On Tuesday, February 20, 2024, the final conference of the NAMIRS project - North Adriatic Maritime Incident Response System - took place in Trieste, realizing one of the flagship macro-regional projects under the pillar for environmental quality within EUSAIR, ASOSCoP – transnational contengency plan in the even of accidents at sea. NAMIRS is an international project led by the Executive Secretariat of the Central European Initiative (CEI-ES), involving Slovenian, Croatian, and Italian partners. The event was attended by Dr. Mitja Bricelj, coordinator of the pillar for Environmental Quality in the European Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region - EUSAIR, from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning, and Iztok Škerlič, director of the Public Institute for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Development Projects/EUSAIR Point of Support.
The conference marked the official conclusion of the project activities. It also offered an opportunity for discussions on further cooperation in the field of environmental protection in the Adriatic Sea area and opened the debate on the possible expansion of cooperation in the procedures for action in cases of sea pollution across the entire Adriatic Sea area.
The conference presented numerous important pieces of information, among which was the presentation of the potential expansion of oil spills in the EUSAIR area. Through simulations conducted within the NAMIRS risk assessments, we gained insights into possible scenarios and sensitive areas that would be affected by oil spills.
The project lasted two years, from March 2022 to February 2024. In the initial phase, an analysis of existing units and services (and their equipment) for intervention in maritime disasters was conducted. An assessment of environmental risks associated with maritime disasters and consequent oil spills in the Northern Adriatic, especially for sensitive marine and coastal areas, was also made. The next activities carried out were the creation of a joint training program (with the aim of a common understanding of the field of operation) and the implementation of training courses for intervention units.
The last phase of the project included the development of a standard operating procedure (integrating three national procedures) and the execution of a sea exercise in the Gulf of Trieste, which took place on November 20, 2023, in Trieste. The aim of the exercise was to test the communication between stakeholders from all three countries and improve both preventive measures and readiness and response to major ecological disasters at sea and in the coastal strip.
The main achievement of the project will be the Guidelines for the review and update of the Sub-regional Action Plan for Oil Spill Response, which will cover the assessment of environmental risks associated with disasters and consequent oil spills in the Northern Adriatic, with a special focus on sensitive marine areas. The guidelines will be publicly released shortly.
