Prestige: Oil reponse at sea
From November the 14th, the Biscay Plan, a Franco-Spanish plan of intervention available in the case of an accident in the Atlantic ocean, was triggered...
Co-ordination
of the national and international fight at sea means was ensured
by SASEMAR (organization which is dependent on the board of the
merchant navy of the Spanish Ministry of Transport) on the Spanish
area of responsibility and by the ‘Préfecture maritime
de l’Atlantique’ when slicks entered into the French
area of responsibility.
Oil recovery operations
From November the 14th, the Biscay Plan, a Franco-Spanish plan of intervention
available in the case of an accident in the Atlantic ocean , was
triggered. Nautical and aerial means from the French Navy and
Customs were immediately put at the disposal of the Spanish authorities.
Other European means were also called for help. On the 10th of
December, 20 planes and helicopters, of which 15 Spanish and 5
European ones helped to locate the oil slicks and to guide the
oil-fighting vessels. At sea, 23 Spanish and 13 European ships
were involved in the recovery and location operations. As fast
as the oil slicks scattered and broke up, then they have been
completed by smaller ships coming from the fishermen’s guild.
On the 20th of December 2002, two collaboration agreements were
signed between the Spanish Ministry of Transport and the fishermen’s
guild of La Coruña and Lugo. The harbour master’s
offices of each guild organized every day the work of the boats
and men according to the oil slicks located by the aerial means
deployed at the scene of the action during their research.
Aboard the Ailette, containment and recovery
with the Transrec device
At the end of December, 29 planes and helicopters, of which 26 are Spanish and 3 other are foreign ones, were at work. The maritime deployment next to the coasts of Galicia and Cantabria was composed of 36 ships; 23 Spanish and 13 European ones. From the 23rd of January 2003, the Euskadi fishing fleet brought its determination and number (up to more than 300 boats/day) into an unprecedented oil recovery operation by fishing boats.
A command vessel complete with a helicopter was a real asset when it came to slick reconnaissance, tactical co-ordination and guiding response vessels to the scene of operations for the French authorities (Port Admiral).
This phase of the response initiative was unparalleled and without precedent in the annals of pollution response in terms of the resources used, the time scale involved and the quantities spilled.
It
is worth mentioning that the dedication and determination of the
French Navy to recover the oil spilled by the Erika had paved
the way for the Prestige response operation and the Baltic Carrier
incident had already proven the need for this kind of operation.
The Prestige spill and the attendant response initiative was technically
justified and required a pooling of manpower and equipment at
the European level.
The
Neuwerk and its sweeping arm, Dec. 2002. Source CCME, Germany.
It
was the ensuing fate of the oil and how it behaved in the marine
environment that dictated the choice of techniques, equipment
and materials to contend with it. There can be no doubt that if
specialised resources were to be brought to bear on an ever fragmenting
oil slick that was constantly breaking up into smaller and smaller
oily patches, that manual techniques and resources also had to
be fielded as the oil spread wider and wider over the entire area
of the Bay of Biscay.
Photo
source: French Navy, AZTI, Cedre
Last update: April
2004