Project Summary

Despite the fact that sea traffic is considered a relatively green and safe branch of transport and that international standards of navigation have raised to very high levels, accidents at sea can always happen. Especially in marine environments, since waters are fluid by definition, pollution does not stop at state borders: in this context, mutual support and transnational coordinated response at sea are crucial to save the environment, to protect the citizens and to uphold local and national economy from the effects of pollution. Based on the experience acquired in the North Adriatic, the Adriatic Sensitive Areas Protection – mechanism (ASAP) project aims at transferring knowledge and best practices from that area to the whole Adriatic basin in order to strengthen maritime protection from the effects of the spill-over of pollutants, especially in case of big-scale accidents at sea that cannot be managed by a single Country and need to be faced at joint transnational level. ASAP combines environmental risk assessment and analysis of available (and missing) anti-pollution resources, with preparedness, technical capacities and response procedures in all six Adriatic Countries involved (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia): common intervention rules, i.e., the Standard Operating Procedures, will be designed for allowing joint response, with a strong focus on easing transnational communications in case of accidents. Operators and first responders of target IPA partner countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro) will be involved in a training path, so to develop the same skills and to align their knowledge with the northern Adriatic partners. Common training classes will be structured, involving subjects as well from Croatia, Italy and Slovenia, in order to reinforce the transnational interoperability of responders during accidental maritime pollution. Two exercises will be organised to test this mechanism in North Adriatic, South Adriatic and in Central Adriatic. At the end of the project, a road map for setting up a Permanent Coordination Plaform (PCP) will be finalised and a structured intervention mechanism promoted.