Environmental - Counter Pollution & Response

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is the competent U.K. authority that responds to pollution from shipping and offshore installations. The MCA is regularly called upon to react to a wide range of maritime incidents and have developed a comprehensive response procedure to deal with any emergency at sea that causes pollution, or threatens to cause pollution. The “National Contingency Plan for Marine Pollution from Shipping and Offshore Installations” (NCP), which is currently under review was published in January 2000 and sets out revised command and control procedures for incident response following Lord Donaldson’s Review of Salvage and Intervention and their Command and Control. These procedures have built-in thresholds to allow for flexibility of response to different degrees of incident.

In 2003 the MCA monitored or was involved in approximately 585 incidents in the UK Pollution Control Zone which involved some form of oil or chemical discharge. In order to assess the risks to the U.K. coastline from the transport of oil and hazardous chemicals by shipping, the MCA continuously monitors the movements of maritime traffic and potentially polluting substances within the UK's pollution control zone. This monitoring includes shipping movements through traffic seperation schemes, port movements, transits of sensitive waters and the transfer of cargoes in U.K. territorial seas. The MCA's Civil Hydrography Branch also conducts detailed surveys of specific areas to, where necessary augment this data. Dynamic assessments of risks to the UK's maritime and coastal interests can thus be maintained. This has enabled the MCA to develop scenarios to test response options and identify the resources required to respond to such an incident.

The Coastguard Agency’s Marine Pollution Control Unit (MPCU) was formed in 1967 following the TORREY CANYON incident, to provide a command and control structure for decision making and response following a shipping incident that causes, or threatens to cause, pollution in UK waters.

MPCU was then restructured during the merger between Marine Safety Agency and The Coastguard Agency in 1998 to become the Counter Pollution and Response (CPR) Branch of the MCA.

MCA’s CPR is now based on a regional response with central operational, technical and scientific support. A Counter Pollution & Salvage Officer (CPSO) is based in each region, supported by scientists, a mariner, a cost recovery specialist and logistics support specialists in the MCA’s headquarters in Southampton.

Response to an Incident

Initial information about an incident is usually reported in the first incident to one of the 19 HM Coastguard (HMCG) stations around the UK by many sources e.g. the vessel in difficulty, passing vessels, observers and the public. HMCG will then instigate search and rescue operations where necessary and this action will hold primacy over any other forms of response. They will also inform the duty CPSO if there is any pollution or threat of pollution i.e. a drifting ship, a grounded ship etc. The CPSO then decides the relevant course of action, instigates the appropriate level of response and alerts relevant people including SOSREP. In the event of a major incident, the MCA may activate the Marine Emergency Information Room (MEIR) in Southampton prior to the deployment of people and equipment to the scene. Three main control centres may be set up :

A Salvage Control Unit (SCU) – Led by the Secretary of State’s Representative for Marine Salvage and Intervention (SOSREP), who oversees and approves any salvage operation and can intervene if appropriate.

A Marine Response Centre (MRC) – Led by the MCA to co-ordinate all at-sea counter pollution and clean-up operations.

A Shoreline Response Centre (SRC) – Led by the Local Authority with technical support from the MCA. This centre co-ordinates the shoreline clean-up operations.

In built flexibility in the NCP, means that not all of these response cells will need to be set up in every incident. The response will be dictated by the scale and type of incident.

An Environment Group may also be set up at the very early stages of an incident, when a real threat to the marine and coastal environment is considered likely. This group provides environmental advice to all three specialist response centres. The Environment Group is made up of representatives of the relevant statutory nature conservation body, environmental regulator and Government fisheries department.

In the UK, spills are categorised by the internationally adopted Tier system :

TIER ONE : A small operational spill employing local resources during any clean-up.

TIER TWO : A medium sized spill, requiring regional assistance and resources.

TIER THREE : A large spill, requiring national assistance and resources. The National Contingency Plan will be activated in this case.

These Tiers are not given generic quantification. Assessments are made based on potential risks in specific areas, i.e. ports and local authority areas and responses are planned accordingly.

Various other organisations also have a responsibility to respond to pollution in the U.K.:

MCA - Takes the lead in pollution from shipping at sea.

PORTS, HARBOURS, OIL FACILITIES & OFFSHORE INSTALLATIONS - Have a statutory responsibility for clean-up in their jurisdictions, ports to tier 2, offshore installations to tier 3.

ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATOR – Takes the lead in responding to pollution from land based sources.

LOCAL AUTHORITIES / Environment and Heritage Service (in Northern Ireland) - Have accepted the non-statutory responsibility for shoreline clean-up.

The contingency plans of all involved organisations, whether national, regional or local, should be compatible and be linked where appropriate.

A major additions to this command and control procedure post Lord Donaldson is the Salvage Control Unit.led by SOSREP, who oversees, controls and if necessary, intervenes in salvage operations and offshore maritime events which present a threat to U.K. interests. SOSREP works with a very small team of advisors to encourage salvage contracts and requires that the salvor prepares a salvage plan for agreement by SOSREP prior to any action taking place. SOSREP formally intervenes if the salvor does not act in the public interest, and tacit approval is assumed if he takes no action.

CPR maintain extensive response equipment stockpiles, positioned at strategic locations around the U.K. as follows:

The branch also maintain an aerial surveillance and dispersant spraying capability. Regular airborne surveillance flights are undertaken to monitor pollution from shipping across the UK Counter Pollution Control Zone and aircraft are regularly deployed following reports of incidents to assess the size and extent of any spill, and to identify any contravention of national or international law. A recent initiative is a satellite surveillance programme over parts of the UK's Pollution Control Zone. Surveillance programmes are carried out in partnership between the U.K. and other European states.

Following the “Review of Emergency Towing Vessel (ETV) Provision Around the Coast of the UK” which was published in 2001, MCA has four tugs on stand-by all year round. The risk based approach employed in this report identified the need for ETV’s in the Northern Isles, the Minches, the South-west approaches and the Dover Straits (which is run on a joint management and finance basis with the French Authorities). The ETV’s are on stand-by 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to respond to shipping incidents in their area.

The MCA’s CPR manage a series of framework agreements with technical experts to assist the MCA during incidents. Computer programmes are utilised to model the fate and trajectory of both oil and hazardous substance spills. This information assists MCA decision making, to determine the appropriate response level for all types of threat to the U.K. interests. The MCA also has the expertise to respond to chemical incidents through the Chemical Hazards Advisory Group and the Hazardous & Noxious Substance (HNS) Response Team of specially trained personnel.

The MCA runs and participates in many maritime exercises each year to ensure the operational readiness of its staff and equipment. The CPR Branch organises a series of training courses for local authorities to prepare their personnel to respond to shoreline pollution. The Oil Pollution, Contingency Planning and Response Course is run four times a year at key locations around the UK. These courses are aimed at Emergency Planning Officers within local authorities and cover all aspects of spill response from the local authorities’ perspective. CPR also runs eight two-day courses in Oil Spill Response, aimed at local authority Beachmasters, which are hosted by local authorities. Both courses are accredited by the Nautical Institute. MCA also run Decision Making in Oil Spill Response Courses to prepare the statutory nature conservation agencies, the environmental regulators and the Government fisheries departments for their role in the Environment Group set up in response to a maritime incident.

Counter Pollution & Response works closely with international colleagues. This includes the Anglo French Accident Technical Group (AFATG), the recently formed European Marine Safety Agency (EMSA) and the Bonn Agreement, which it currently chairs.

Advisory Commitee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS)Annual Report 2006 (752.kb)

Advisory Commitee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) Annual Report 2005   (2.40 Mb)

Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) Annual Report 2004   (894Kb)

(An Annual Survey of Reported Discharges Attributed to Vessels and Offshore Oil & Gas Installations Operating in the United Kingdom Pollution Control Zone)

Advisory Committee on protection of the Sea (ACOPS) Annual Report 2003   (793Kb)

Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) Annual Report 2002   (697Kb)

Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) Annual Report 2001   (349Kb)