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13.1. INTRODUCTION
13.1.1. Context
Metropolitan
13.1.2. General
description of the French national system
The French response to accidental marine pollution is organised by the
POLMAR Instruction dated 4 March 2002, applicable not only to oil pollution
but also to discharges of any substance likely to damage the marine environment.
The instruction is an update of two earlier ones, dated respectively 17 December
1997 and 12 October 1978.
The instruction relates to response to pollution of the marine
environment resulting from an accident or damage which involves or may involve
an oil spill or a spill of some other product. Three types of measure are taken:
·
Prevention measures to avoid
such pollution occurring in the first place;
·
Preparatory response measures
to allow the responsible authorities to be given the resources to respond
rapidly in the case of accidents;
·
response measures intended to
limit the consequences.
The national system makes a distinction between response to pollution at
sea and response to pollution on land. The application of the POLMAR Plan (Sea)
is entrusted to the Maritime Prefects (Commanders-in-Chief of the Navy) under
the authority of the Prime Minister. The application of the POLMAR Plan (Land)
is the responsibility of the Prefects of the “Départements” concerned,
under the supervision of the Minister for the Interior. Action undertaken at sea
is the responsibility of the Maritime Prefects. Action undertaken in the coastal
strip from land is the responsibility of the Prefects of the “Départements”.
The structure in charge of operations comprises representatives of all the
Government Departments concerned and appropriate technical bodies, in particular
CEDRE, the “Centre de Documentation, de Recherche et d’Expérimentations sur
les Pollutions Accidentelles des Eaux (Centre for Documentation, Research and
Experimentation on accidental water pollution). In view of the number of
ministries involved in the response operations, the general guidelines adopted
are proposed to the Secrétariat Général de la Mer (
13.2. NATIONAL ORGANISATION AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Maritime Prefect is responsible for organising and directing
operations at sea within the boundaries of his own region. When a disaster or a
threat of disaster is of such gravity or complexity that response by ordinary
means is not possible, the Maritime Prefect sets in motion the POLMAR Plan
(Sea). This Plan gives access to the POLMAR fund which is managed by the
Ministry of the Environment. This enables state resources to be supplemented
with private resources, either contracted or requisitioned.
The Maritime Prefect reports to the Prime Minister (
The Departmental Prefect is responsible to the Minister for the Interior
both for the initiation and the execution of the pollution response operations.
Every coastal department draws up and updates, under the Prefect’s
authority, a special POLMAR Plan (Land), in close consultation with the local
official representatives and users of the marine environment. Each plan defines
the general organisation of pollution response, permitting the mobilisation and
coordination of all the available resources. It includes an inventory of the
anti-pollution equipment and products available, a list of the zones to be
protected as a matter of priority, and plans for the deployment and maintenance
of anti-pollution booms. The Plan also provides for the establishment of an
inventory of storage sites and centres for treatment of the waste to be
recovered.
The special POLMAR Plan (Land) is launched by the Prefect, under the
authority of the Minister for the Interior, only for exceptionally widespread
pollution. Small-scale and medium-scale pollution is dealt with by the local
communities within the context of their general powers as provided in the Local
Authorities Code.
13.2.1. Operational
organisation
The Maritime Prefect directs all control operations at sea. Action is
supervised from a command post located at the
On land, the Prefect of the “Département” or his appointed
representative directs pollution response operations. He is assisted by a team
appointed by himself together with representatives of external departmental and
regional services. He also has access to the resources of the local authorities
and private resources obtained by agreement or requisitioned. Operations are
directed from a permanent headquarters (Préfecture) and, if appropriate, from
an advance post located in the most favourable situation.
13.2.2. Operational
response
The Maritime Prefect conducts response operations at sea with Navy and
Government Resources, whose action he coordinates at sea. He may call upon
resources available from the oil co-operatives possessing anti-pollution
equipment (e.g. FOST, OSRL). He may request resources available within the
context of bilateral agreements (Manche Plan Agreement with
Pollution response operations on the coast are directed by decentralised
State services. The Prefect of the “Département” may request the assistance
of the national resources of the Sécurité Civile (Civil Emergency Services)
and the Armed Forces. Moreover, he has access to the resources of the local
authorities and all those available from government, in addition to private
resources, whether by agreement or requisitioned.
13.2.3.
Pollution response strategies at sea
The range of operational choices is both wide and restricted, each option
being limited by many factors, the response time and the condition of the sea
being the most important. These choices may be grouped by type of response:
·
action at source or near
source in order to stop the spill, lighten the vessel or barge, contain the
spill at source and recover and disperse it at source;
·
action on the high seas in
order to contain the oil by booms and recover it with pumps and skimmers, trawl
by booms/skimmers or surface trawls, and disperse it chemically;
·
action near the coastline in
order to protect sensitive areas of the coast, contain and skim and treat with
dispersant in moderation under ecological supervision.
The use of dispersants is the subject of recommendations fixing the
limits of the zones of use, in terms of the depth of water and the scale of the
pollution (10, 100, 1,000 tonnes). The dispersants used are subject to prior
approval from Cedre, which publishes a list of products approved in accordance
with a procedure which takes account of both the effectiveness and the toxicity
of the products.
13.2.4. Pollution
response strategies on land
The priority of shoreline pollution response is to protect sensitive
sites identified in the POLMAR-Land response plans. Shoreline clean-up is
another priority in the NEBA (Net Environmental Benefit Analysis) concept which
addresses environmental and economic issues. The recovery at sea of floating
pollutants as well as the selective collection of pollutants washed up on the
shore are other priorities.
13.2.5. Resources
·
Pollution response at sea
In response to accidental pollution, the French Navy is guided by the
Commission d'Etudes Pratiques de lutte antipollution (CEPPOL) (Commission for
Practical Studies in Anti-Pollution Response) based in
Anti-pollution equipment for use at sea is stored in various storage and
response centres along the three seaboards in Metropolitan France and those
overseas. The main centres are
·
Pollution response on land
Apart from the ordinary resources held by all the authorities, 13 POLMAR
(Land) storage and response centres are distributed over the whole of the French
coastline (8 in Metropolitan France: Dunkirk, Le Havre, Brest, Saint Nazaire, Le
Verdon, Sète, Marseilles, Ajaccio; 5 Overseas: Saint Pierre, Pointe à Pitre,
Fort de France, Cayenne, Le Port). These centres store and maintain equipment
necessary for the response to marine pollution. The centres are all managed by
the Ministry for Equipment, Transport and Housing – Directorate for Sea
Transport, Ports and the Coast (DTMPL).
A few figures give an idea of the scale of the available resources: 33 km
of booms, 140 pumps, 80 skimmers, 370 storage tanks.
These resources are placed at the disposal of the Prefects immediately
the POLMAR Plan (Land) comes into operation. They may also be made available to
the local authorities, under their responsibility and at their expense, by means
of agreements and after approval by the Préfet of the “Département”
concerned.
·
Other resources
The authorities may also call upon other stocks of anti-pollution
equipment available in the autonomous ports (Dunkirk, Le Havre, Rouen,
Nantes/Saint Nazaire, Bordeaux, Marseilles), in certain emergency and
firefighting centres and in private stores, especially those held by the private
oil co-operative “Fast Oil Spill Team” (FOST) based in Marseilles.
Adding together the stocks available within the context of the POLMAR
Plans (Sea) and (Land) and from other partners (ports, fire stations, the
private co-operative), a total of about 55 km of booms, 172 skimmers, 241 pumps,
574 storage tanks (large and small), 426 items of beach cleaning equipment and
about 1,500 cubic metres of dispersants are available to the authorities in the
event of accidental pollution of the marine environment.
·
Preparation and exercises
The success of the anti-pollution response plan of action depends on the
quality of its preparation and implementation. It is therefore essential that
the provisions made by the POLMAR Instruction should be tested and the personnel
in charge of its implementation should be trained. The Land and Maritime
Prefects accordingly organise simulation exercises at sea and on land in order
to train both the senior members of the team and the persons responsible for the
use of the equipment on land. Plans may be updated and improved through these
exercises.
13.2.6
Specialised national resources
Specialised response
resources: Training units of the Civil Emergency Services
Five response sections, with 30 men in each, have been formed within two
Civil Emergency Services training units. These sections are independent, and are
capable of very rapid response times. They are able to work without
reinforcements for 48 hours in an anti-pollution response operation. Each
section has its own pumping, collection and storage equipment, and its own means
of transport and liaison.
·
French Customs Coastguard Service
The customs authorities are responsible for deploying aircraft using
remote sensing techniques to detect marine pollution. For this purpose, the
French Customs Coastguard Service has at its disposal two aircraft with several
types of remote sensing equipment which can be rapidly brought into service in
the event of accidental marine pollution.
The role of these aircraft is to detect oil slicks, to contribute to the
scientific assessment of the risk, to control the spread of the pollution, and
to guide response equipment to the zone.
·
CEDRE
Cedre (Centre for Documentation, Research and Experimentation on
accidental water pollution) was formed by the French Government in order to
improve pollution response technology and to inform the authorities responsible
for pollution response regarding this technology.
Cedre may be consulted in cases of accidental pollution at sea, but has
no powers to carry out the response operations. If the POLMAR Plan is put into
action, Cedre places its resources and personnel at the disposal of the land and
Maritime Prefects responsible for pollution response, in order to supply all the
advice and assistance these authorities may require.
13.2.7. Further information
·
National Level
Secrétariat
Général de la Mer
16 Boulevard Raspail
75007
tel: (33)(0)1 53 63 41 53/41 50
fax: (33)(0)1 53 63 41 78
E-mail: sgmer@sgmer.pm.gouv.fr
·
Préfectures Maritimes
Préfet
Maritime de l'Atlantique
BP 46
29240
tel: (33)(0)2 98 22 10 80
fax: (33)(0)2 98 22 13 19
Préfet
Maritime de la Manche et de la mer du Nord
BP 1
50115
tel: (33)(0)2 33 92 20 20
fax: (33)(0)2 33 92 59 26
·
Other points of contact (on a
24-hour basis)
Cedre
Rue Alain Colas - BP 20413
29604
tel: (33)(0)2 98 33 10 10
fax: (33)(0)2 98 44 91 38
E-mail: cedre@ifremer.fr
Direction générale des
douanes et des droits indirects
23 bis rue de l’université
75007 Paris 07 SP
tel : (33) (0)6 64 58 71 23 (H 24)
(33)
(0)1 44 74 44 52
Fax : (33) (0)1 55 04 65 94
Email : dg-b2@douane.finances.gouv.fr
Christian.cosse@douane.finances.gouv.fr
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