Under a European Directive, EMSA has a clear role in supporting Member States measures to monitor their waters for oil spills and one of the tools available is the EMSA CleanSeaNet oil spill detection satellite service. EU Coastal Member States together with Iceland and Norway have access to this radar satellite imagery service acquired by the Envisat and Radarsat SAR satellites.

Each Coastal State defines the areas to be covered by the service using, among other things, knowledge of known illegal oil discharge areas and high traffic density areas. Within 30 minutes of a satellite pass, low resolution analysed images are available for download through a dedicated CleanSeaNet browser via receiving stations in Norway, Italy and, from 2008, Portugal. When an oil spill is detected the data is analysed using tools including wind information, which then allows the affected coastal state to affect a precise targeted response using airborne and afloat assets at their disposal.

The Co-ordinated Extended Pollution Control Operation (Super CEPCO) exercise, led by Belgium, involved anti-pollution teams from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and France. Working in relay over a period of ten days, seven aircraft from six countries maintained a 24 hour surveillance of shipping lanes using the various detection tools at their disposal, including satellite information. Any suspected pollution was then able to be further investigated closer by seven vessels from four countries, including from the UK the MCA Emergency Towing Vessel Anglian Monarch.
Over the duration of the exercise 45 areas of polluted sea were detected with five suspected ships being identified. Legal action may follow by the countries affected; the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK.

Figures produced by the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea for the MCA in March 2006 show a gradual year by year decrease in reported discharges from vessels and offshore oil and gas installations in UK waters over the period 2000 to 2005. Thirteen successful, and seven possibly pending prosecutions were concluded during 2005, resulting in fines totalling £182,250. The figure of thirteen prosecutions compares with ten in 2004.

By Peter Barker