Oil Spill Risks in the Adriatic: New Maps Aim to Improve Joint Action Against Marine Pollution
The updated results of the ASAP (Adriatic Sensitive Areas Protection mechanism) project were presented today in Trieste. The project is funded by the Interreg IPA ADRION programme, it is led by the Executive Secretariat of the Central European Initiative (CEI), and it involves - for Italy - the OGS.
ASAP aims to strengthen the protection of the Adriatic Sea through a joint, evidence-based approach, with the objective of identifying sensitive marine areas, assessing environmental risks, and enhancing preparedness and response capacities for potential maritime pollution incidents, including hydrocarbon spills.
The conference was held at the headquarters of the Executive Secretariat of the Central European Initiative (CEI). During the event, the consolidated results of the first phase of the project were presented, including the environmental risk analysis, the outcomes of oil spill simulations, the mapping of the most vulnerable coastal areas, and an overview of the resources available to strengthen cross-border cooperation in emergency management.
The project brings together leading scientific institutions, maritime authorities and stakeholders from six countries in the Adriatic region – Italy, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia – with the aim of developing shared methodologies, high-resolution environmental modelling, analyses of maritime traffic and incidents, as well as vulnerability assessments.
ASAP also seeks to transfer, at basin scale, the knowledge and best practices developed in the Northern Adriatic within the European project NAMIRS, likewise led by the CEI Secretariat with OGS as a partner. This contributes to strengthening joint capacities for the protection of the sea in the event of pollutant discharges, more specifically hydrocarbon spills.
The following speakers took part in today’s event: for the CEI Executive Secretariat, CEI Secretary General Franco Dal Mas and ASAP Project Coordinator Anna Marconato; Nicola Casagli, President of OGS; Leo Spina, representing the Port Authority of Trieste; Robert Škrokov, on behalf of the Slovenian Maritime Administration; and Peter Vidmar, Dean of the Faculty of Maritime Studies at the University of Ljubljana.
The ASAP project was conceived in response to a clear and widely shared need: to strengthen common mechanisms for the prevention and management of emergencies related to maritime incidents with potential marine pollution impacts in the Adriatic. Within this framework, OGS has had the honour of playing a leading scientific and technical role.