The Marine Management team within JNCC provides a 24 hour pollution response advice service for pollution incidents in the offshore area of UK waters.
The National Contingency Plan (NCP) is a strategic overview for UK government responses to marine pollution from shipping and offshore installations. It sets out the arrangements for dealing with pollution, or the threat of pollution, spilled from ships and offshore installations. It also sets out the responsibilities of the Department for Transport, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), as well as harbour authorities, operators and other bodies with relevant functions (such as environmental responders).
JNCC is a core members of the Environment Group (EG) as per the MCA Environment Group STOp Notice 1/14. JNCC is the Statutory Nature Conservation Body for the offshore area.
We have experience of taking part in exercises and responding to real incidents across UK offshore waters. We provide nature conservation and environmental sensitivity advice in the event of a pollution incident, including expert advice on Marine Protected Areas, ornithology, marine mammals and benthic features. We work closely with the other members of the Environment Group who may provide advice on inshore nature conservation, fisheries, food standards, public health and waste management.
We work within our UK co-ordination remit to share best practice, guidance and tools and take part in strategic fora such as the Pollution Response in Emergencies: Marine Impact Assessment and Monitoring (PREMIAM) steering group and conference, Oil and Gas UK’s Oil Spill Response Technical Group and Environment Group Chair annual meeting.
We contributed to the PREMIAM Post-Spill Monitoring and Impact Assessment Guidelines Update.
Reporting Pollution Incidents
JNCC should be notified of an incident as shown in the table below.
| Hydrocarbon volume to sea | Organisation | Areas within 40 km of the shoreline | Environmentally sensitive areas | Any other areas |
| 0–1 tonnes | ||||
| Aberdeen CGOC | PON1 | PON1 | PON1 | |
| Nearest Coastguard | Telephone | Telephone | Telephone | |
| BEIS | Telephone & PON1 | PON1 | PON1 | |
| JNCC | PON1 | PON1 | PON1 | |
| Marine Scotland / MMO | PON1 | PON1 | PON1 | |
| SNCB* | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| 1–25 tonnes | ||||
| Aberdeen CGOC | PON1 | PON1 | PON1 | |
| Nearest Coastguard | Telephone | Telephone | Telephone | |
| BEIS | Telephone & PON1 | Telephone & PON1 | Telephone & PON1 | |
| JNCC | Telephone & PON1 | Telephone & PON1 | PON1 | |
| Marine Scotland / MMO | PON1 | PON1 | PON1 | |
| SNCB* | Telephone | Telephone | N/A | |
| More than 25 tonnes | ||||
| Aberdeen CGOC | PON1 | PON1 | PON1 | |
| Nearest Coastguard | Telephone | Telephone | Telephone | |
| BEIS | Telephone & PON1 | Telephone & PON1 | Telephone & PON1 | |
| JNCC | Telephone & PON1 | Telephone & PON1 | Telephone & PON1 | |
| Marine Scotland / MMO | PON1 | PON1 | PON1 | |
| SNCB* | Telephone | Telephone | N/A |
*Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies are: NatureScot, Natural England (NE), Natural Resources Wales (NRW), Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). The OPEP should detail which are relevant in each case.
If you are unsure if the spill is in an "environmentally sensitive area", please assume that it is.
The JNCC emergency contact details in case of an oil spill or other major pollution incident in UK waters are as follows:
|
JNCC Pollution Emergency Contact 24 hour telephone: 07974 257464 Email: pollution.advice@jncc.gov.uk |
Further details on the Standing Environment Groups can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standing-environment-groups
Published: .