The rotation of Cedre’s onsite personnel continued in the Loire-Atlantique area throughout April to assist the authorities and the Total group with response to the consequences of last month’s fuel spill at the terminal of Donges Refinery (see newsletter n°154). The number of technical advisers onsite was gradually reduced (4 at the beginning of the month, 2 by the end, with only 1 from time to time). In addition to participating in the groups of experts and meetings at the Préfecture and the refinery, Cedre’s onsite personnel was assigned the tasks of conducting reconnaissance, providing written advice on clean-up techniques (including, in particular, the definition of the degree of clean-up required and considered acceptable by the land owners or managers), setting up onsite trials for techniques and materials as well as participating in worksite closures. At the time of writing, clean-up operations mainly focus on the banks of the Loire as well as ports and harbours downstream of the refinery and in the Paimboeuf area. When arrivals of oil appeared on Ré island, 2 agents from Cedre were sent onsite at the beginning of the month to give advice on clean-up. The laboratory continued its comparative tests between the reference fuel and the samples taken on the coast from Loire-Atlantique to Oléron island.

The head of Cedre’s Training Department led 2 days of infra-Polmar training in Cavalaire-sur-Mer (Var) for the Maures coastal union which gathers together the communes of Ramatuelle, La Croix-Valmer, Cavalaire-sur-Mer and Rayol. Fifteen participants, local MPs and technicians, underwent training on response to small pollution incidents and the implementation of the marine pollution part of the commune’s contingency plan

Upon request from Cetmef and as part of the effort to improve the Polmar land stockpiles which was initiated after the Erika spill, Cedre tested the Helix skimmer manufactured by the company Desmi from the 21st to 30th. The Helix skimmer is a brush skimmer with floaters much like models Cedre has previously tested, the difference being that this model is circular. This design allows the oil to flow freely onto the brushes from any angle, which is particularly advantageous when dealing with viscous oils. The skimmer was also tested with a moderately viscous oil and an emulsion composed of 40% water. The trials showed that the skimmer performed well on viscous to moderately viscous oil (recovery rate greater than 15 m3/h). Suggestions for improvement were made to facilitate the adjustments..

The day after a meeting of the European network Eranet’s accidental marine pollution board Ampera, of which Ifremer is a member and to which Cedre contributes, Defra (the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) hosted a workshop jointly organised with its technical centre Cefas, whose missions include research and advice on marine pollution. The workshop was designed to reinforce the links between researchers and decision-makers and other end users. It also addressed the question of transnational and regional, or even European, approaches, to stimulate and direct research. An important place was given to environmental aspects, especially in terms of impact assessment and monitoring. The Belgian partners provided an interesting document on the visions and actions of regional agreements and of the European Community in the field of research on accidental marine pollution, which highlighted a lack of coordination and specific funding in this domain.

The second Coordinated Extended Pollution Control Operation “Super CEPCO”, within the joint framework of the Bonn Agreement and the Helsinki Convention, was conducted from the Danish base of Aalborg from 21st to 30th. The operation involved 8 specialised planes, including the French Polmar III and the new Spanish plane Casa. Fifty-five 3 to 6 hour flights took place, ensuring an almost constant presence (81 % of the time) in the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian contiguous zones. Two Danish Lynx helicopters were positioned to sample the slicks, a sample being necessary according to Danish law. Eleven vessels from the three above-mentioned countries were mobilised for onsite control if needed. Many radar satellite images were collected (16 processed in real time and 12 in differed time), resulting in the detection of 28 pollutions, one of which appeared to be currently occurring. This was confirmed shortly afterwards by aerial observation. The vessel was identified by AIS and was able to be controlled in Hamburg. Two polluters were also caught polluting by planes and legal procedures are currently in progress.

An engineer from the Contingency Planning Department visited the site of the SRE (Société Réunionnaise d’Entreposage), an oil depot located in the commune of Le Port on Reunion island, as part of a project to implement a pollution contingency plan for this site, for which the Total group provides technical assistance. The aims of the mission were to assess the risks due to the loading and unloading of petroleum products on the West Port wharf, to define the scenarios to be considered and to gather the environmental, economic and technical data needed to draw up the plan. This mission also provided the opportunity to visit the Total oil depot in Mayotte in order to refine recommendations on techniques and materials made during the development of the Maritime Contingency Plan for this site, delivered in October 2005.