ORC to test marine pollution responsiveness

Otago Regional Council (ORC) staff will put their marine pollution response capability to the test in Dunedin next week with an exercise simulating an oil spill on the Otago Harbour.

Exercise scenario: “Highland Fling”, involves a fictional Tongan fishing vessel Falakai Mekitoa grounding at Port Chalmers at around 7.15am on Wednesday 1 April.

Staff from the ORC and Port Otago will take part in this exercise.

Exercise regional on-scene commander Jeff Donaldson said following on from a joint tabletop exercise, ORC staff will practice and develop the latest oil spill response techniques.

Mr Donaldson said the exercise would enable ORC to activate its oil spill response teams, test the capacity and effectiveness of oil containment and recovery equipment, and operating systems, and allow response personnel to practice their communications.

“The exercise is a great chance to test our response team’s capabilities and inter-agency co-ordination in a highly realistic scenario,” he said.

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