protect oil emer

Protection in the Coastal Zone - Oil Emergencies


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Oil Emergencies in the Coastal Zone

The community agreed the following objective for oil emergencies in the coastal zone:

1. Objective:

To prevent all oil spills within Bantry Bay. To be prepared to deal fully with any spills that do occur through the use of well-designed contingency plans.

The community identified the following challenges to achieving the objective:

2. All oil spills represent a threat to the environment of Bantry Bay and to the livelihoods that rely on
the resources in it (fishing, aquaculture, marine recreation, etc.).

There are a wide variety of possible sources of risk for oil spills, since the Bay is large and a mixture
of different types of shipping activities take place within it.

Different forms of oil have different impacts and require different clean-up techniques to be used. In
the past there have been serious problems caused by the methods used to clean up oil spills, for
example, where detergents have been used which have also been damaging to the environment.

There is no complete survey of the quality of the environment in Bantry Bay that could be used to
assess the impacts of any oil spill, or to measure the success of clean-up operations.

The public does not know that they have a role to play in alerting the authorities to oil spills. There is
little public awareness of the system for notifying the authorities or what emergency response plan(s)
are in place.

It is not clear to the general public what agencies have responsibility for carrying out clean-up
operations, how they will co-ordinate with one another, and who is responsible for covering the
costs of cleaning up oil spills in both the long and the short term.

The effects of oil spills are not always fully understood or widely known about and it is not always
clear how to repair the damage. The contents of the emergency response plan needs to be made
available to the public, including details of specific protection for particularly valuable or sensitive
parts of the Bay.

3. Agreed Approach to Achieving the Objective:

The community agreed the following approach to achieving the objective:

3.a The highest standards must be maintained to prevent any oil spills taking place in Bantry Bay. Penalties should be enforced when standards are not met.	3.e The public should be made fully aware of the clear and effective system for alerting the relevant authorities to any oil spill that takes place.
3.b The oil emergency plan in place for the whole Bay must deal completely with any oil spill. This plan should lay out the ways in which the bodies involved will work together in a fast and efficient way.	3.f Access to all plans for handling an oil spill emergency should be widely available to the public. It should be made clear to the public what agencies are responsible for tackling oil spills.
3.c It is necessary to make sure that all the appropriate expertise is included in the revision of the emergency plan, to make this as effective as possible.	3.g Monitoring of the Bay environment should be used to assess the impacts of any oil spill, and the success of the clean up, and this should be made available to the public. This should consider the long-term impacts of oil spills. (IT 4.f)
3.d A system should be established for providing enough funding to pay the full costs of repairing the damage to the environment, people's livelihoods (and their reputation) in the event of an oil spill.

4. Agreed Actions:

Specifically, the community has agreed that the following actions should be carried out:

4.a Involve all fixed bay users in the development of the oil emergency response plan for Bantry Bay. - Invite all relevant experts to make an input into the design and review of the emergency plan including, the Irish Coastguard, Dúchas Conservation Rangers, food safety regulators, etc. (CPP 4.e)

4.b Agree with the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a regular environmental audit of the Bay to act as a database which can be used as a measure, against which it is possible to assess the impact of any oil spill and the success of the clean-up operation. This information should be made available to the public. (IT 4.f)

4.d Include in the emergency plan a requirement for the marine food regulators to assess the safety of sea food in all instances of oil spills in Bantry Bay.

4.e All operators in Bantry Bay, that are potential oil polluters, set up a local contingency fund to cover the immediate costs of repairing environmental damage and compensating those whose livelihoods suffer as a result of an oil spill. - Remind all operators of their responsibilities to avoid pollution. - All polluters should be prosecuted.

4.f Take samples of all oil spills to assist in identifying where these came from. (WQ 4.b)

4.c Identify particular areas of the Bay that need priority protection in the event of an oil spill, give these priority status in the emergency plan and lay out clearly how these areas will be protected.

4.g All small oil pollution incidents should be investigated and fines applied where appropriate.

4.h Run a publicity campaign to raise awareness of public responsibility to alert authorities to oil spills in Bantry Bay and how to do this. (W 4.L)


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