Results

After 20 years of presence and observation of our Belgian and surrounding marine areas (1991-2010), what results did this observation program yield?

By 31 December 2010, our airborne surveillance team had undertaken almost 6.300 flying hours, of which almost 4.600 were above the sea. It has made 3790 flights, 15% of which were carried out at night or at the weekend, thus outside normal working hours.

Our aircraft has intervened in 20 navigation accidents with accidental pollution, or with great risk for pollution. The most recent, and the biggest, of these was the Tricolor, which mobilised the French, British, Dutch and Belgian services for over a year (2002-2003).

The aircraft has detected 18 cases of ship discharge authorised by international law - because they involved non-toxic vegetable oils - and 767 cases of unauthorised discharge, 655 of which were identified as oil residue and 112 as chemical substances or substances of unknown origin (including night-time observations).

The aircraft has provided evidence for 40 cases against vessels. Sixteen of these reports were sent to the public prosecutor to enable it to trigger legal proceedings in Belgium, while the other 24 were sent to the authorities in other countries, either the state in which the incriminated vessel was registered or the state of the port of destination. 40 reports out of 767 cases detected represents just 5%! Unfortunately, this means that in 95% of cases, the vessel committing the offence was already far away when the aircraft detected the spillage.

However, we have every reason to believe that these procedures do act as a deterrent on potential polluters. In fact, the number of spills observed is going down. Whereas in the 1990s, around 50 cases of oil spillage were observed a year (that is on average 0.23 cases detected per flying hour or one case every four and a half hours), since the year 2000 only around 25 cases have been observed a year (that is on average 0.1 cases detected per flying hour, or one every ten flying hours). The total volume of wastes discharged is also decreasing (even more obvious). In the ’90 the mean yearly volume of discharged oil was almost 100 tons, and since the year 2000, this volume is only 30 tons. The decrease is spectacular during the last years. This decrease in volume has to be clarified however, because the yearly polluted surface does not follow this decrease. It is known that an oil slick spreads very quickly on the sea surface, and so even small amounts of oil can pollute a large surface.

Number of detected operational oil slicks per flying hour.

These generally decreasing trends for illegal oil discharges, their volumes and surfaces, are remarkable and are not only due to the aerial surveillance, but also due to the national and international management initiatives. The year 1999 was important: the international discharge norms have become stricter for the North Sea, because the North Sea has been designated as ‘Special Area’ under Annex I of MARPOL Agreement that entered into force that year.

Also in 1999, stricter regulations came into force on all aspects of illegal pollution of the sea by ships. The international standards on operational dumping in the North Sea in particular were tightened up. At national level, the "marine environment" laws (MMM legislation) and the law on the “exclusive economic zone” provide a framework within which to prosecute vessels throughout the area of the sea under Belgian management. As a result of the implementation of the European Port Reception Facilities Directive around 2003, the vessels that enter a European harbour have the obligation to hand in their oil residues in the harbour.

In addition, these results should be compared with international statistics of the Bonn Agreement. The decreasing trend is not only seen in Belgian waters, but it exists in all the North Sea. In the ’90s, 1000 discharges were detected in the North Sea per year by all surveillance aircraft. In 2009 there were only 400 discharges observed. Clearly, the general effort being made, backed up by international agreements, is bearing fruit.

The initial aims of the aerial surveillance program were to protect our marine resources against operational dumping by ships and to counter the effects of accidental dumping. Over the years, the missions of the aircraft have become more diverse, partially in the framework of the Belgian Coast Guard Structure, because of the need for general surveillance of human activities in the Belgian waters and partially as a platform for marine scientists (monitoring of marine mammals or observing of natural phenomena).

Activity report 2010