HELCOM achieves a 50% reduction in illegal oil discharges in the Baltic

Helsinki, 30 November (HELCOM Information Service) -  The number of illegal oil discharges from ships annually observed by surveillance planes in the Baltic Sea area has decreased by more than 50% over the last eight years, according to the latest HELCOM study.

Analysis of the data contained in the latest annual reports provided by the Member States to HELCOM reveals that 224 illicit oil spills were observed during 5,637 hours of surveillance flights conducted by the coastal countries over the Baltic Sea during 2005. This is the lowest number since 1998, when 454 discharges were detected during 5,002 air patrol hours.

“It is welcoming news to learn that the situation is changing, although the number of discharges is still unacceptable,” says Anne Christine Brusendorff, HELCOM’s Executive Secretary. “We attribute this positive trend to the success of the complex set of measures known as the Baltic Strategy to prevent illegal discharges of oil and waste into the Baltic Sea, which the HELCOM Member States have been implementing since the late 1990s. Also very significant is that this decrease continues despite the rapidly growing density of shipping in the Baltic Sea area, the increased frequency of the surveillance flights, and improved usage of remote sensing equipment.”

Deliberate oil discharges from ships have been regularly observed during surveillance flights over the Baltic Sea since 1988. One of the peak years was 1989, when 763 spills were detected during 3,491 flight hours. As from 1998 the number of discharges has been steadily decreasing. On an average about 300-400 spills were detected each year.

In 2005, most of the illegal oil discharges were detected along major shipping routes. The six most significant spills, each consisting of more than 10 cubic metres of oil, were detected in the south-western Baltic, the Kattegat, north-east of Gotland, as well as in the Gulf of Finland and the Bothnian Sea. The two largest spills of all (both more than 100 cubic metres) were observed near the Danish coast – south of the island of Lolland and in the western part of the Kattegat.

Regular aerial surveillance flights contribute significantly to the decrease in discharges, as ships are aware that their illicit polluting activities are likely to be detected. The HELCOM aerial surveillance fleet today consists of more than 20 airplanes and helicopters, many of them equipped with remote sensing equipment such as side-looking airborne radar (SLAR), infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) cameras, photo and video equipment.

The main objective of the Baltic Strategy, which was operationalized by the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in 1998, is to ensure ships' compliance with global and regional discharge regulations and to eliminate illegal discharges into the sea of all wastes from all ships, and thus prevent pollution of the Baltic Sea. Another objective is to ensure an environmentally sound treatment of ship-generated wastes when these wastes have been delivered to port reception facilities ashore.

Today, any discharge into the Baltic Sea of oil, or diluted mixtures containing oil in any form, including crude oil, fuel oil, oil sludge, or refined products, is prohibited. This applies to oily water from the machinery spaces of any ship, as well as from ballast or the cargo tanks of oil tankers. This prohibition stems from the international designation of the Baltic Sea as a “special area” under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 73/78).

To uphold this prohibition, HELCOM requires all ships, with a few exceptions, to deliver oil to reception facilities before leaving port. To further encourage delivery, the countries bordering the Baltic Sea have agreed that ships should not be charged for using such reception facilities, under the “no-special-fee” system. Costs are instead recovered from general harbour fees or general environmental fees, for instance.

The increased amounts of wastes now being delivered to the Baltic Sea ports illustrate that more and more ships are delivering their oil wastes to port reception facilities rather than illegally discharging them into the Baltic Sea.

Following the decisions of the Helsinki Commission, the "no-special-fee" has been extended to also cover garbage and sewage as of 1 January 2006, and this is expected to reduce the pressure on the Baltic environment created by ship-generated waste. Most of the Baltic Sea countries have reported that the coverage of the "no-special-fee" system has already been duly extended in their ports.  

Click here to access the full report with a map and statistics on illegal discharges observed during aerial surveillance in 2005.

Note to Editors: 

The Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between the countries bordering the sea - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and also the European Community. 

HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area," more usually known as the Helsinki Convention.

 For more information, please contact:

Ms. Monika Stankiewicz

Professional Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)207 412 643

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail: monika.stankiewicz@helcom.fi

Mr. Nikolay Vlasov

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)207 412 635

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi