MOON-REMPEC collaboration agreement

MOON and REMPEC esteblished a collaboration agreement in April 2009. MOON parntners and REMPEC entered into the Agreement with a view to ensuring maximum coordination of the work and activities of REMPEC and MOON in respect of matters of common interest.

The Agreement has the following scope of co-operation:

a) share information and outputs of their respective activities for the purpose, and within the scope, of this Agreement, subject to arrangements as may be necessary for safeguarding confidential information;

b) utilise the MOON Members’ expertise in the activities which are regularly carried out by REMPEC (e.g. training, organization of workshops, conferences and assistance in contingency planning);

c) collaborate in assisting the Mediterranean coastal states, upon request, in emergency situations. In particular, relevant MOON Members will provide the Centre with meteoceanographic forecasting data and oil spill drifting predictions for the affected area, for prompt dissemination by REMPEC as appropriate. The MOON Members will further endeavour to identify and establish contact with other relevant oceanographic institutes which could assist REMPEC during the emergency phase;

d) collaborate in the development of projects for the prevention of operational pollution from ships in the Mediterranean region. The relevant MOON Members will make available meteoceanographic data and oil spill applications (forecasting/hindcasting modelling) to enhance the possibility of identifying the polluting ship;

e) collaborate in the development of the MOON Network with a view to enhancing high resolution meteoceanographic forecasting data in areas of the Mediterranean where at present there is a lack of data; and

f) cooperate in the development of oil risk maps for the Mediterranean region. REMPEC will contribute to fine tuning the development of these maps through its knowledge regarding marine pollution from ships and, where possible, by providing data on the main shipping lanes in the region.

MOON-REMPEC collaboration agreement can be downloaded here

ERO – EMERGENCY RESPONSE OFFICE

A virtual MOON Emergency Response Office (ERO) has been established to serve as the coordinating body for MOON Members to receive, evaluate and disseminate information.

The ERO consists of an expert board to which each MOON partenrs and REMPEC have nominated one expert, and is headed by an ERO Manager nominated by the board. The ERO functions as follows:

in the event of an oil spill or other emergency, REMPEC will contact the ERO Manager, who will compile the information and transmit it to the Expert Board via e-mail and/or fax, as appropriate. The relevant members of the Expert Board will provide appropriate information, which the ERO manager will then relay to REMPEC.

REMPEC has included a description of MOON-ERO support in case of emergency in its web site . 

  ERO IN ACTION

ERO has recently participated to the REMPEC operation called OSCAR-MED. The Coordinated Surveillance Operation in the Western Mediterranean (OSCAR-MED) was organized in October 2009 by the REMPEC demonstrating the importance of MOON products for the marine pollution combating.

The OSCAR-MED operation, which represents the follow up of previous activities carried out by REMPEC in the field of illicit discharges from ships, is in line with Specific Objective 6 of the Regional Strategy for the Prevention of and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships. The exercise has fully demonstrated that regional cooperation in terms of surveillance and operational ocean forecasting, is a key methodology for combating illicit discharges in the Mediterranean Sea. The support of MOON and MyOcean was considered a major benefit for the success of the operation.

Contact:

ERO manager can be contacted sending an email to ero-manager”@”bo.ingv.it