First EUROWA workshop held in February

A week-long meeting in the UK of all partner organisations and subcontractors got the EUROWA project off to a strong start. As standardising training of oiled wildlife response personnel is a key component of this project, the participants worked on defining the skills and responsibilities of multiple levels of responders–convergent and advanced volunteers, specialists, managers and veterinarians– needed to provide best possible care for oiled wildlife.

In the process issues such as equipment requirements and logistics, team structure, routines and processes, decision making procedures, health and safety concerns and documentation and reporting were reviewed. The groups reviewed the pros and cons of various training methods and how each would best be utilized in this situation. Options for training include self-study, classroom instruction, tabletop exercises, specific skill exercises and field exercises of varying size and complexity.

The results of this meeting form the basis for the initial work of a core team tasked with formalizing the content of the training programme. This team will report back to the full group with a draft document mid-year.