Developments in international preparedness

Sea Alarm has taken further strong steps forward in the development of a set of instruments that can be used for an international mobilisation of oiled wildlife response experts in case of an incident. Sea Alarm’s 24/7 notification and information centre is permanently available for Oil Spill Response Members, which include the globally operating oil companies, but also for any other party in need of advice or expertise. Together with Oil Spill Response’s legal department, Sea Alarm has developed various standard contracts by which an oiled wildlife response can be put in place. These contracts, which are now in a final drafting phase, will facilitate the quick setup of an oiled wildlife response coordinated by Sea Alarm and carried out by Sea Alarm together with mobilised experts from the leading wildlife response organisations which can be subcontracted. In principle these tools will further enable Sea Alarm to facilitate a professional response worldwide. A next step will be to further formalise the international cooperation between leading oiled wildlife responders and move away from the ad-hoc arrangements that have always characterised international responses, towards a guaranteed, professional global response service.