Malta has been praised for its preparedness to tackle oil spill incidents after an exercise carried out off Delimara yesterday by the Malta Maritime Authority.
The exercise involved the location, containment and then recovery of oil spilt at sea.
"Malta is well prepared and all synergies are in place in case an oil spill incident had to occur in territorial waters," said Bernt Bluhm, Head of the Pollution Preparedness and Response Unit within the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), who was in Malta to observe the operation.
The MMA in March assumed the role of National Competent Authority responsible for national preparedness to combat pollution incidents.
The exercise was directed from the MMA's Emergency Control Centre in Marsa and involved the Armed Forces, the Police, MEPA and the Civil Protection Department.
Other entities directly involved in the exercise included the Health Department, the Physical Oceanography Unit of the University of Malta, the Meteorological Office at the Malta International Airport, REMPEC (Regional Marine Pollution Response Centre for the Mediterranean), the Oil Pollution Response Module and EMSA as observers.
Capt Richard Gabriele, Head of the MMA's Pollution and Incident Response unit, said the conditions during the exercise were very close to reality.
"We had to coordinate a complicated operation with the involvement of many participants. Response had to be timely and coordinated and everyone has to abide strictly to the instructions that were given especially, when crews of different nationalities wereinvolved.
"We hope that this will always be a simulation,t however, in case of a real incident involving oil spills, we are confident that the matter will be addressed with professional and successful results."
In May 2008, the Authority initiated a project supported by a €1 million grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism aimed at increasing Malta's capability to respond to vessel sourced pollution. Through studies carried out a new National Contingency Plan was drawn up and is in process of being implemented.
The project is also financing the procurement of offshore pollution response equipment which is expected to be delivered in the first part of 2010.