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The Netherlands

Representatives from the coastal municipalities, national authorities, rehabilitation centres and scientific institutes signed The Netherlands’ national oiled wildlife contingency plan in April 2009, after Sea Alarm first raised the issue of oiled wildlife response with Dutch authorities in 2005.

Care of oiled birds during an incident in the Netherlands is delegated to the Netherlands Oiled Bird Foundation (SON) as part of the integrated oiled bird response plan. SON is made up of the five coastal rehabilitation centres in the Netherlands and one in Belgium.

National preparedness for oiled wildlife incidents falls under the responsibility of Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch authority for oil spill preparedness and response. Rijkswaterstaat have provided a budget to SON to develop a training manual for training groups of volunteers that can be called on to work in a temporary wildlife response centre in case of a larger incident. Regular training and exercises are held for volunteers and authorities, keeping a close structural partnership between the authorities and NGOs in the Netherlands. Part 1 of the Netherlands national oiled wildlife response plan can be downloaded in Dutch.

Status plan: agreed (and exercised)
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