Effective Surveillance over the Baltic Pays Off - Only One Minor Oil Spill Found in Aerial Surveillance Operation

 The Finnish Environment Institute

(SYKE) and the Finnish Border Guard, under the HELCOM umbrella, arranged the SuperCEPCO Baltic 2011 aerial surveillance operation between 29 August and 3 September 2011 in Turku, Finland. This year, the Coordinated Extended Pollution Control Operation (CEPCO) involved six specially equipped aircraft from five countries: Estonia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. Poland was also to take part; however, due to some last minute technical problems they had to cancel participation.

 

This time, three discharges were detected during a total of 20 flights lasting 68 flight hours and with the assistance of eight satellite images. One discharge was a small (10 litres) mineral oil spill in a harbour, one was an unknown substance and one was a palm stearin discharge above the waterline - a violation of MARPOL regulations (MARPOL Annex 2 cat. Y). In addition, two small harbour oil spills were detected by the Finnish Border Guard helicopter's routine patrol and a third in Umeå Sweden (outside the operation area).

 

More Realistic View on Spills    

The organizers were satisfied in the elaborate yet successful operation: “The SuperCEPCO Baltic 2011 was a success. The international cooperation and coordination were very satisfactory, and the highly skilled and professional flight crews proved that the standardized international procedures have been well adopted by all the participants. This will contribute to a state of better preparedness in case of any accidents,” says Heli Haapasaari, Head of the Marine Pollution Response Section at the Finnish Environment Institute.

 

The HELCOM Member States, including all the nine countries around the Baltic Sea, carry out several cross-border surveillance operations annually. The CEPCOs take place once or twice a year and significantly contribute to detecting discharges through intensified surveillance: the CEPCO lasts for at least 24 hours and the SuperCEPCO from 6 to 10 days. They always remain classified until the last plane lands in order to prevent possible offenders from finding out about the operation.

 

The intense, non-stop surveillance for discharges from ships allows for a much better sampling of the real situation of oil spills in the Baltic Sea during a randomly selected time. It also enabled the air crews to practise surveying for spills over areas other than their regular patrols. Moreover, the CEPCO’s long duration increases the chances of finding polluters who might not be otherwise identified. 

 

The important CEPCO objectives of practising communication and cooperation were met in addition to exchanging experiences say the organisers: “The Finnish Border Guard has welcomed the chance to co-arrange an international operation such as the SuperCEPCO Baltic 2011. The length of the operation gives more opportunities for sharing experiences and comparing different practices between air crews. From its part, this will increase the likelihood for more commensurate aerial surveillance practices at the international level,” comments Tom Lundell, Maritime Security Expert from the Finnish Border Guard.

 

Discharges are Decreasing Both in Number and Volume

The flights surveyed a planned route over the northern Baltic Sea Proper and the western part of the Gulf of Finland. In addition to the six aircraft, three patrol vessels from Sweden, five from Estonia and two from Finland were on standby along the SuperCEPCO route to make on-board investigations of any ships found to be illegally discharging oil. The operation was further supported by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) satellite surveillance.

 

The results of the SuperCEPCO 2011operation confirm the decreasing trend not only in the number of oil discharges in the Baltic, but also in their volume even though the shipping intensity is constantly increasing. The national aerial surveillance data supports this finding: even though the number of total flight hours has increased, the number of detected spills has decreased. In 2010, the number of spills observed during national aerial surveillance was 149 compared to 472 ten years ago.

 

Pollution surveillance has a substantial preventive effect on illegal oil discharges since it promotes compliance with the anti-discharge regulations that require all ships operating in the Baltic Sea, with few exceptions, to deliver all oily wastes to reception facilities before leaving port. In the case of a major oil spill, cooperation between countries is crucial and the experiences gained through international aerial surveillance cooperation, like the CEPCOs, is indispensable.