Almost twenty illegal oil discharges detected during Super CEPCO surveillance flights

Aalborg, Denmark, 30 April (HELCOM Information Service) – Almost twenty illegal oil discharges from ships were detected in the North Sea during the world’s largest multi-national aerial surveillance operation against polluters at sea – Super CEPCO - which took place on 21-30 April along the major shipping routes connecting the Atlantic with the Baltic Sea Area.

Eight surveillance aircraft from eight countries, including several HELCOM Member States, participated in the flights, during which they continuously, for 24 hours per day, surveyed the agreed route off the southern shores of Norway and in the Skagerrak area for oil pollution. Altogether 185 hours were flown by the planes.

The operation remained classified until the last plane landed on 30 April in order to prevent possible offenders from discovering the surveillance activities. Up to 50 detections were made of which 17 were confirmed as mineral oil. All the confirmed illegal discharges were less than one cubic meter in size. A Norwegian ship was caught "red-handed" polluting in the Dannish waters.

Remote sensing equipment, such as side-looking airborne radars (SLAR), infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) cameras, was used during the operation. Also several dozens of satellite images were used to supplement the aerial surveillance.

“The operation was succesful. Its results indicate that there is a noticeable decrease in the number of illegal oil discharges in the region,” says Commander Peter Søberg Poulsen of the Admiral Danish Fleet HQ.  “We are absolutely sure that the pollution control operations have contributed significantly to the decrease in the discharges, as ships are now more and more aware that their illicit polluting activities can be detected.”

Super CEPCO 2008 was organized by Denmark, Norway and Sweden under the Bonn Agreement, and with the support of the European Maritime Safety Agency’s CleanSeaNet Service, which provided satellite images of the flight area. Surveillance planes from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden participated in the flights. The base airport for the operation was in Aalborg (Denmark).

The major aim of the operation was continuous aerial surveillance above a region of interest in the North Sea during up to ten consecutive days in order to maximize the chance of catching polluting vessels “red handed”, develop rapid and effective procedures for prosecution of offenders in a multinational context, as well as to optimize the use of satellite imagery as a complementary surveillance means, says Commander Poulsen.

The first Super CEPCO operation took place in 2007. Seven aircraft belonging to six countries flew over the English Channel and the southern part of the North Sea. The Super CEPCO flights will take place again in the future, on top of surveillance operations conducted regularly in different European regions.

In the Baltic Sea area, HELCOM annually arranges two CEPCO (Coordinated Extended Pollution Control Operation) flights: one in the south and one in the north. During CEPCO flights several HELCOM countries jointly carry out continuous aerial surveillance activities for 24 hours or more along the predetermined routes in areas where operational spills are likely. CEPCO flights are also planned to support national aerial surveillance data by detecting illegal discharges which would not be disclosed by routine national surveillance activities. This enables a realistic estimation of the total number of oil spills discharged into the Baltic Sea during one randomly selected day. The HELCOM aerial surveillance fleet today consists of more than 20 airplanes and helicopters, most of which are equipped with up-to-date 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. Since 1999 the number of discharges has been steadily decreasing. Last year, there were only around 240 oil spills reported during 4000 hours of surveillance flights.

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