The Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security has organized an international anti-pollution exercise called RAMOGEPol “Versiliana 2024” off the coast of May 28 and 29, as part of the RAMOGE agreement between Italy, France and the Principality of Monaco. of Viareggio, in close collaboration with the Ramoge Secretariat and the Coast Guard.
The objective is to test the organization, coordination and promptness of response to pollution with maximum realism. For this reason, numerous national and international actors will be involved and the most advanced technologies and response means will be used: satellites, drones, ships, planes and helicopters specialized in anti-pollution activities, for a total of twenty-two means.
“Italy – states the minister Gilberto Pichetto – is pleased to organize, two years after the exercise in Imperia, this important international operation, which allows us to test our common response to pollution at sea and on the coast. Italy and our RAMOGE partners can count on great professionalism and state servants who know how to intervene in the most complex situations. Defending the sea, a precious and fragile treasure chest of biodiversity – concludes Pichetto – it is an absolute priority”.
The exercise will begin on Tuesday 28th at 3.30 pm, with an alert and related exchange of messages, while on Wednesday 29th the actual clean-up operations will begin: starting from 8 am and up to 4 pm the one at sea, from 2 pm for four hours the one on the ground. A debriefing is expected on the morning of Thursday 30th at the “Principino Eventi” Congress Center in Viareggio.
Double marine pollution will be simulated, from petroleum products and paraffin: the plans of the Port Authority of Viareggio, MASE and the international RAMOGEPol will therefore be activated immediately. National and international air-naval assets will be involved in the response at sea, as well as the use of drones. For Italy, MASE will participate with the Castalia SCpA vessel, the Coast Guard, the Navy, the Guardia di Finanza, the Fire Brigade and ARPA Toscana. There will be vehicles from France and the Principality of Monaco and an EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency) ship.
Furthermore, the Prefecture of Lucca, with the support of the Tuscany Region, the Province of Lucca and the Municipality of Pietrasanta, will apply the necessary responses to deal with simulated oil pollution on the Pietrasanta beach, employing approximately 30 volunteers trained by the Civil Protection Department and supported by ISPRA for SCAT (Shoreline Clean-up Assessment Techniques) operations and for subsequent cleaning operations.
ARPA Toscana and ISPRA will provide technical-scientific support for both the onshore and offshore parts. Also present were representatives of the IOPC Funds, an international fund for compensation of expenses incurred for clean-up activities from petroleum products. Representatives of Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Spain and Libya will be present at the exercise as observers.
The RAMOGE agreement unites Italy, France and the Principality of Monaco in joint actions to limit marine pollution: the agreement takes its name from the initials of the three cities of Saint-Raphael, Monaco and Genoa, which delimited a field of action that over time it has consistently expanded, reaching, for over 30 years now, from the mouth of the Rhone in the west, in the south of Sardinia, up to Capo d’Anzio in the east.
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