Sea Alarm presents at OSRL Member events

Sea Alarm has continued to share its knowledge with the oil company members of OSRL during 2020. Our staff took part in the summer webinar series organised by OSRL for its members and also participated at the Members Day in October.

In June, Daniela Barreras Biesot and Hugo Nijkamp delivered presentations for two wildlife specific webinars for Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) staff and Members as part of a webinar series organised by OSRL. In the webinar “What is a wildlife emergency response?” Daniela explained how different an oil spill becomes when wildlife is involved, introduced the key elements of a wildlife response and stressed the benefits of being prepared. In the second webinar, Hugo presented a breakdown of the wildlife response services covered under the OSRL Service Level Agreement (SLA) and explained what these 24/7 services entail, how they are activated, what happens after activation, and how a Member can benefit from these services.

Each webinar was held twice, both in the morning and afternoon in order to reach people on different time zones. Participants included representatives from the oil industry, wildlife response organisations, national governments and other international organisations such as the IOPC Funds, totaling 76 on the first webinar, and 53 on the second.

At the OSRL UK Members Day in October Hugo Nijkamp gave an online presentation on UK oiled wildlife preparedness from an international viewpoint. He highlighted some of the challenges of responding to a large-scale incident in the UK and gave an impression of the current level of preparedness, using the philosophy behind Sea Alarm’s Self-Assessment Tool. Hugo suggested areas where preparedness efforts could potentially be strengthened, highlighting contributions the oil industry could make. The webinar, organised by OSRL, was attended by approximately 30 people, mainly representatives of the UK oil and gas operators.