EUROWA History
Sea Alarm starts collaboration with European wildlife organisations involved in oil spill response
The POSOW project focussed on improving preparedness and response to marine pollution in the Mediterranean region, through development of four training packages, including one on oiled wildlife response. The package was designed to help teams of volunteers to understand and implement field wildlife response operations which have been assigned to them by authorities in charge of the response. The POSOW Manual and training course have become part of the EUROWA training portfolio and Standards series
The EU-funded project EUROWA aimed at establishing a network of European experts and response equipment that can be mobilised via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The project partners developed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for EUROWA, a portfolio of professional oiled wildlife responder training packages together with a range of Manuals and Handbooks. They also provided training courses following a qualification training path, developed a database keeping track of all the trained responders across Europe and established a maintenance programme for a European stockpile of oiled wildlife response equipment currently hosted in Belgium
On June 23 2018, the Bow Jubail lost 227 tonnes of bunker fuel oil in the Port of Rotterdam. A thousand Mute swans were oiled. The EUROWA personnel is mobilised alongside members of the GOWRS project. 526 oiled birds were captured and taken to a temporary rehab centre at the Maeslant storm surge barrier, Hoek van Holland. Over a four-week period 511 mute swans were rehabiltated and released. Watch the retrospective video made during the Oiled Wildlife Response Read the related News post Look at the related pictures
In 2019, the EUROWA Charter was established and signed to formalise the EUROWA Network at a summit meeting of the leading organisations which form the EUROWA Governance Committee. The Charter describes the Network and its objectives and services, provides governance rules, and is a shared vision where European countries are able to deal effectively with emergencies that affect marine wildlife with each country developing their own integrated plans and preparedness programmes.
The EUROWA-2 project is a follow-up to first EUROWA project (2015-16). It aims at strengthening the current EUROWA network, creating educational tools for governments and network members, enlarging the EUROWA training portfolio and developing a new Branch dealing with Sea Turtle