Aerial surveillance and regional cooperation remain key in detecting oil spills in the Baltic Sea

Last year, 52 harmful spills of mineral oil were detected in HELCOM countries’ waters, according to the Annual report on discharges observed during aerial surveillance in the Baltic Sea 2021. The long-term decreasing trend is remarkable, as in the starting year of aerial surveillance of spills in 1989, 763 pollution occurrences were reported. “The decreasing …