HELCOM Response Group to hold its regular meeting on 27-29 April 2005 in Riga, Latvia

Helsinki, 22 April (HELCOM) –The HELCOM Response Group will hold its regular meeting on 27-29 April 2005 in Riga, Latvia, to discuss measures to improve emergency capacity in the Baltic Sea and strengthening of national, regional and overall capabilities of the coastal countries to respond to oil spillages.

The delegations of the Contracting Parties will exchange information on the progress made in establishing their national abilities and organizations for response to pollution at sea. The Meeting will furthermore continue discussions on the revision of the HELCOM Recommendations in the response field, with a view to strengthen the sub-regional capacity. The main aim is to have enough emergency resources in the area to provide adequate emergency towing, firefighting and lightering capacity to a ship in distress within a reasonable time period, and also enough response resources on a sub-regional basis to handle a “medium size” pollution incident or to control large scale pollution incidents until the assisting forces from the Baltic Sea States arrive on scene. 

The Meeting will discuss the possible use of information from a marine surveillance system –Automatic Identification System (AIS) - for response purposes. Following the HELCOM Copenhagen Declaration, the Baltic coastal countries started to build the network of shore based AIS stations which is expected to be completed in mid-2005. AIS is a new technical system which makes it possible to monitor the movements of vessels in the Baltic Sea area. AIS can be used, inter alia, for coordination in connection with rescue operations at sea, monitoring of oil transports, facilitating oil response operations, estimating arrival times at ports and coordination of ice-breaking activities.

The Secretariat of the Helsinki Commission will present the annual HELCOM data on illegal oil discharges observed during aerial surveillance in 2004, which has been prepared based on the information submitted by the Contracting Parties. The Meeting will also consider a compilation of the ship accidents in the Baltic Sea area in 2003, prepared by Latvia, and the latest report on dumped chemical munitions in the Baltic Sea, filed by Denmark as the Lead Country.

The Meeting of the Response Group will be preceded by a Workshop on Dispersants, which will be held on 26-27 April, also in Riga, Latvia. Representatives of the coastal countries will look into the new scientific knowledge available in the field of usage of dispersants and possible revision/amendment of the HELCOM regulations in that field.

Contacts:

HELCOM Secretariat

Mr Tadas Navickas
Professional Secretary
Tel: +358 9 6220 2242
Fax: +358 9 6220 2239

Mr Nikolay Vlasov
Information Secretary
Tel: +358 9 6220 2235
Fax: +358 9 6220 2239