An appeal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship Council to save the Baltic

An appeal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship Council to save the Baltic

On 31st May 2021, the 33rd session of the Pomeranian Voivodeship Council took place. Its representatives adopted an appeal to the authorities of the European Union and the Polish government regarding the risk for the Baltic, consisting of dumped chemical weapons from the Second World War. They asked the politicians, scientists and the EU to act immediately. The appeal was adopted unanimously.

Olga Sarna from the MARE Foundation and Dr. Benedykt Hac participated in the Council. The meeting discussed the risk posed by wrecks, in particular the Franken and Stuttgart wrecks located in the Gdańsk Bay and the measures undertaken by the MARE Foundation since 2018, including the research expedition to Franken shipwreck and the methodology of oil removal operations published by the MARE Foundation in the beginning of the year.

This methodology is a proposal for a wreck management plan in Poland. The methodology wad elaborated in cooperation with the experts from the UK Ministry of Defence (Salvage and Marine Operations department) and can be implemented as a management plan, based on the British risk assessment system (Environmental Desk Based Assessment) and on the Swedish VRAKA model (Probabilistic risk assessment of shipwrecks). The methodology (full text and executive summary) can be read at the Mare Foundation website.

The session of the Council, including the presentations by Olga Sarna and Dr. Hac can be seen at YouTube.

The Voivedeship Council reacts

The Pomeranian Voivodeship Council has been drawing attention to the problem of pollution of the Baltic for many years and made appeals to the national and international institutions to undertake actions.

Unfortunately, for years the government has not taken actions to solve the problem – underlined Mieczysław Struk, marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. – We have also submitted applications to the National reconstruction Plan to allocate the resources not only to the monitoring, but also work on eliminating the risks. 

The Voivodeship Council makes an appeal to undertake actions to minimise the risk resulting from dumped chemical weapons and wrecks with tanks full of dangerous substances. The risk is intensified by on-going investments at sea, such as transport and wind farms. 

Source: The MARE Foundation and pomorskie.eu / Aleksander Olszak

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