Baltic Sea marine pollution response

Heli Haapasaari,
Pollution Response Expert,
Finnish Border Guard HQ,
Finland

At any given moment about 2000 vessels sail in the Baltic Sea and 25% of them have oil or chemical cargo. About 200 ships sail in the territorial waters of Finland every day. Baltic Sea is semi-enclosed brackish-water sea, it is narrow and quite shallow. It has specialised flora and fauna which are vulnerable to pollution incidents. In the northern Baltic Sea the archipelagos are large and shores rocky, we have ice cover annually and in wintertime the daylight hours are very limited. All these environmental conditions have to be taken into account when building the preparedness to respond to marine pollution incidents.

In Finland the backbone of the marine pollution response capacity is a fleet of 12 multipurpose response vessels. These vessels are owned and manned either by the Finnish Border Guard (FBG), Finnish Navy, private companies contracted by FBG or the Government of Åland. In addition, the Regional Rescue Departments have about 150 boats suitable to oil pollution response in the coastal waters.  The offshore patrol vessels as well as the patrol boats of the Finnish Border Guard operate in constant readiness 24/7 throughout the year.

The response vessels need to be supported by aerial surveillance, as thickness of the oil spill can be reliably detected from aircraft and thus the experienced and well trained aircraft crew can guide the response vessels to the thickest parts of the oil slick. The FBG has two aircrafts that are equipped with specialised oil detection equipment. The planes are already over 20 years old and need to be replaced.

In addition to the ships, Finland has significant amount of different response equipment: about 150 kms of open sea and coastal oil boom, skimmers, absorbents etc. The FBG has an ongoing process to setup four regional central response equipment depots. In addition, we will place rapid response containers with 800 metres of inflatable boom with anchoring equipment in the Coast Guard Stations along the Finnish coastline.

The trainings and exercises are important means in building the knowledge and testing the existing procedures as well as the capabilities and restrictions of equipment. A good example of this are the recently developed ChemSAR and HELCOM procedures regarding the response to the hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) incidents. The ChemSAR procedures are tested, trained and evaluated during exercises to enhance the HNS response capability. Also new HELCOM HNS manual guidance will be adapted to the existing procedures. Several national and international oil and HSN response exercises are arranged annually. Finland hosted the HELCOM BALEX 2021 exercise and the exercise was considered to be successful. To make sure that all the Baltic Sea states learn from this exercise, an international evaluation team identified some issues that should be tested in the coming HELCOM exercises.

A clear legislation that defines the roles and responsibilities of different authorities and other actors in marine pollution incident is vital. Legislation should give to response commander enough power to take the necessary measures without undue delays. Legislation should be transferred to plans, practical guidelines and procedures which the different actors follow in their exercises and in real incidents.

Common situational picture which is shared among the different authorities as well as the volunteer organisations is of highest importance as it caters up to date information exchange between different actors – from the Command Centre staff all the way to an individual responder as well as to the assisting actors. Common situational awareness picture builds the basis for correct decisions that are taken at correct timeframe and can also be used to deliver the decisions to the actors on the field.

The cooperation under the HELCOM umbrella

In the Baltic Sea area, the Helsinki Convention is the legal framework for the international cooperation in marine pollution response. HELCOM has decided that mechanical oil recovery is the preferred pollution response method. Use of dispersants should be limited and use of sinking agents is prohibited.

HELCOM Response Manual defines the principles, rules and operational procedures for joint response operations, including pollution reporting system, requesting and providing assistance as well as solving related financial aspects. The competent response authorities of the Baltic Sea states and EU meet annually and develop the cooperation further. In addition, expert working groups share experiences and best practises in aerial surveillance of pollution, on the shore response and oiled wildlife response. In addition, the environmental threat by wrecks and by sunken ammunitions is discussed by an expert group.

Good, well defined and frequently exercised cooperation forms the basis for successful pollution response operations.

Expert article 3104

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