European Maritime Safety Agency Activities in the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

The seas and oceans of the EU, together with the more than 12,000 commercial ports located in EU coastal states, play a major role in Europe’s economic security. Its seas and oceans are used to transport of goods and people from within and outside the EU, to produce food from fisheries and aquaculture, and to produce energy from both non-renewable (oil and gas) and renewable (wave, wind) energy sources. In order to protect Europe’s marine and coastal areas, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) plays a significant role in monitoring and protecting those maritime regions from pollution and ensuring the safety and security of ships operating in the region. EMSA has, since its establishment in 2002, developed a broad portfolio of operational and implementation services that it offers to the European Commission and EU Member States. For example, it provides a pollution prevention and response (PPR) service that provides operational assistance in the event of an oil spill at sea. It also provides an earth observation service with satellite-based oil spill detection through its CleanSeaNet (CSN) Service and vessel tracking through its SafeSeaNet (SSN) Service. This enables EMSA to support both identification of pollution at sea and potentially locate the source of that pollution. This chapter provides a broad overview of the activities of EMSA before focussing on specific activities relating to oil pollution in the Mediterranean Sea. It examines the availability of resources, ships and equipment, and different PPR activities taking place in the region. It also examines the availability of satellite imagery as a tool for oil spill detection during the period 2007–2011, for individual EU Member States in the region, together with more general observations post-2011.