Contents Gothenburg meeting outcome Response outcome Draft - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Helcom Submerged Status of the Chapter 3 ” Wrecks ” HELCOM Submerged 12-14 April 2016 Tallinn Estonia Jorma Rytkönen Finnish Environment Institute Photo: Juha Flinkman 1

Contents • Gothenburg meeting outcome • Response outcome • Draft Chapter of Chapter Wrecks - item 2.3. • - Data existing • - Data missing • Information by participants • How to Proceed ? 2

Outcome of the Third Meeting (SUBMERGED 3-2015), Gothenburg 14 -15 October ● the Third Meeting of SUBMERGED focused on the chapter on wrecks of the submerged hazardous objects assessment. ● the conference Wrecks of the World III: Shipwreck risk assessment was held in Gothenburg on 12-13 October 2015 ● Meeting agreed that the Secretariat could take over the lead regarding the dumped waste chapter – draft chapter of the dumped waste and lost cargo was accepted as a basis ● Presentations by Dagmar Etkin and Lisa Symons /NOAA ○ Mapping wrecks , categorising wrecks to main types, sensitivity of the environment around wreck; socio-economic sensitivities; risk assessments and prioritising ; mitigation measures ( including removal),. 3

Outcome of the Third Meeting (SUBMERGED 3-2015), Gothenburg 14 -15 October ● The Meeting requested that the SUBMERGED assessment is covered in the agenda of the HELCOM RESPONSE 21- 2016 meeting (15-17 March 2016, Sweden) and agreed that the available draft of the whole report will be compiled in February 2016 and sent to the HELCOM RESPONSE meeting for commenting, provision of additional information and in order to consider prolonging the current deadline of the SUBMERGED activity (ready report by the end of 2016). ● Draft outline of chapter on Wrecks of HELCOM SUBMERGED Assessment was prepared as Annex 4. 4

Outcome of the Response Working Group Stockholm, Sweden, 15-17 March 2016 ● Submerged WG status was presented - Agenda item 8. Wrecks and other hazardous substances ● DAIMON project was presented – Agenda item 8. ● BONUS SWERA - Sunken Wreck Environmental Risk Assessment was presented - Agenda Item 8. ● The Meeting recalled that according to the Terms of Reference the mandate for SUBMERGED is for three years until end of 2016 ● The Meeting supported of the SUBMERGED work until the end of 2018, requested the SUBMERGED Group to provide short chapters on the three SUBMERGED topics to the Secretariat for the Maritime Assessment by end of May 2016. 5

Outcome of the Response Working Group Stockholm, Sweden, 15-17 March 2016 ● The Meeting took note of the information that ○ Finland and Sweden have conducted wreck surveys to assess slicks from wrecks with potential risks and ○ by Poland that new wrecks are being checked for the same reason. Sweden will start looking into environmentally dangerous wrecks, ○ Poland is working on a national waste management plan and tackling of high risk wrecks has also been included in the national program of measures and ○ Estonia is preparing ratification of the Nairobi Convention. ● The Meeting took note of the information by Sweden on the three year Interreg DiveSMART Baltic project (kick-off 14 March 2016) (document 8-3). The project has focus on mapping diving competences and resources in the Baltic Sea region (database), common training and exercises, common guidelines and procedures, research and general exchange of experiences. 6

HELCOM Response 15 -17 March 2016 Stockholm, Sweden Jorma Rytkönen jorma.rytkonen@ymparisto.fi

Contents ● 8.1 Bonus Swera ● 8.2 Helcom Submerged ● 8.5 Daimon Project ● DIVE SMART ● Activities 2016 8

8.1 BONUS SWERA 9

BONUS SWERA: Main Objectives / Results ● 1.) Wreck survey – selecting the primary targets (high potential for oil pollution, New Data Base ● 2.) Validation of the wreck model (Vraka) ● 3.) Modification of the existing wreck model to also include the risk assessment of different salvage operation alternatives ● 4.) Developing innovative technological solutions for oil removal operations, ● Salvage Toolbox Development 10

Sweden • 2700 subsea objects • Moderate Risk 316 wrecks • High Risk 31 wrecks 11

Estonian wreck register 705 wrecks, from which 84 found & confirmed 14 wrecks with potential oil risk ! 12

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FINLAND, VTT 1999 14

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8.2 HELCOM Submerged 16

HELCOM Expert Group on environmental risks of hazardous submerged objects Munitions • Introduction • Munitions in the Baltic Sea • National activities • International activities • Geographic distribution • Environmental issues • Risk Assessment • Remediation/salvage measures • Conclusions & Recommendations 17

HELCOM Expert Group on environmental risks of hazardous submerged objects Wrecks • Wrecks in the Baltic Sea • Former reports • National activities • International activities • Limits and quality of information • Introduction of wrecks into the Baltic Sea • Areas of concern • Hazards related to fuel and cargo oils • Other hazards related to wrecks 18

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Proposal: New joint wreck portal between authorities and wreck divers ? ● Benefits: ● Data source ● Observations - both directions ● Warnings ● Tips ● Advice ● Lessons learned ● Networking ● Events: workshops, seminars, full-scale diving events ? 20 Slides: Finnish Navy (Up) B. Hac (Down)

8.5 DAIMON in coordination with Dr. Jazek Beldowski/ Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences (IOPAN) 21

DAIMON ● 1. Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences (IOPAN) PL, LEAD PARTNER ● 2. Polish Naval Academy (PNA) PL ● 3. Military University of Technology (MUT) PL ● 4. Maritime Institute Gdańsk (MIG) PL ● 5. Lithuanian Environmental Protection Agency (LEPA) LT ● 6. Alfred Wegener Institute Helmhotz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) DE ● 7. Johann Heinrich von ThünenInstitut, Federal Research Institut für Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries (TIFI) DE ● 8. Technical University of Clausthal (TUC) DE ● 9. University of Helsinki VERIFIN FI ● 10 . Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) FI ● 11. Chalmers University of Technology SE ● 12. Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) NO ● 13. Stichting International Dialogue on Dumped Munitions (IDUM) INT 22

DAIMON ● The Baltic Sea contains a dark legacy of ca. 50 000 tons of dumped chemical warfare agents (CWA) and more than 200 000 tons conventional munitions originating from the I and II WWs. In addition, c.a. 45000 tons of CWAs were dumped in Skagerrak. ● The BSR project CHEMSEA (20112014) for the first time addressed potential environmental impacts and biological effects of dumped chemical munitions on marine organisms in the Baltic Sea and proved clearly that they pose an environmental risk. There is a constant release of contaminants, either due to corrosion of the shells or due to anthropogenic disturbance. ● Moreover, the upcoming saline water inflow (biggest since 60 years) will drastically change sea bottom conditions, most likely altering the oxidation/corrosion conditions of the munitions. 23

DAIMON ● The question which DAIMON takes up is how to proceed with the identified and mapped warfare objects . Remediation or no-action are subject to heated disputes among the decision making bodies. ● DAIMON will develop tools to support the BSR governments in case to case decision making. ● Munitions, by their very nature, are sensitive to shock and therefore can be exploded even by an energy pulse. The question that needs to be asked is, after 60 years on the sea floor, how deteriorated are the casings and primers of these munitions and what is the risk of unintentional detonating them by underwater activities. 24

DAIMON ● DAIMON is going to close the gap in ecotoxicological methods relevant for chemical warfare agents, explosives and their degradation products, which is a serious scientific challenge, as their metabolic pathways in marine animals are unrecognized yet. ● Very little is known about the short and long-term effects of marine warfare agents on humans. ● Different management options for marine munitions have been used globally, but their application to specific challenges encountered in the Baltic Sea has not been evaluated. DAIMON project will review existing procedures and evaluate their suitability for Baltic Sea environmental conditions. 25

Interreg Project DiveSMART Baltic (Sweden) ● "DiveSMART Baltic is a project application initially generating from the Costa Concordia accident in 2012. ● The lessons learned during the accident and transferred during a national conference by the Italian rescue divers made apparent obvious gaps in Swedish emergency preparedness. ● Swedish Coast Guard, Armed Forces, rescue services from municipalities, Police and some private training facilities for divers participated in a national project to create a data base for all diving competences (tax paid divers) and to look into common and mutual training. 26