The National Maritime Authority (AMN) will promote an exercise to combat the Pollution of the Sea by Hydrocarbons, tomorrow, the 15th, in the Docapesca area of Quarteira and on the beach located to the west, between 08:00 am and 15:00 pm.
The simulacrum, which will be conducted by the National Maritime Authority, through the Maritime Department of the South, will have 75 elements from various entities, namely the Chamber of Loulé, the Parish Council of Quarteira, Docapesca, the National Civil Protection Authority ( ANPC), from the GNR, the Quarteira Fishermen Association (Quarpesca) and Zoomarine. The University of Algarve – Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Algarve were also invited to participate as observers.
The exercise will be aimed at «the training, preparation, organization and performance assessment of the intervention teams of the Southern Maritime Department/Command of the Southern Maritime Zone and the Captaincy of the Port of Faro in response to pollution incidents, as well as training interaction with other responsible authorities and entities in their functional and jurisdictional areas as well as their involvement in the regional contingency plan».
During the morning and early afternoon, different scenarios will be simulated. One of them is linked to the «illegal washing of holds by an oil tanker passing along the Algarve coast, in which the spilled hydrocarbon slick (500 liters of crude) through the pollutant's drift, reaches the coast in the beach area to the west of Docapesca of Quarteira, causing the contamination of the beach and the hurling of marine animals», according to AMN.
It will also be simulated «an accident with a fishing vessel undergoing maintenance on the ramp of the shipyards located in the Docapesca of Quarteira, causing the spill of 200 liters of hydraulic oil onto the ramp and flowing into the water», as well as the «breakage of a hose during the refueling of a vessel near the refueling station at Docapesca in Quarteira, causing the spill of 100 liters of diesel on the pier and water near the refueling station».
The members of AMN will develop actions with a view to minimizing environmental damage and protecting economic activity and local biodiversity. A Zoomarine team will also participate in the exercise, which «will train their own procedures for decontamination, stabilization and removal of marine animals thrown on the beach».
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