bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
OIL POLLUTION RISK ASSESSMENT AND PREPAREDNESS IN THE EAST MEDITERRANEAN
Authors: Martini Natalia , Patruno Roberto 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
The East Mediterranean is an area of high oil traffic because it is an important transit centre between Middle Eastern/Russian oil and the western European countries/USA. Recent traffic developments show that the importance of this centre is expected to increase. ITOPF and REMPEC carried out a joint risk assessment study of the area. For the purpose of this paper the “East Mediterranean” includes the Adriatic Sea and the East Mediterranean Basin; this was necessary to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the issue, as the oil traffic in the Adriatic is strictly linked with the activities occurring in the East Mediterranean basin. The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that the East Mediterranean is a high risk area for oil spills. For this analysis the ITOPF oil spill data set was used (1974 to 2003). Results show that the majority of spills involving a quantity of less than 7 tonnes are operational, whereas medium and major spills result from accidents. Crude oil spills appear to have the highest occurrence in each of the spill size categories, with the highest value for major spills; the accident occurrence appears to be closely related to the import flow. A risk analysis for the East Mediterranean has been overdue, as this area is characterised by a very heterogeneous level of preparedness and response, by several sensitive areas, and a lack of active bi/tri-lateral cooperation agreements. It is concluded that the Eastern Mediterranean is a high risk area for tanker spills, and the risk is likely to increase with the predicted increases in tanker traffic.
ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT – A HIGH SPEED VERSION USED IN NEW ZEALAND
Authors: Stevens Leigh , Gibbs Mark , Roberts Julian , Maxwell Dayne , Service Rob 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
Cooperative oil spill Ecological Risk Assessment (C-ERA) is a preparedness tool that seeks consensus-based decisions regarding potential spill and spill response impacts. The established US Coast Guard ERA approach has generally used 1–2 multi-day workshops, several weeks apart, to identify and work through key issues. In New Zealand (NZ), funding limitations required a faster approach. This paper describes the advantages and disadvantages encountered during a modified 1-day version of the ERA conducted for the Fiordland region.
Fiordland is a highly valued and remote National Park and World Heritage Area of 1.25 million Ha, with ∼200km of exposed coastline, and ∼1800km internal coastline including 15 main fiords. The unique climate, topography, bathymetry and oceanography, in addition to limited access and infrastructure, make marine pollution response inherently difficult. Recent increases in cruise ship and commercial maritime activity has increased the spill risk, especially for fuel oil.
Information previously gathered from interest/advocate groups and government agencies was used to identify priority resources and summarise the spill risk. Then, at a 1-day workshop, six experts in Fiordland ecology, spill response and ERA processes defined the most ecologically important areas and priority resources across the region, and their susceptibility to oil. Levels of concern were applied to each area and identified resource, and the preferred response options and their feasibility defined. Outputs were presented on a series of planning maps and site sheets completed for each priority area after the workshop which were circulated for stakeholder review.
The approach enabled a defensible response plan to be generated quickly and cheaply. It secured input from agencies who would not have participated had a greater time input been required and generated a concise document for public consultation and a template for ongoing refinement. The success of the approach was due largely to the high level of trust between scientific and response agencies in NZ, and a shared desire to rapidly improve response planning outcomes. Disadvantages were the inability to fully review and include all available technical information, limited public consultation, and tight time pressures. Examples are given of the benefit of the plan following its use during a recent spill of marine diesel.
IMPROVING MARINE FIREFIGHTING AND SALVAGE RESPONSE USING A NON-REGULATORY APPROACH THROUGH KEY STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT
Authors: Leonard Joseph J. , Drieu Michael , Royall Robert W. 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
While catastrophic marine fires are a rare event, minor shipboard fires do have a significant potential for damage and a potential impact on the marine transportation system. As such, it is critical that responders at the federal, state, local, industrial, and contractor levels be trained and prepared to conduct timely operations to mitigate any incidents that occur. Due to the nature of services performed in the firefighting community today (fire suppression, rescue, hazardous materials response, and emergency medical services, to name but a few), time and effort is not always dedicated towards responding to events onboard vessels. As over 70% of fire departments in the United States are volunteer departments, this has the potential to become even more of an issue. In addition, shipboard fires typically require some level of participation from a marine salvor. Depending on the damage to the vessel, this may involve significant salvage activities. The number of salvors scattered throughout the United States is somewhat limited, and their home base locations dictate their response times to specific geographic areas. Critical issues that need to be addressed by senior response managers who may find themselves involved in responding to vessel fires include: 1. Establishment of an effective Unified Command to address all stakeholder issues, 2. Enhancing knowledge of regional capabilities and resources to respond to shipboard fires and resultant salvage activities, 3. Ensuring appropriate training of response personnel that meets recognized standards (such as NFPA 1405), and 4. Developing, exercising, and validating plans to respond to shipboard fires and salvage activities. Efforts throughout the Eighth Coast Guard District over the past several years have begun to address many of these issues, with enhanced incident management training, challenging exercises to validate plans, and extensive workshops to improve responder knowledge being a few of the positive steps. Only by addressing these four critical areas can response managers be assured of an effective and efficient response that would minimize the impact to the marine transportation system.
U.S. APPROACH TO IMPLEMENTING IMO GUIDELINES ON PLACES OF REFUGE1
Authors: Albertson Paul 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
When the oil tanker Prestige broke apart and sank off the coast of Spain in November 2002, it joined an infamous line of environmental catastrophes in maritime history. The way in which the Prestige incident unfolded and, in particular, the denial of a place of refuge for the tanker intensified existing pressures on the IMO to finalize and adopt guidelines intended to assist all concerned parties in dealing with similar circumstances.
At the 23rd Assembly, the IMO answered by adopting two resolutions on the issue. These resolutions offer excellent planning, preparedness, and response guidelines and a framework for effectively dealing with the next Prestige. The IMO guidelines are compatible with the U.S. National Response System and existing laws designed to protect the environment, public health, and welfare. As such, their implementation requires neither regulation nor significant adjustments to U.S. policy. With few exceptions, the National Response System should assimilate the IMO guidelines. Specifically, Area Committees and Harbor Safety Committees should plow the IMO guidelines into current planning, preparedness, and response activities in order to ensure effective response to places of refuge scenarios.
The most critical and urgent issue is to ensure the decisionmaking criteria and process for both allowing and taking a ship in need of assistance to a place of refuge is well developed, agreed upon, and exercised beforehand, so that when the real thing occurs those who need to make the decision know exactly what to do and who to contact.
This paper discusses relevant aspects of the National Response System and authorities as they pertain to the IMO guidelines and the role of the U.S. Coast Guard as the federal agency charged with their implementation.
A CFR 1910 SOLUTION TO A MOBILE AND CHANGING WORK FORCE
Authors: Manning Diana L. , Parsons Martin M. , Weaver Lou 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
Ship Escort Response Vessel System (SERVS) has a large contingency of fishing vessels, from Alaska coastal communities, on contract for specialized oil spill response. To Hazwoper train this vast, mobile and changing work force meant a 24-hour Hazwoper class and yearly refreshers for all crewmembers. SERVS found it difficult to keep records current on this mobile workforce. Federal Occupational Safety Health Association (OSHA) and SERVS made an alliance allowing SERVS to teach 24-hour Marine Hazwoper. The 24-hour Marine Hazwoper format keeps the fishermen current each year without the annual refresher or the detailed tracking of the 24-hour Hazwoper. The 24-hour Marine Hazwoper gives SERVS the flexibility to meet our Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) 1910 training demands and to directly structure the skills training.
SERVS wanted to develop a training program, which met Federal Regulations, was easy to track, and maintained a well-trained fishing vessel fleet.
SERVS, Federal and Alaska State OSHA developed a training regiment for SERVS and the Fishing Vessel Program. During the annual Fishing Vessel Training each spring and fall the fishermen are given 5 hours of classroom training. Four hours are devoted to regulatory requirements related to spills. The fifth hour builds on training they have already had or on a new subject. The remaining 20 hours are spent on water, training the fishing fleet in oil spill tactics. SERVS has two methods of checking the fleet's proficiency. The Equipment Proficiency Matrix allows SERVS to keep a detailed accounting of the equipment each fishing vessel/fishermen has operated. The Hazwoper Evaluation Matrix allows SERVS to evaluate each unit in the various on-water activities, assuring compliance with OSHA. The first roll out of 24 Hour Marine Hazwoper was Fall 2003. It successfully met the requirements of CFR 1910.
The 24 Hour Marine Hazwoper could be the answer to compliance of Federal Regulation for many organizations and companies, which are challenged by a mobile and changing workforce. The 24 Hour Marine Hazwoper meets the needs of SERVS vast, mobile and changing fishing vessel fleet, which keeps our Fishing Vessel Program in compliance.
LESSONS LEARNED, BEST PRACTICES, AND COMMON SENSE FROM U.S. GOVERNMENT-LED NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS FOR RESPONSE EXERCISE PROGRAM (PREP) DRILLS
Authors: Cashman Dennis 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
Professionals who design or participate in oil and hazardous material exercises would benefit from knowing historical lessons learned and best practices relative to the design and execution of exercises before they begin to develop or participate in similar exercises. In accordance with the “National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) Guidelines” the staff at the USCG National Strike Force Coordination Center in Elizabeth City, NC has been in the business of designing, executing, and evaluating U.S. government-led PREP drills since 1993 and have accumulated abundant lessons learned and best practices relative to large scale exercises that would be beneficial to share with the response community. PREP exercises typically require six months to plan and design, three days to execute the drill with up to 300 participants, and three days to draft lessons learned. This paper will focus on lessons learned, problem areas, best practices, work arounds, and common sense pertaining to numerous subjects during the life cycle of designing and executing an exercise such as: Initial Design Phase; Functions of a Joint Design Team; Pre exercise Training; Play and Control Spaces; Communications; Incident Command System; Funding; Logistics; Notifications; Objectives; Public Affairs; and Improvements to Area Contingency Plans.
THE USE OF CONSENSUS ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENTS TO EVALUATE OIL SPILL RESPONSE OPTIONS: LESSONS LEARNED FROM WORKSHOPS IN NINE DIFFERENT LOCATIONS
Authors: Aurand Don , Pond Robert , Coelho Gina , Cunningham Mark , Cocanaur Amy , Stevens Leigh 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
Since 1998, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and various partners in industry and government have applied a standardized consensus ecological risk assessment process in workshops around the US to evaluate oil spill response options. Each series of workshops focuses on the evaluation of a location-specific near shore spill scenario. Participants then use the results to identify more general regional conclusions. Workshop goals are to 1) encourage local response community consensus risk-based evaluation of oil spill impacts and 2) facilitate the resolution of conflicts related to potential ecological costs and benefits of various response options, including natural recovery, which was always analyzed in order to establish a baseline. For each workshop series, a summary report is prepared to capture analytical results and participant interpretations. Sessions have been completed in six coastal areas of the United States (US), on the upper Mississippi River, the US Virgin Islands, and a bay in New Zealand. The data from all of these workshops have been analyzed to identify consistent “lessons learned” about the process and the relative risks associated with various response options. The mix of response options varied, depending upon local conditions. All eight coastal assessments examined on-water mechanical recovery and the use of dispersants, and several looked at in-situ burning (on-shore or on-water) as well as shoreline cleanup. The freshwater workshop emphasized use of the methodology to define the relative risk to various habitats, rather than to evaluate specific response options. In all nine workshops the participants reported that the methodology helped them to more effectively structure their discussions about potential costs and benefits. In general, participants felt that dispersants (and in some cases in-situ burning) should receive more consideration than they do currently, that on-water mechanical recovery alone was unlikely to meet their response objectives, and that the risk assessment process improved their ability to analyze oil spill response issues. In each case, participants also identified specific activities which they felt were appropriate to integrate the results into local response planning efforts.
CORROSION ON DEEP GULF SHIPWRECKS OF WORLD WAR II1
Authors: Overfield Michael L. 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
During the summer of 2004, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) participated with Minerals Management Service (MMS), NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration (NOAA OE) and C&C Technologies, under the auspices of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP), in an investigation to study the “artificial reef effect” of manmade structures in differing depths, and conversely, the effect of the environment on those structures over the course of 60 years, by studying six steel-hulled vessels sunk in the Gulf of Mexico.
The National Marine Sanctuary used this opportunity to conduct research on the effects of corrosion on the six vessels identified for study. Corrosion on Deep Gulf Shipwrecks of World War II project represents Phase II of NOAA's RUST database project. Through this study, we addressed the following questions:Does depth of a wreck effect state of corrosion?Is this primarily a chemical, physical or biological process?Do ferrous-hulled shipwrecks follow a fairly consistent degradation process as they age?Is it possible to attach a specific timeline to the degradation scale?
The corrosion processes affecting the structural integrity of these vessels is important for two reasons. If we begin to gain an understanding on the corrosive processes at work, we may be able to develop an approximate time line on the eventual fate of these vessels. Second, applying this corrosion timeline, it may enable us to anticipate when tanks and holds containing fuel oils or other hazardous materials will fail and release their cargos into the environment. Using this information, resource protection personnel can assess sites and determine which vessels are considered for direct intervention such as the removal of the threat sources, isolation of the threat, and management plan development or establishment of a monitoring protocol for the site.
The survey has added valuable assessment data on steel-hulled vessels and contributes to our understanding of both chemical and biological corrosion in the marine environment. The survey also contributes to the field of underwater research, allowing interpretation and peer review of the results, provides baseline data to examine long-term protection strategies for National Marine Sanctuaries currently threatened by shipwrecks containing oil within or in close proximity to their boundaries.
EVALUATION OF TURBULENCE PARAMETERS IN LABORATORY FLASKS USED FOR DISPERSANT EFFECTIVENESS TESTING
Authors: Kaku Vikram J. , Boufadel Michel C. , Venosa Albert D. 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
The effectiveness of dispersants used as countermeasures for oil spills is commonly evaluated by conducting tests in laboratory flasks. The success of the test relies on the replication of sea conditions in the flasks. We used a Hot-wire Anemometer (HWA) to characterize the hydraulics in the Swirling Flask (SF) and the Baffled Flask (BF) at orbital shaker speeds of 150 and 200 rpm's. We used these measurements to compute velocity gradient, G, turbulence microscale, η, and energy dissipation rate per unit mass, ɛ. The flask average energy dissipation rates in the SF were about two orders of magnitude smaller than those in the BF. The sizes of the microscales in the SF were found to be much smaller than that in the SF. Also, in the BF, the sizes of the microscales approached the size of oil droplets observed at sea (50 to 400 micron), which means that the hydraulics in the BF closely resembles the hydraulics occurring in the top few cm of a breaking wave. Hence, the BF is preferable for dispersant effectiveness testing in the laboratory.
DESIGNING A GEOGRAPHIC RESPONSE STRATEGY TO PROTECT AN ENDANGERED SPECIES: THE NELSON LAGOON GRS PROJECT
Authors: Robertson Tim L. , DeCola Elise G. , Lance Ellen W. 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
Geographic Response Strategies (GRS) have become an accepted industry standard for protecting environmentally sensitive areas. In Alaska, GRS have been developed for hundreds of sensitive sites. Typically, the GRS process involves an extensive site selection phase where resource agencies, stakeholder groups, and other interested parties prioritize potential GRS sites based on a number of factors, such as wildlife populations, cultural resources, human use, coastal habitat sensitivity, and feasibility of protecting the site from oil spill impacts.
The process used to select and design a GRS for Nelson Lagoon has deviated from this established pattern. Nelson Lagoon, which is located on the north coast of the Alaska Peninsula and included in the Port Moller State Critical Habitat Area, is a biologically rich and ecologically sensitive area in its own right. But, the impetus to develop the Nelson Lagoon GRS arose from a single species: the threatened Steller's eider, which has been listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) since 1997.
The Nelson Lagoon GRS project is unique not only because it has its roots in the ESA process, but because the GRS itself includes a risk-minimization component as well as a response strategy. This paper reports on the GRS development process at Nelson Lagoon, Alaska, and considers whether the model is applicable elsewhere in the United States.
CALIFORNIA OIL SPILL DISPERSANT PLAN-ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH COOPERATION
Authors: Addassi Yvonne Najah , Faurot-Daniels Ellen 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
The use of dispersants in marine waters off California requires detailed foresight and planning. In an effort to expedite a decision to use dispersants and reduce first strike response time, the Region IX Regional Response Team tasked Californias Marine Area Committees to recommend dispersant approval zones. Each Area Committee conducted Net Environmental Benefit Analyses for their areas of responsibility, and from those analyses recommended dispersant zone designations to the U.S. Coast Guard and the Regional Response Team (RRT). All zone recommendations were approved by the RRT in July 2002, and development of the remaining elements of the dispersant plan began. Using primarily a model developed in New Zealand, the authors drafted a comprehensive dispersant use plan for the waters off California. The U.S. Coast Guard Captains of the Port in California reviewed the draft plan, and tested it during the April, 2004 Spill of National Significance (SONS) drill in southern California. The streamlined decision flowcharts, imbedded “Decision Boxes” and operational appendices with further instructions, forms and resource contact information, proved the California Dispersant Plan was a very intuitive and workable response decision tool. During the SONS drill, this greatly improved the ability of the Unified Command to make a decision regarding dispersant use, get the resources in place, and begin dispersant sorties within the operational “window” for dispersant use. It is expected that the same expedited and informed response process will serve California well during an actual oil spill response.
A COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF OILED WILDLIFE RESPONSE
Authors: Massey J. Gregory , Hampton Steve , Ziccardi Michael 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
In discussions about the value of cleaning and rehabilitating oiled wildlife, much attention is focused on the costs to provide such care. Several references have made widely varying claims regarding these costs, yet none have provided a detailed accounting of costs associated with rehabilitation. Therefore, this paper focuses on three oil spill responses conducted in northern California (M/V Kure, M/V Stuyvesant, and S.S. Jacob Luckenbach) since 1997. We examine the costs associated with wildlife care using detailed accounting provided by the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. We include all variable costs (including labor and travel expenses for staff at the facility, facility expenses such as utilities and other indirect costs, and supplies) and compare these amounts to the numbers of birds collected live and dead, as well as the number treated and released. We discuss other fixed and variable costs that are not included, as well as characteristics of the spill responses that impacted rehabilitation costs. Finally, we discuss the results with regard to natural resource damage assessments, the costs of restoring birds in the wild, and non-economic criteria relevant to an evaluation of the value of oiled bird rehabilitation. We conclude that costs and benefits vary based on factors that include the temporal nature of the spill, the level of preparation, and the behavior of the responsible party.