ITOPF joins Pacific Symposium in Fiji

Across the world, location plays a big part in how a marine pollution response can take shape, those involved in managing a response can have different capabilities depending on experience, resources and effective preparedness and collaboration.

To bolster response readiness in the Pacific, the Pacific Symposium co-hosted by the The Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji-(MSAF), the UK Government’s Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP), and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) took place in Fiji last week, with ITOPF supporting the knowledge sharing at the event.

An interactive table-top session was hosted by Cefas and JNCC, covering the assessment of pollutant fate and behaviour, use of dispersants when appropriate, and different approaches to response strategies and coordination. ITOPF, represented by Sue Ware, gave insight into how lessons learned from more than 50 years attending pollution incidents can help shape the responses to future incidents, emphasising the importance of international cooperation.

ITOPF ran through its immersive Mixed Reality application, giving attendees the opportunity to deploy virtual resources to clean-up a spill of oil, assessing their effectiveness and how to scale response resources. There was also an informative session on the work and remit of PacWIMA, the regional network of State Women in Maritime Associations, it demonstrated its 5-year strategy for Pacific women in maritime in promoting gender equality, inclusion and leadership.

Representation from across the Pacific spill response community was key to the success of the Pacific Symposium and ITOPF is grateful for the opportunity to add value alongside SPREP, OSRL, Cefas, JNCC, Fiji Government, International Group of P&I Clubs, International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Funds), and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.