RESPONSE GROUP (HELCOM RESPONSE)

Transcription

1 HELSINKI COMMISSION Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission RESPONSE GROUP (HELCOM RESPONSE) Minutes of the 13th Meeting St. Petersburg, Russia October 2010 HELCOM RESPONSE 13/ /2

2 HELSINKI COMMISSION Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission Katajanokanlaituri 6 B FI HELSINKI Finland Telephone Telefax Internet

3 HELSINKI COMMISION HELCOM RESPONSE 13/2010 Response Group 13 th Meeting St. Petersburg, Russia, October 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS MINUTES OF THE 13TH MEETING OF RESPONSE GROUP (HELCOM RESPONSE)... 2 Introduction... 2 Agenda Item 1 Adoption of the Agenda... 2 Agenda Item 2 Election of Chairman and Vice-Chairman... 2 Agenda Item 3 Matters arising from the meetings within the framework of HELCOM... 3 Agenda Item 4 HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan and 2010 HELCOM Ministerial Meeting.. 3 Agenda Item 5 Maritime traffic situation... 3 Agenda Item 6 Sub-regional risk assessments and progress in the BRISK Project... 4 Agenda Item 7 Matters related to response operations... 6 Agenda Item 8 Shoreline response and wildlife response... 8 Agenda Item 9 National reports on emergency/response planning... 9 Agenda Item 10 Exercises Agenda Item 11 Detection, investigation and prosecution of offenders of anti-pollution regulations Agenda Item 12 HELCOM Recommendations and Response Manual Agenda Item 13 Co-operation with other organizations Agenda Item 14 Offshore activities Agenda Item 15 Any other business Agenda Item 16 Future work and meetings Agenda Item 17 Outcome of the Meeting ANNEXES Annex 1 Annex 2 Annex 3 Annex 4 Annex 5 List of Participants.. 16 Agenda.19 Terms of Reference for the ad hoc Expert Working Group on Shoreline Response 20 Contact Addresses of HELCOM RESPONSE 21 Working Programme for HELCOM RESPONSE List of Documents List of Presentations 29 Page 1 of 29

4 MINUTES OF THE 13TH MEETING OF THE RESPONSE GROUP (HELCOM RESPONSE) INTRODUCTION 0.1 In accordance with the Minutes of the Twelfth Meeting of the Response Group (HELCOM RESPONSE 12/2010, Paragraphs 15.2 and 15.3) the 13th Meeting of the HELCOM Response Group was held in St. Petersburg, Russia, from 13 to 15 October The Meeting was attended by Delegations from all the Contracting Parties to the Helsinki Convention as well as by an Observer from WWF Finland. Mr. Carsten Jürgensen from COWI A/S participated in the Meeting as an invited guest. The List of Participants is attached as Annex Mr. Ivan I. Kostylev, President of Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy, opened the Meeting and welcomed the participants to St. Petersburg. 0.4 Mr. Evgeny V. Baryshev, Head of State Marine Pollution Control, Salvage and Rescue Administration of the Russian Federation (SMPCSA) and Mr. Yury Orlov, Master of Passenger Terminal of Port St. Petersburg, Member of Big Port of St. Petersburg Maritime Administration, also addressed the Meeting. 0.5 Mr. Peter Søberg Poulsen from Denmark, Chairman of the HELCOM Response Group, acted as Chairman of the Meeting, and Mr. Marek Reszko from Poland and Mr. Kalervo Jolma from Finland, Vice-Chairmen of the HELCOM Response Group, acted as Vice-Chairmen of the Meeting. Ms. Monika Stankiewicz, Professional Secretary of the Commission, acted as Secretary of the Meeting. 0.6 The Meeting had a minute of silence to honor the memory of Mr. Olli Pahkala, a Finnish colleague and former Chairman of the Combatting Committee, who had recently passed away. Agenda Item 1 Adoption of the Agenda Documents: 1/1, 1/2 1.1 The Meeting adopted the Agenda (document 1/1) as contained in Annex 2. Agenda Item 2 Election of Chairman and Vice-Chairman Documents: None 2.1 The Meeting elected Mr. Bernt Stedt, Sweden, as Chairman and re-elected Mr. Kalervo Jolma, Finland, and Mr. Marek Reszko, Poland, as Vice-Chairmen of HELCOM RESPONSE for the next two-year period starting from March The Meeting expressed its highest gratitude to Mr. Peter Søberg Poulsen for his excellent chairmanship of the HELCOM Response Group during the two-year period and wished him all the best for the future. The Meeting took note that Peter Søberg Poulsen will make his final chairman s report to HELCOM 32/2011. Page 2 of 29

5 Agenda Item 3 Matters arising from the meetings within the framework of HELCOM Documents: None 3.1 The Meeting took note of the information by the Secretariat on meetings of HELCOM and HELCOM Heads of Delegation held in the intersessional period, including on the nomination of Ms. Gabriella Lindholm, the Ministry of Environment of Sweden, as a Chair of HELCOM for a period of two years. Agenda Item 4 HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan and 2010 HELCOM Ministerial Meeting Documents: 4/1, 4/2 4.1 The Meeting took note of the Ministerial Declaration adopted by the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting on 20 May 2010 in Moscow, including the Maritime Activities section and HELCOM Recommendations 31E/5 Mutual plan for Places of Refuge in the Baltic Sea area and 31E/6 Integrated wildlife response planning in the Baltic Sea Area (document 4/1) and decided to discuss the issues of importance to the HELCOM Response work under the relevant Agenda Items. 4.2 The Meeting noted that the Ministerial Meeting decided that by 2011 National Implementation Plans/Programmes/Strategies for, among others, the Maritime Activities segment of the Baltic Sea Action Plan should be developed by the HELCOM countries. 4.3 The Meeting took note of the Working Paper on HELCOM MARITIME/RESPONSE actions and corresponding actions under the Action Plan for the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, including the BRISK Project selected as a flag ship project within the Strategy s Priority Area 14 (document 4/2). Agenda Item 5 Maritime traffic situation Documents: 5/1, 5/2 5.1 The Meeting took note of the report on shipping accidents in the Baltic Sea area for the year 2009 (document 5/1, Presentation 1) and noted with satisfaction that both the total number of groundings as well as the number of groundings in the south-western Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland have decreased. This decrease could be justified by the enhanced operation of the Vessel Ttraffic Service in the Great Belt, communicating with every bigger ship if she deviates from its route, and the Gulf of Finland Reporting System (GOFREP), respectively. The Meeting further noted that while the number of collisions has decreased down to one in the Gulf of Finland, it shows an increasing trend in the southwestern Baltic Sea. 5.2 The Meeting observed the high share of accidents caused by human factor in the overall number of accidents in the Baltic Sea and pointed to the insufficient experience among the crew and fatigue as the main reasons behind it. 5.3 The Meeting took note of the information by the Secretariat on launching of a new interactive web-based HELCOM map and data service, which integrates all former GIS maps services, MARIS, nutrient GIS, marine spatial planning GIS etc., into one single information source ( The new service uses a brand new way for navigating and accessing information from the maps, and users are able to visualize, analyze and search Baltic Sea environmental data, draw and save or Page 3 of 29

6 print own maps and download ESRI shape files. The data previously displayed in the MARIS is now included in a folder called Shipping. 5.4 The Meeting discussed the HELCOM reporting on shipping accidents in the view of the new database developed by EMSA, the European Marine Casualty Information Platform (EMCIP) (document 5/2). The EU member states will be required to supply marine casualties and incidents data to EMCIP from June The Meeting pointed out the need to continue collecting the same statistics on regional basis and, on the other hand, to avoid double reporting to EMSA and HELCOM, and invited the EU to investigate the possibilities to align the scope of the EMCIP reporting with HELCOM, also taking into account the existing reporting within other regional agreements. Furthermore, the Meeting invited the EU to bring this issue for the discussion at the upcoming meeting of the Consultative Technical Group for Marine Pollution Preparedness and Response of EMSA (CTG MPPR) to be held on 26 October 2010 in Lisbon. 5.6 The Meeting expressed the view that an automated way of reporting should be favoured in the future. Agenda Item 6 Sub-regional risk assessments and progress in the BRISK Project Documents: 6/1/Rev The Meeting took note of the information by the Project Manager, Mr. Peter Poulsen, about the overall progress in the Project on sub-regional risk of spill of oil and hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea (BRISK), including on the new partner from Lithuania, Coastal Research and Planning Institute (CORPI), joining the project, as well as on the successful start-up of the complementary BRISK-RU project financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. There have been four project meetings so far, including the most recent one on 5-6 October 2010, in Århus, Denmark, which discussed the progress in the risk assessment of shipping accidents and pollution, and reviewed its preliminary results. 6.2 The Meeting welcomed the progress in the BRISK risk assessment as included in document 6/1/Rev.1 and the presentation by the BRISK Consultant, Mr. Carsten Jürgensen, COWI A/S (Presentation 2). The work so far has included, among others, the ice effects on traffic, preliminary modelled risk of accidents and oil spills, division of the Baltic Sea into meteorological and hydrological areas, and environmental sensitivity. 6.3 The Meeting took note of the information that the model includes traffic data of one year in the period 2008/2009, during which moderate winter conditions prevailed, thus reflecting major changes of the traffic pattern in ice conditions in the northern Gulf of Bothnia but not in the eastern Gulf of Finland. 6.4 The Meeting requested the BRISK Project to reflect in the risk assessment the changed traffic pattern in the area between Åland Islands and the Swedish coast due to the changes in the traffic separation scheme and deep water route that had taken effect on 1 January The Meeting discussed in more detail the indicative map of response time, potential response area coverage and potential efficiency within the assessment, and concurred that the presented maps reflect theoretical situation and overestimate the capacities. The Meeting made the following comments to the maps: in some countries ships sail along the coastline while performing their tasks and are rarely in home port, therefore in practice they are able to promptly reach also areas which are more distant from their home ports; the skimming capacity, which is smaller than the pumping capacity, would better reflect the actual situation; Page 4 of 29

7 in real life situation storage capacity is a limiting factor when dealing with large spills. 6.6 The Meeting requested the Project to take the above considerations into account when further developing the response part of the assessment, and also to have them properly reflected when presenting the final results of the risk analysis. 6.7 The Meeting noted that only dedicated response capacities, including EMSA chartered vessels, as reported to HELCOM, are currently included in the assessment. However, additional resources available in the countries will be taken into account when capacity analysis will be done. 6.8 The Meeting requested the Project to confirm whether oil rigs and the offshore oil terminals are included in the analysis. 6.9 The Meeting took note that a correspondence group led by Finland has been established to do some further, alternative weighting of the environmental sensitivity indicators needed for modelling environmental damage of spills, and welcomed the offer of Estonia and Latvia to take part in the work of the correspondence group, in addition to Finland, Sweden, Russia and Poland, and invited these countries to provide information about the names of the nominated experts to Carsten Jürgensen ( crj@cowi.dk) by 31 October The Meeting requested the Project Manager to distribute the BRISK PowerPoint presentation together with a brief report to the BRISK project partners for further consideration The Meeting considered the updated map showing the existing response agreements, and also sub-regional division of the Baltic Sea to be used in the BRISK risk assessment presented by the Project Manager (Presentation 3). The update has been made on the basis of the discussions at BRISK 4/ The Meeting noted that the area of the Copenhagen Agreement should be extended to cover Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of all Contracting Parties to the Copenhagen Agreement, and the area of the response agreements between Finland and Russia, and Finland and Estonia should cover all EEZ of the countries concerned The Meeting requested the BRISK Project to update the map of the sub-regions accordingly and with these amendments, agreed on the proposed division of the sub-regions for the purpose of the BRISK risk assessment. The Meeting requested the Project to distribute the updated map to the Contracting Parties The Meeting discussed the areas not covered by any bi- or multilateral agreements, and invited Sweden, Latvia and Estonia to consider extending the area coverage of the SWEESTLAT plan to include also Swedish EEZ and territorial waters. The three countries in principle agreed on the extension of the SWEESTLAT plan The Meeting welcomed the information: by Estonia that in a couple of weeks the Government will discuss the possibility to have a pollution response agreement between Estonia and Latvia; by Russia and Poland about a new response agreement between these two countries ready to be signed in the near future; that the SWEDENGER plan will be extended eastwards to cover the Bornholm area and that Poland will join the SWEDENGER plan once an agreement between Poland and Germany, currently under the development, has been signed The Meeting concluded that if the above mentioned extensions of the existing agreements/plans take place and the new Polish and Russian agreement is concluded, the whole Baltic Sea area will be covered by bi- and multilateral agreements to a satisfactory degree. Page 5 of 29

8 6.17 The Meeting took note of the information by Estonia on a plan to hold a trilateral meeting for the sub-regional cooperation in the Gulf of Finland at the end of November/ beginning of December Agenda Item 7 Matters related to response operations 7.1 Recent operations Documents: None 7.1 The Meeting took note of the presentations by Germany (Presentation 4) and Denmark (Presentation 5) on the accident of a ferry Lisco Gloria en route from Kiel to Klaipeda on 9 October The ferry went on fire and 236 people were rescued from the ship. 7.2 The Meeting thanked Germany, Denmark and Sweden for the successful rescue and response operation. Lithuania extended special thanks to the German MRCC and Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME) and the remaining two countries. 7.3 The Meeting took note of the presentation about recent operations over the last year in the responsibility zone of salvage and rescue division of the SMPCSA (Baltic Salvage & Towage Co.), Russia (Presentation 6). 7.2 Use of dispersants Documents: None 7.4 The Meeting took note of the information by Russia on the decision of OPRC- HNS Technical Group of IMO concerning the establishment of a correspondence group on updating of IMO dispersant guidelines with the aim, among others, to pay attention to ecological aspects as well as modern techniques to apply dispersants. The Group is led by France and all interested parties, including HELCOM countries, are invited to contribute to this work. 7.5 The Meeting took note of the information by EMSA on the ongoing update of the inventory of national policies regarding use of dispersants in EU countries to be published on the EMSA website by the end of The Meeting took note of the information on the International Oil Spill Conference (Interspill) to be held in week 21 in 2011, during which lessons learnt from the use of dispersants during the Deep Water Horizon accident will be shared. 7.3 Response operations at night/in bad visibility Documents: None 7.7 The Meeting took note of the information by Sweden that no real evaluation of a new radar system for detection of oil at night/in bad visibility installed on board of one of their vessels could be done so far. The results of testing are needed before any decision could be made on installing a system onboard other Swedish vessels. 7.8 The Meeting took note that the renovation of the Finnish vessel HALLI included also the instalment of the Mirros system. 7.4 Emergency towing Documents: None 7.9 The Meeting took note of the information: by Germany on a new emergency tug in charter since September 2010, with a bollard pull (BP) of 130 tons, of which more details will be submitted at the next meeting; Page 6 of 29

9 by Finland that the new EMSA charted vessel KONTIO has a BP 160 tons, and as it is a Finnish vessel she can be nationally ordered to participate in case of an accident, and that a new multipurpose vessel with icebreaking capacity currently under construction to be delivered in the beginning of the next year will have a BP of 60 tons; by Sweden about the recent delivery of the last of the three ships ordered by Sweden; all ships have emergency towing capacity; however, skills to perform any advance emergency are yet to be developed and currently crews are being trained; by Sweden on a small towing exercise conducted within the Copenhagen Agreement. 7.5 Oil in ice Documents: None 7.10 The Meeting took note of the information by Finland on the ongoing elaboration of a comprehensive paper on the oil recovery methods and systems to be used in ice conditions and invited Finland to share the paper with other Contracting Parties once it has been finalized. Finland also informed that a 2 mln EUR new recovery system for ice conditions has been ordered for their new response vessel The Meeting also took note that the Arctic Council is making a new state-of-theart report (BoHaSa) on responding to chemicals and oil in ice conditions to be discussed next week by Senior Arctic Officials The Meeting took note of the information by Sweden on a two-day seminar/demonstration on oil in ice at shoreline in Umeå on 7-8 April 2010, to which rescue services and Coastguard were invited by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. 7.6 Places of refuge Documents: None 7.13 The Meeting made tour de table on the implementation of HELCOM Recommendation 31E/5 on Mutual Plan for Places of Refuge, and more specifically on designation of one or maximum two competent authorities which have the power to take independent decisions concerning accommodation of ships in need of assistance, and took note of the following information by the countries: Denmark has designated the places of refuge (PoR) and developed specific plans for each PoR as part of the national contingency plan; the Admiral Danish Fleet Headquarter is a competent authority to decide on accommodation of a ship in PoR. In Estonia three ports and some sea areas have been designated as PoR and the JRCC Tallinn has been appointed as a competent authority. In Finland the information on available PoR is classified and the decision on accommodating a ship in need of assistance in a shelter is taken on a case-by-case basis by a duty officer of SYKE after consultation with some other authorities. In Germany the Head of the Central Command for Maritime Emergencies decides which place can be used as a PoR. Latvia has appointed three biggest ports and one sea area as PoR and the competent authority is the Head of MRCC Committee. In Lithuania anchorage areas near Klaipeda port and Klaipeda port have been designated as PoR and contact point is MRCC; the decision on accommodating a ship in need of PoR is taken on a case-by-case basis by a special committee, consisting of the Lithuanian Navy, Port Authorities and Maritime Safety Administration. In Poland a place of refuge is granted on a case-by-case basis and the Head of Maritime Office is a competent authority according to the territorial competence. Page 7 of 29

10 There is no dedicated PoR in Russia and the Harbour Master has authority to allow a ship to shelter in a port. Sweden has not designated PoR and if needed, any place along the coastline could be used if decided so, and the point of contact is JRCC/MAS The Meeting requested the Contracting Parties to provide the Secretariat with a list of their places of refuge, including name and coordinates, if available, by 15 November 2010, and mandated the Secretariat to insert this information to the HELCOM map and data service The Meeting requested the Contracting Parties to make sure that the contacts in the HELCOM Response Manual and those provided to IMO according to the IMO Resolution A.949(23) Guidelines on places of refuge for ships in need of assistance and MSC- MEPC6./Circ.6 List of national operational contact points responsible for the receipt, transmission and processing of urgent reports on incidents involving harmful substances, including oil from ships to coastal states are the same. Agenda Item 8 Shoreline response and wildlife response Documents: 8/1, 8/2, 8/3, 8/4, 8/5/WP.1, 8/5/WP The Meeting considered the draft Work Programme on Oiled Wildlife Response and Preparedness proposed by Estonia, Sea Alarm and WWF Finland (document 8/1 and Presentation 7) and decided to reflect it in the Working Programme for the Response Group for the next three years according to the discussion held. The Meeting thanked Estonia, Sea Alarm and WWF Finland for their work to prepare the proposal. 8.2 The Meeting welcomed the offer of Sea Alarm and WWF Finland to co-organize a Baltic OW responders exchange meeting on protocols and facilities and OW authority meeting on preparedness and response, and invited the Contracting Parties to consider hosting either of these meetings in 2011 and to inform the Secretariat by 31 December 2010 accordingly. 8.3 The Meeting requested the assistance of the HELCOM HABITAT Group in dealing with two specific aspects of oiled wildlife response, namely post release survival of oiled wildlife and euthanasia of oiled wildlife, and whether HELCOM HABITAT could take the lead in organizing workshop(s) on these topics. The Meeting requested Estonia, Sea Alarm and WWF Finland to present a paper outlining the recent HELCOM RESPONSE work on oiled wildlife response and highlighting the importance of gaining knowledge on post release survival of oiled wildlife and of sharing experience with euthanasia to the next HELCOM HABITAT Meeting (13/2011). 8.4 The Meeting considered the proposal for organizing an oiled wildlife response management course, including OWR management table top exercise (document 8/1) and concluded that some further investigation into this proposal should be made, including possible financing from some external sources, and decided to discuss this issue at the next meeting of the Group. 8.5 The Meeting requested HELCOM countries being EU members to bring the topic of oiled wildlife response to the attention of CTG with the aim to suggest making OWR part of the CTG programme. 8.6 The Meeting considered the amendments to the HELCOM Response Manual to deal with the shoreline response, including POLREP developed by the ad hoc Correspondence Working Group on Shoreline Response (document 8/3) and approved the amendments, pending the clarification of the study reservations by Estonia and Russia. The Meeting requested Estonia and Russia to send their possible comments to the proposed amendments to the Secretariat by 31 October 2010 to be circulated to the Contracting Parties for their tacit approval. Page 8 of 29

11 8.7 The Meeting considered the proposal by Poland to establish an ad hoc Expert Working Group on Shoreline Response to deal with the shoreline response tasks included in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan on a more long-term basis and with possibilities to meet. The Meeting established a Drafting Group consisting of Poland, Germany, Sweden, Finland and the Secretariat to develop Terms of Reference for the Group (document 8/5/WP.1). 8.8 The Meeting agreed to establish the Expert Working Group on Shoreline Response, welcomed the offer by Poland and Germany to co-lead the Group and approved its Terms of Reference as contained in document 8/5/WP.2 and Annex The Meeting took note of the information on the Finnish national oiled wildlife response plan updated in September 2010 (document 8/4). The Plan is an independent document, not integrated with the national oil response plan; however the alerting and the daily information exchange procedures are identical. The Meeting also took note that marine mammals have not been addressed in the plan as neither expertise nor equipment how to deal with oiled seals is yet available The Meeting took note of the information provided by Estonia on the second international seminar Ecological prioritizing in onshore oil spill response and oiled wildlife response held on September 2010 in Tallinn within the EnSaCo Oil Spill project "Environment and Safety Management Cooperation on Shoreline Oil Spill Response" (document 8/2) The Meeting also took note of the information by Sweden on the conference and exercise to be held within the EnSaCo project in the Stockholm area on September 2011, to which all HELCOM countries will be invited The Meeting requested the countries participating in the EnSaCo project to keep the Group updated on the project outcomes. Agenda Item 9 National reports on emergency/response planning Documents: 9/1, 9/2 9.1 The Meeting took note of the information on the Finnish plan for the national leading of response to large marine oil accidents (document 9/1), which is expected to be finalized and published by the end of the year. The main focus of the plan is on the information channels within the governmental administration, EU, to neighbouring countries, the media stakeholders and the public, when an alarm has been received and during the response operation. 9.2 The Meeting took note of the information by Finland on the modernization of the oil recovery vessel HALLI, including the project organization and management, as well as naval architectural and technical matters (document 9/2). 9.3 The Meeting welcomed the information by Estonia on a new vessel being built with excellent ice manoeuvring capacities and oil detection and recovery capacities to be delivered in autumn The newly built vessel is financed with 28 mln EUR from the EU funds and 4 mln EUR from national sources; by Sweden on four new vessels being constructed; the first one will be delivered next year, the other three vessels shortly after; by Russia on new vessels to operate in the Baltic Sea: two ships to be delivered during this year (Road diving speed boat and salvage speed boat boom deployment), a big multifunctional salvage and rescue vessel and sea motor ship with ramp area to be delivered in 2011, and three more vessels to be ready in Page 9 of 29

12 9.4 The Meeting invited Estonia, Sweden and Russia to present their new vessels in more detail at the next meeting of the Group. 9.5 The Meeting took note of the presentation by EMSA on the integration of the EMSA chartered oil recovery vessels with the HELCOM response system (Presentation 8). The new proposal for a revised EMSA Funding Regulation envisages extending EMSA s assistance, through the Monitoring and Information Centre in DG ECHO, to the neighbouring countries of EU and those of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control. Other third countries can be assisted, upon request, if there is a voluntary agreement of the vessel operator. EMSA s response activities are planned to be extended to marine pollution from any source. 9.6 The Meeting took note of the information by Finland on an exercise held on 16 September 2010 off Helsinki involving the EMSA-chartered vessel KONTIO and some Finnish vessels. 9.7 The Meeting expressed its gratitude to EMSA for making additional response capacities available in the Baltic Sea and vessels participation in the exercises. The Meeting requested the future organizers of the BALEX DELTA and other exercises to make sure that EMSA chartered vessels are included in the mobilization through pollution reporting system and the Secretariat to include the vessels in an overview of available capacities in the HELCOM map and data service. Agenda Item 10 Exercises Documents: 10/1, 10/2, 10/ The Meeting took note of the report by Lithuania from the International BALEX DELTA 2010 Exercise, held in Klaipeda, Lithuania, on August 2010, which involved also shoreline response (document 10/2, Presentation 9). The participants also watched a movie about the exercise The Meeting considered the evaluation remarks of the Expert Evaluation Team (EET) consisting of Latvia, Lithuania and Denmark, and recommended that in the future either alternative date for the exercise could be planned or some other options for simulating the equipment deployment (e.g. with lines and buoys) could be investigated to be prepared for bad weather conditions. It has also been suggested by the EET that some more complex scenario of exercising could be developed, e.g. covering fire fighting, emergency towing The Meeting congratulated Lithuania for a well-organized exercise and also thanked the EET for their valuable contribution in developing recommendations for future BALEX DELTA exercises The Meeting took note of the information by Denmark on the preparations for BALEX DELTA 2011, which will take place on August 2011 off Bornholm. The scenario will involve SAR, oil recovery, OWR, shoreline clean up, and emergency towing, and the invitation will be sent to all Contracting Parties in March The Meeting welcomed the willingness of Finland to host the BALEX DELTA 2012 Exercise (document 10/1) and invited Finland to provide further details on the preparations of the exercise during the 14th meeting of HELCOM RESPONSE The Meeting took note of the information on a bilateral annual Estonian-Finnish pollution response exercise Clean Sea 2010 that took place in May 2010 off Tallinn (document 10/3) The Meeting took note of the information by Sweden on an exercise conducted in the west coast of Sweden in September 2010 with participation of also Denmark, Norway and EMSA (10 vessels and one aircraft), involving oil recovery at sea, emergency towing, lightering and shoreline response The Meeting took note of the information: Page 10 of 29

13 by Poland on a search and rescue (SAR) and oil recovery exercise in the beginning of August 2010 in the south-eastern Baltic Proper sub-region together with Lithuania and Kaliningrad region and on an oil and HNS response exercise in the western coast with participation of nine vessels from Poland and Germany; on a SWEDENGER exercise a few weeks ago hosted by Germany The Meeting thanked the countries for their continued effort to increase response capabilities in the Baltic Sea through exercising The Meeting took note of the information by Russia (Presentation 10) on: an international oil spill exercise in the Barents Sea, organized by Norway with participation of Russia; altogether 11 vessels and 2 helicopters participated and the scenario involved SAR and oil spill response; a regional exercise in the Caspian Sea within the framework of TEHERAN Convention and its emergency protocol, hosted by Russia in June 2010 and with participation of three other countries; the scenario involved SAR, response to oil spill at sea as well as around drilling unit; over 30 ships from Russia and transport vessels and fishing vessels took part; an international exercise within the framework of the NOWPAP cooperation, hosted by Japan in September 2010 with participation of Russian vessels and observers of other NOWPAP members. Agenda Item 11 Detection, investigation and prosecution of offenders of anti-pollution regulations 11.1 Aerial surveillance Documents: 11.1/1, 11.1/2/INF, 11.1/3, 11.1/ The Meeting took note of the information by the Secretariat that the Network of the Prosecutors on Environmental Crime (ENPRO) is about to finalize their manual, which will be published at the Conference of the Prosecutors General on 4 of November 2010, in Helsinki The Meeting regretted that ENPRO representatives could not attend the Meeting and requested the Secretariat to invite a representative of ENPRO to participate in HELCOM RESPONSE 14/ The Meeting took note of the information by Estonia that regular training courses are conducted in Estonia for persons taking samples of oil from water and ships, based on the IMO Manual on oil spill sampling and identification The Meeting took note of the outcome of the Meeting of the HELCOM Informal Working Group on Aerial Surveillance (IWGAS) held in Hamburg, Germany, 9-10 March 2010 (document 11.1/1) and more specifically: welcomed that EMSA offered to deliver yearly statistics on satellite surveillance for table 2 of the report on illegal discharges on annual basis by 15 February; endorsed IWGAS decisions and conclusions regarding Super CEPCOs in the Baltic Sea including that: - Super CEPCOs are a good way forward for joint surveillance operations in the Baltic Sea; - the frequency of Super CEPCOs in the Baltic Sea needs to take into account the organization of such operations in other regional agreements; Page 11 of 29

14 - they are to be organized on a voluntary basis, and that the regular CEPCOs will continue to be organized unless there is an offer by any of the HELCOM countries to conduct Super CEPCO; - for each Super CEPCO a preparation team should be established, consisting of a country who organized Super CEPCO previously and the host country, with the aim of utilizing the existing experience and sharing the planning effort. The Bonn Agreement countries outside the Baltic Sea region could also be requested for assistance The Meeting considered the issue of having common understanding and harmonized legislation regarding certain aspects of foreign aircrafts operating in other countries' waters (such as dropping sample buoys and life rafts from aircrafts) and requested the Contracting Parties to submit information on their national regulations regarding this to the Secretariat by 15 December 2010 to be further considered at IWGAS The Meeting thanked Germany for their excellent two-year chairmanship of the IWGAS group to continue until the end of this year, and welcomed the incoming chairmanship of Latvia for the years The Meeting took note that the next IWGAS meeting will take place on March 2011 in Riga The Meeting took note of the information by Poland about a brand new surveillance system MSS 6000 taken into use onboard their aircraft The Meeting welcomed the offer by Finland to organise the SuperCEPCO 2011 (document 11.1/4) and invited Finland to inform IWGAS contact points accordingly The Meeting invited Sweden to participate in the SuperCEPCO 2011 preparation team and to liaise with the Bonn Agreement (BA) in order to keep the BA Contracting Parties informed on the HELCOM SuperCEPCO plans, thus avoiding overlapping surveillance events The Meeting took note of the outcome a minicepco operation in the Northern Baltic Sea on 5 July 2010 carried out by Finland, Sweden and Estonia (document 11.1/3) and thanked the three countries for conducting the operation The Meeting took note of the information on CEPCO North 2010, conducted on September 2010 and hosted by Estonia and with participation of Finland, Sweden and Denmark (Presentation 11) and thanked the host country Estonia and the participating countries for conducting the operation The Meeting took note of the annual 2009 HELCOM Report on Illegal Discharges Observed During Aerial Surveillance (document 11.1/2/INF, Presentation 12) and pointed out the need and value of continuing the collection of the statistics on regional basis Use of satellites for detecting illegal discharges Documents: None The Meeting invited EMSA to present a report on the CleanSeaNet operation in 2010 at the next Response Meeting The Meeting noted that ENVISAT will be out of service for coming weeks/ months and that less pictures than normally will be available The Meeting took note of the request by Lithuania on a possible sharing of the information from the satellite surveillance of the area around oil platform D-6 by private company Lukoil. Russia informed that they will investigate possibilities for sharing the data. Page 12 of 29

15 11.3 STW/AIS/SAT model Documents: None The Meeting took note of the information by Finland about the BORIS map interface for which SMHI is developing an interface, so the SeaTrackWeb can be used directly within BORIS. This solution could be made available to other Baltic Sea countries for free, if they wish so. Agenda Item 12 HELCOM Recommendations and Response Manual Documents: None 12.1 The Meeting requested the Contracting Parties to check and update, if necessary, the contact information / national links in the HELCOM Response Manual. Agenda Item 13 Co-operation with other organizations Documents: None 13.1 The Meeting took note of the information by Sweden on a meeting organized with the framework of MEMAC in May 2010 in Qatar, to consider ratification by the relevant countries of the OPRC Convention and the HNS Protocol and the HNS Convention, during which Sweden was represented to brief on the national and the regional cooperation The Meeting took note of the information by the EU: that the 5 th meeting of CTG, to be held on 26 October 2010 in Lisbon, will consider, among others, the draft claims management guidelines; on a joint workshop on oil spill response and shoreline response to be organized by EMSA and DG ECHO on 9 December 2010 in Brussels; on a training on marine pollution surveillance planned for 2011; on Interspill Conference and Exhibition to be held in March 2012; EMSA is a member of the Steering Committee and of the Organizing Committee, and the regional agreements are encouraged to be involved in the organizing committee as well The Meeting took note that Sweden will chair one of the technical groups in IMO from next year. Agenda Item 14 Offshore activities Documents: 14/1/INF 14.1 The Meeting took note of the information on developments of the EU policy on offshore activities, including on the ongoing assessment of industry practices and the regulations covering the safety and environmental aspects of offshore exploration and production in European waters, on EU support in the recovery activities in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as on the newly adopted Commission Communication on offshore and plans to strengthen the EU s Disaster Response Capacity, on guidelines on risk assessment and risk mapping, and the good practice programme (document 14/1/INF) The Meeting took note of the information by Russia that upon an initiative of that country a new initiative on offshore oil and gas exploration and development and marine environment protection the Global Marine Environment Protection Initiative has been Page 13 of 29

16 launched by G20. Russia offered to inform the next meeting of the Group on the results of the work of the expert group under the Initiative. Agenda Item 15 Any other business Documents: 15/1, 15/2, 15/ The Meeting discussed the question of possible overlap of the CECIS system (the EU Common Emergency Communication and Information System), recently extended to the Marine Pollution authorities, with the HELCOM procedures and principles for requesting and providing assistance in case of a major spillage of oil or other hazardous substances included in the HELCOM Response Manual (document 15/2) The Meeting took note of the additional information by the EU that in practise CECIS is dedicated to large accidents requiring international assistance to smooth communication. Also extension of the system to non-eu countries and the HELCOM Secretariat could be considered The Meeting noted that information and requests for assistance are delivered only by electronic mail according to CECIS. This is not at present practicable in all HELCOM countries and not in accordance with the agreed manual The Meeting agreed that the current HELCOM system functions well and covers all Baltic Sea countries. The Meeting further concluded that CECIS could be considered and bring added value only if all the Baltic Sea countries and the Secretariat would have access to the system The Meeting invited the EU to present CECIS in more detail at the next meeting of the Group The Meeting took note of the establishment of an ad hoc Expert Group to update and review the existing information on dumped chemical munitions in the Baltic Sea (HELCOM MUNI) (document 15/3). The Meeting expressed its interest in the results of the work of HELCOM MUNI and recalled that the HELCOM countries are to report on encounters with chemical munitions dumped in the sea or found on beach to the Lead Country Denmark The Meeting took note of the list of contact addresses of the HELCOM Response Group (document 15/1) and updated it as contained in Annex The Meeting requested the Contracting Parties to check the information on their response resources updated within BRISK to be distributed by the Secretariat shortly after the meeting and to confirm the information by 31 October Additionally, the Contracting Parties are requested to provide additional information on the maximum speed of their vessels within the same time period The Meeting took note of the information by Finland on the Seminar Touch of oil to be held in Porvoo on February 2011 and requested the Secretariat to circulate more information about the seminar when available The Meeting expressed its thanks to the Russian hosts for the excellent organization of the Meeting and for the great hospitality. Agenda Item 16 Future work and meetings Documents: 16/1, 16/1/Rev The Meeting discussed the draft Working Programme for HELCOM RESPONSE (document 16/1, document 16/1/Rev1) and approved the Working Programme as included in Annex 5. Page 14 of 29

17 16.2 The Meeting decided to hold the next meeting of the Group on September 2011 and invited the EU and other Contracting Parties to consider the possibility to host the meeting and to inform the Secretariat accordingly. Agenda Item 17 Outcome of the Meeting Documents: 17/1, 17/1/Rev The Meeting adopted the List of Decisions of the Meeting. The Minutes have been prepared by the Secretariat in consultation with the Chairman, and made available at the HELCOM Meeting Portal. Page 15 of 29

18 ANNEX 1 Mr. Peter Søberg Poulsen Chairman of HELCOM RESPONSE Mr. Lars B. Christensen *) Mr. Olev Luhtein *) Mr. Mart Käbin Ms. Asta Mackeviciute *) Mr. Lech Auriga Mr. Kalervo Jolma *) Vice-Chairman of HELCOM RESPONSE Ms. Heli Haapasaari Mr. Tom Lundell Mr. Magnus Nyström LIST PARTICIPANTS *) Head of Delegation CHAIRMAN Admiral Danish Fleet HQ National Operations Maritime Environment P.O. Box 1483 DK-8220 Brabrand DENMARK Admiral Danish Fleet HQ National Operations, Maritime Environment Soedalsparken 20 P.O. Box 1483 DK-8220 Brabrand ESTONIA Ministry of the Environment of Estonia Marine Environment Department Narva mnt. 7A EE Tallinn Police- and Border Guard Board Pärnu mnt 139/1 EE Tallinn EUROPEAN UNION European Commission DG ECHO C3 BU 9 2/ rue de la Loi B-1049 Brussels European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) Unit "Pollution Preparedness and Response" Cais Do Sodré Lisbon FINLAND Finnish Environment Institute SYKE Marine Research Centre Marine Pollution Response Unit P.O. Box 140 FI Helsinki Finnish Environment Institute SYKE Marine Research Centre Marine Pollution Response Unit Mechelininkatu 34a P.O. Box 140 FI Helsinki Ministry of the Interior Border Guard Headquarters P.O. Box 3 (Korkeavuorenkatu 21) FI Helsinki Ministry of the Environment Environment Protection Department Kasarmikatu 25 P.O. Box 35 FI Government Dir.Phone: Fax: pol.con.den@sok.dk Dir.Phone: Fax: pol.con.den@sok.dk Dir.Phone: Fax: olev.luhtein@envir.ee Dir.Phone: Fax: mart.kabin@politsei.ee Dir.Phone: Fax: asta.mackeviciute@ec.europa.eu Dir.Phone: Fax: lech.auriga@emsa.europa.eu Dir.Phone: Fax: kalervo.jolma@environment.fi Dir.Phone: Fax: heli.haapasaari@environment.fi Dir.Phone: Fax: tom.lundell@raja.fi Dir.Phone: Fax: magnus.nystrom@ymparisto.fi Page 16 of 29

19 Mr. Karsten Petersen *) Ms. Evija Smite *) Mr. Juris Skrube Mr. Igor Kuzmenko *) Mr. Marek Reszko *) Vice-Chairman of HELCOM RESPONSE Mr. Edward Tyminski Mr. Wojciech Wasowski Ms. Natalia Kutaeva *) Mr. Evgeny Baryshev Mr. Alexander Naumenko Mr. Dmitry Smirnov Mr. Valentin Kovalev Mr. Sergey Savelyev GERMANY Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME) Marine Pollution Response Inshore Am Alten Hafen 2 D Cuxhaven LATVIA Marine and Inland Waters Administration State Environmental Service Ministry of Environment Voleru Street 2 LV-1007 Riga Marine and Inland Waters Administration State Environmental Service 2, Voleru Street LV-1007 Riga LITHUANIA MRCC of the Lithuanian Navy Naujoji uosto 24 LT Klaipeda POLAND Maritime Search and Rescue Service Hryniewickiego 10 P.O. Box 375 PL Gdynia Maritime Office in Slupsk Marine Environment Protection Inspectorate Al. Sienkiewicza 18 PL Slupsk Maritime Office in Gdynia Marine Environment Protection Inspectorate Chrzanowskiego 10 Str. PL Gdynia RUSSIA State Marine Pollution Control, Salvage and Rescue Administration of the Russian Federation (SMPCSA) Maritime Environment Protection Division Ul. Petrovka 3/6 RU Moscow State Marine Pollution Control, Salvage and Rescue Administration of the Russian Federation (SMPCSA) Ul. Petrovka 3/6 RU Moscow State Marine Pollution Control, Salvage & Rescue Administration (SMPCSA) Oil Spill Control department 3/6 Petrovka St. RU Moscow Baltic Salvage & Towage Co. RU St. Petersburg Baltic Salvage & Towage Co. RU St. Petersburg Baltic Salvage & Towage Co. Flat 131 House 77/1 Dir.Phone: Fax: KPetersen@havariekommando.de Dir.Phone: Fax: evija.smite@jiup.vvd.gov.lv Dir.Phone: Fax: juris.skrube@jiup.vvd.gov.lv Dir.Phone: Fax: igor.kuzmenko@mil.lt Dir.Phone: Fax: marek.reszko@sar.gov.pl Dir.Phone: Fax: etyminski@umsl.gov.pl Dir.Phone: x 325 Fax: wwasowski@umgdy.gov.pl Dir.Phone: Fax: kutaevang@smpcsa.ru Dir.Phone: Fax: baryshevev@smpcsa.ru Dir.Phone: Fax: naumenkoaa@smpcsa.ru Dir.Phone: Fax: baltic@buksir.ru Dir.Phone: Fax: baltic@buksir.ru Dir.Phone: Fax: baltic@buksir.ru Page 17 of 29

20 Mr. Igor Rakysov Mr. Gennady Semanov Mr. Alexey Ivanchin Mr. Roman N. Modeev Mr. Bernt Stedt *) Mr. Karl-Erik Kulander Ms. Vanessa Klötzer Mr. Carsten Jürgensen Mr. Alexey V. Orekhov Mr. Sergey D. Aysinov Ms. Alina Simonyan Ms. Monika Stankiewicz Professional Secretary Ms. Ulla Ahonen Information & Communication Officer, EU/BSRP projects BRISK & COHIBA Ms. Teija-Liisa Lehtinen Professional Assistant RU St. Petersburg Baltic Salvage & Towage Co. RU St. Petersburg Central Marine Research and Design Institute Kavalergardskaya Str. 6 RU St. Petersburg Central Marine Research and Design Institute (CNIIMF) Ltd. Kavalergardskaya str. 6 RU St. Petersburg ZAO Transas Marine Technologies 54-4 Maly pr., V.O. RU St. Petersburg SWEDEN Swedish Coast Guard HQ Response and Law Enforcement Department P.O. Box 536 SE Karlskrona Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) Norra Klaragatan 18 SE Karlstad WWF Finland Lintulahdenkatu 10 FI Helsinki OBSERVERS INVITED GUEST COWI A/S Parallelvej 2 DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby FOR THE ORGANIZERS Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy Makarov Training Centre 5, Zanevsky pr. RU St. Petersburg Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy Makarov Training Centre 5, Zanevsky pr. RU St. Petersburg Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy Makarov Training Centre 5, Zanevsky pr. RU St. Petersburg HELCOM SECRETARIAT Helsinki Commission Katajanokanlaituri 6 B FI Helsinki Helsinki Commission Katajanokanlaituri 6 B FI Helsinki Helsinki Commission Katajanokanlaituri 6 B FI Helsinki Dir.Phone: Fax: baltic@buksir.ru Dir.Phone: Fax: semanov@cniimf.ru Dir.Phone: Fax: ivanchin@cniimf.ru Dir.Phone: Fax: Roman.Modeev@transas.com Dir.Phone: Fax: bernt.stedt@coastguard.se Dir.Phone: Fax: karl-erik.kulander@msb.se Dir.Phone: Fax: Vanessa.Klotzer@wwf.fi Dir.Phone: Fax: crj@cowi.dk Dir.Phone: Fax: AOrekhov@mtc.spb.ru Dir.Phone: Fax: SAysinov@mtc.spb.ru Dir.Phone: Fax: ASimonyan@mtc.spb.ru Dir.Phone: Fax: monika.stankiewicz@helcom.fi Dir.Phone: Fax: ulla.ahonen@helcom.fi Dir.Phone: Fax: teija-liisa.lehtinen@helcom.fi Page 18 of 29