meeting the Response Group approved a formal HELCOM recommendation on wildlife preparedness and response, prepared by Sea Alarm, Estonia and WWF Finland.
Sea Alarm has been invited to assist the Belgian authorities to set up and run an exercise to test the Belgian Oiled Bird Response Plan and in particular the role of the Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend (WRCO). It is the second time that the plan will be tested and the second time that Sea Alarm will be involved in the design of the exercise.
The Weidefeld Tierschutzzentrum (animal welfare centre) recently had the opportunity to send two of its staff (Katrin Umlauf, director and Katharina Stockem) to Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend (WRCO) to improve their hands on skills in rehabilitation of oiled birds.
Authorities in Estonia, Finland and Sweden have launched the EnSaCo Oil Spill Project, which aims to strengthen cross-border oiled wildlife and shoreline response, for easier transfer of resources between countries during an incident.
In the Netherlands an important new step has been taken to increase the national preparedness to oiled wildlife incident. The Dutch authority for oil spill preparedness and response, Rijkswaterstaat, has provided a budget to the national oiled bird rehabilitation network SON to develop a manual that can be used to train groups of volunteers that can be called on in case of a larger oiled wildlife incident.
Immediately after the 10th Effects of Oil on Wildlife conference, the Estonian Fund for Nature (ELF) organised a volunteer training close to Tallinn. Hugo Nijkamp (Sea Alarm) and Claude Velter (Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre Ostend) were asked to lecture on this training.
As a side event of the Effects of Oil on Wildlife Conference, Sea Alarm organised a debrief with most of the responders that were part of the international team that assisted in the oiled wildlife response in Norway, following the Full City oil spill incident. The main conclusion from the debrief was that the team without doubt had made a very strong contribution to the success of the Norwegian response.
Sea Alarm and WWF Finland organised an international workshop on oiled wildlife response planning for countries bordering the Baltic Sea. The workshop took place in Tallinn on 5 October 2009, back to back with the Effects of Oil on Wildlife Conference which allowed participants to take advantage of both events. The Estonian Ministry of Environment hosted the workshop, which was attended by 20 participants, including 16 delegates from 6 Baltic Sea Countries. The main objective of the workshop was to familiarise participants with the elements of an oiled wildlife response and the various steps of a planning process.
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.
Opening session and keynote address Scientific programme Round table discussions Short courses (Monday, October 5) Laboratories (Friday, October 6) Sea Alarm's contribution to the Conference Its not all work work work...... Follow-up Thank-you! The 10th International Effects of Oil on…
The Norwegian Ornithological Society (NOF) has observed 34 species of birds affected by the Full City spill, which occurred in southern Norway on 31 July. While NOF representatives have to date observed over 1,500 oiled birds in the field, the total number of birds affected by the spill is predicted to be far higher.
The Norwegian Oiled Wildlife Response Network (NOW) is leading the organisation and coordination of the response. Sea Alarm’s Roser Gasol has been on-site since 2 August, providing assistance together with Sea Alarm’s other on-site team members Claude Velter (Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend), Sascha Regmann (Project Blue Sea, Germany) and Tania Regmann (Project Blue Sea, Germany). Three RSPCA experts will be joining the international response team on 10 August.
Five days after the Full City grounded in Norway on 31 July, things are falling into place for the wildlife response. The Norwegian Oiled Wildlife Response Network (NOW) is taking a strong lead in the organisation and coordination of the response. The Network’s activities have been recognised and approved by the authorities, resulting in the wildlife response being fully integrated into the overall oil spill response. A budget has been made available to NOW to cover the costs of the response.
“It is incredible how quickly and well things are getting organised here in Norway” says Sea Alarm’s Roser Gasol, who has been on-site since 2 August. “Everybody works so effectively together that each hour you see incredible changes. The rehabilitation centre in Langesund will soon be up and running, providing the desired capacity of at least 180 birds”.