1. Illegal oil discharges
from vessels
in the Mediterranean Sea
What is changed in these last 10 years?
Guido Ferraro (EC-JRC)
Olaf Trieschmann (EMSA)
13 June 2012
GeoMaritime, London
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2. What is changed in these last 10 years*?
1. What is changed from a legal point of view?
2. What is changed in surveillance?
3. What is changed from an operational point of view?
4. What’s next?
* 1st meeting of the European Group of Experts on remote
sensing Monitoring of marine Pollution
(22-24 March 2004)
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3. 1. What is changed from a legal point of
view?
No Major changes in the international legal regime.
MARPOL/UNCLOS lay down the extent of enforcement powers of the Flag State, Coastal
State, and Port State. In order to meet the aims of these two Conventions, they must be
implemented in national law through appropriate legislation.
Jurisdiction on ships - 2 possibilities:
1. Nationality of the ship:
- Principle of jurisdiction of the Flag State
2. Geographical position of the ship:
- Principle of jurisdiction of the Coastal State
(State where the ship is sailing)
- Principle of jurisdiction of the Port State
(Port where the ship is in )
EU legislation
Directive 2000/59 on port reception facilities
Directive 2005/35 on ship-source pollution and on the introduction of penalties
for infringements
Ferraro, G., Pavliha, M., 2010. The international legal framework on monitoring and response to oil pollution. Journal for
Environmental Monitoring, 2010, vol. 12, pp. 574–580.
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4. 1. What is changed from a legal point of
view?
Since 2004… creeping jurisdiction of the coastal states…
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5. 2. What is changed in surveillance?
From research to the operational use of satellite
imagery to detect oil pollution
Visible or detectable oil discharges from
ships, observed in a MARPOL special area,
are illegal.
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6. 2. What is changed in surveillance?
Analysis from archives (no real-time)
Yearly coverage and possible oil slicks detected over the
whole Mediterranean basin in the period 1999-2004.
Year
Coverage
in
Coverage
in
Possible
oil
spills
Spills
per
square
degrees
mio
square
km
mio
square
km
1999
1382
13.26
1638
123.54
2000
3642
34.94
2297
65.74
2001
2495
23.94
1641
68.55
2002
1840
17.65
1401
79.36
2003
2289
21.96
897
40.85
2004
3885
37.27
1425
38.23
Total
15533
149.02
9299
Ferraro, G., Meyer-Roux, S., Muellenhoff, O., Pavliha, M., Svetak, J., Tarchi, D., and Topouzelis, K., 2009. Long term monitoring of
oil spills in European Seas. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 2009, vol. 30 (3), pp. 627 – 645.
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7. 2. What is changed in surveillance?
Analysis from archives (no real-time)
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8. 2. What is changed in surveillance?
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9. 2. What is changed in surveillance?
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10. 2. What is changed in surveillance?
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11. 2. What is changed in surveillance?
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12. 2. What is changed in surveillance?
Analysis from real-time CleanSeaNet data
Yearly coverage and possible oil slicks detected over the
whole Mediterranean basin in the period April 07- Dec 10.
Year
Coverage
in
Possible
oil
spills
Spills
per
Spills
per
mio
square
km
mio
square
km
mio
square
km
Mediterranean
Mediterranean
Mediterranean
Europe
2007
40.55
787
19.41
2008
82.32
1586
19.27
10.77
2009
56.59
847
14.97
7.61
2010
64.97
825
12.70
5.68
Total
244.43
4045
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13. 3. What is changed from an operational
point of view?
Combining satellite images with AIS
Ferraro, G., Bernardini, A., Matej, D., Meyer-Roux S., Muellenhoff, O., Perkovic, M., Tarchi, D., Topouzelis, K., 2007. Towards an
operational use of space imagery for oil pollution monitoring in the Mediterranean basin: A demonstration in the Adriatic Sea,
Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2007, vol. 54 (4), pp. 403-422.
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14. 3. What is changed from an operational
point of view?
Attention to the users:
From Confidence Levels to an Alert System
• Criteria related to SAR image quality
• SAR derived oil spill probability
• Related to image processing, information about errors in the processing chain, image quality,
features related to image analysis (like geometry of slick, structural aspects, appearance of the edge,
grey level values and contrast to surroundings), and detection constraints like sea state conditions.
• Criteria related to the context
• Additional information (e.g., metoceanic and contextual)
• Contextual information can improve the probability of detecting oil spills as well as reducing the
number of false positives. Indeed, human contextual criteria like traffic lines, secondary routes, oil
spill archives, oil rigs and other human installations likely to release oil slicks are essential.
• Impact Factor
• This addresses the need for additional information on the drift of the detected slick (oil drift trend),
the area possibly concerned and its environmental sensitivity. The competent national authority
needs detailed information to decide on follow up measures to oil spill detection.
• Culprit identification Capabilities-AIS
• The vicinity of ships has usually been considered as further confirmation of the oil-spill detection
probability. On the other hand, the probable spill, and the navigation route of a potential culprit
should be taken into account in order to increase the alert level of the detection, since this could lead
to further verification.
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15. 3. What is changed from an operational
point of view?
Alert System combining different data
Culprit Identification
Capabilities - AIS
Additional
Information
(e.g. metoceanic,
contextual)
Inference
Follow-up decision
Engine
SAR Derived
Oil Spill Probability
Impact
(e.g. Environmental
Consequences)
Ferraro, G., Baschek, B., de Montpellier, G., Njoten, O., Perkovic, M., Vespe, M., 2010. On the SAR derived alert in the detection of oil
spills according to the analysis of the EGEMP, Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2010, vol. 60 (1), pp. 91-102.
Ferraro, G., Perkovic, M., Trieschmann, O., Tarchi, D., 2012. Confidence Levels in the Detection of Oil Spills from Satellite Imagery:
From Research to the Operational Use, Proceedings of SPIE Remote, Edinburgh, 24 - 27 September.
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16. 3. What is changed from an operational
point of view?
Matrix alert regimes
Impact
n/a from Coastal
High Medium Low
State
A A A A
High
B B B B
A A A A
Culprit Medium
B B B B
A A A A
Low
B B B B
A: most likely oil and
B: pattern observed which i.a. could be oil
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17. 3. What is changed from an operational
point of view?
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18. 5. Questions?
Implementation:
How new areas of jurisdiction will be implemented?
Sustainability:
Are satellite costs sustainable?
Quality:
Is data quality, integrity and traceability ensured?
Validation:
Verification of detected spills in satellite images...
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19. Thank you
Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Serving society
Stimulating innovation
Supporting legislation
www.jrc.ec.europa.eu
guido.ferraro@jrc.ec.europa.eu
European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)
Satellite services
CleanSeaNet
www.emsa.europa.eu
Olaf.trieschmann@emsa.europa.eu
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