A new step towards a more harmonised approach on the use of dispersants in the Eastern Mediterranean region – Oct 08, 2021

Within the framework of the Sub- regional Marine Oil Pollution Contingency Plan between Cyprus, Greece and Israel (the Plan), the Marine Environment Protection Directorate, Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy in  Greece organised in collaboration with the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC), a Sub-regional Workshop on "Dispersants, operational usage and effectiveness monitoring" (Piraeus, Greece, 5-6 October 2021).

The workshop was attended by sixteen participants representing different national governmental and operational authorities from the three Countries. The workshop enhanced decision making skills to respond to oil spills using dispersants effectively and safely, and initiated dialogue between Cyprus, Greece and Israel to explore ways to harmonise as much as possible the use of dispersants within the Plan.

The workshop proposed actions at national and sub-regional regional to facilitate and harmonise approaches to dispersant use under the Plan through: the inclusion of more specific information on dispersant products or application systems listed in the Plan, sharing details of national dispersant authorisation procedures, and promoting sub regional dialogue and consultation concerning dispersant use in relation to incidents involving possible transboundary pollution. The workshop also welcomed the valuable information provided in the ‘2011 Guidelines for the use of dispersants for combating oil pollution at sea in the Mediterranean region’.

These proposals were submitted for consideration to the Meeting of the operational authorities in charge of the implementation of the Plan held back-to-back to the Workshop (Piraeus, Greece, 7 October 2021).