BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

Chapt.er 12 CO-OPERATION ON AERIAL SURVEILLANCE OVER THE BALTIC SEA
AREA, contains the HELCOM joint flight programme.
Co-operation on aerial surveillance within the HELSINKI CONVENTION is carried out in
accordance with HELCOM Recommendation 12/8, and the HELCOM plan for Aerial
Surveillance Co-operation.
The purpose of airborne surveillance is to detect spills of oil and other harmful substances
that can threaten the marine environment of the Baltic Sea Area. These spills caused by
accident or made in contravention of international conventions will be registered and if
possible sampled both from the sea surface and on board the suspected offender.
This chapter describes how the Contracting Parties shall establish close co-operation on
airborne surveillance, the participating stats available aircraft and flight hours, flight types,
reporting, etc.
According to decision in the Combatting Committee the Contracting Parties carry out two
joint flights per year.
Combatting Committee decided at its 15th meeting in Gdynia, Poland, to establish an
informal working group on aerial surveillance. Germany is acting as lead country for these
activities during 1992/93.
Volume 2
Volume 2 contains national information on national contingency,organization, special regulations,
combatting resources and request for salvage, docking and tugboat assistance. Each
party is described in its own sub chapter. The introduction includes a summery of national
combatting resources.
Volume 3
Volume 3 is very well described in the introduction to Volume 3, annex 6.
The Helsinki Convention has been revised, which most likely means that the Manual,
Volume 1, also has to be revised.
317