IMO Regional Pollution Centre Assists Greece Oil Spill Clean-up
The International Maritime Organization (IMO)-administered Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) is providing technical expertise to help clean up beaches in Greece affected by an oil spill.
Two experts are in Greece (8 to 14 October) to give technical support on sunken oil assessment, removal techniques and efficient oil removal from sandy beaches. This follows the sinking of the AGIA ZONI II, off Piraeus, on 10 September.
The experts are from the Centre of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution (Cedre) based in Brest, France, and from the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) based in Rome, Italy.
Both centres are members of the Mediterranean Assistance Unit (MAU), which was established in 1993 and can be mobilized by REMPEC to assist in the event of an emergency situation.
The MAU was established by the Parties to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean.
IMO administers REMPEC, based in Malta, under the Protocol to the Barcelona Convention Concerning Co-operation in Preventing Pollution from Ships and, in Cases of Emergency, Combating Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea, 2002.
