(Manama) – CEO Dr. Mohammed Mubarak Bin-Dinah of the Supreme Council for Environment (SCE) said oil spills are the most conspicuous forms of damage to the marine environment, which must be addressed for the amount of harm they cause for months or even years, pointing out Bahrain’s efforts to preserve the marine and coastal environment.
This came during the opening of the two-day international workshop organized by the US Navy Department in cooperation with the Marine Emergency Mutual Aid Center (MEMAC) entitled (Defence Environmental International Cooperation).
Dr. Bin-Dinah expressed appreciation of all parties’ efforts contributed to the success of the event, stressing the latest means to address oil spills will be focused on.
He underlined the SCE’s keenness to work closely with all parties participating in the workshop for safer, cleaner marine environment, noting the SCE’s efforts to come up with ideas to counter the challenges faced by the marine environment.
A brief presentation was given by environmental expert Hassan Marzouq on Bahrain’s national plan to combat oil pollution and other harmful substances to the environment.
Marzouq also tackled objectives and goals of the national plan, responsibilities of the concerned authorities to counter oil spills. He gave an overview of the Incident Command System and mechanisms of reporting oil spill incidents followed by the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The workshop was attended by Deputy Commander of the US Navy in the region, Captain Joel Stewart; MEMAC’s Head Captain Abdulmoneim Al-Janahi; a number of Bahrain’s senior naval and coast guard officers and military and civilian delegations of the countries of the region.