In Germany, oiled wildlife responders are in a process of determining and adopting best practices for the cleaning and rehabilitation of oiled wildlife.

National workshops have been held regularly since 2005, in which cooperation and strategies have been discussed. It is envisaged to develop a plan of approach on how to operate an oiled wildlife response in consideration of the presence of facilities and expertise in the different coastal areas (North Sea, Wadden Sea, Baltic Sea). The competent authorities, in the case of oiled wildlife response, the regional ministries, may consider this plan of approach in their decision making with regards to planning.

Formal oiled wildlife response planning has started in the maritime Bundesländer. Schleswig-Holstein has published guidelines, Lower Saxony has a draft plan,Mecklenburg-Vorprommen has no plan in place. The smaller Bundesländer, Bremen and Hmaburg will likely adapt guidelines developed by the other Bundesländer.