One of Canada's national goals is to provide a consistent or standardized application of techniques for mapping, data collection, and data generation. This consistency is crucial if personnel are brought in from different regions during a drill or spill, since they can then become instantly familiar with the process and terminology. The same sets of standard terms and conditions are applied to prespill database development, sensitivity and prespill mapping, shoreline cleanup assessment technique (SCAT) data generation, and the response management decision process. This concept is very powerful because it provides a consistent terminology for the entire range of prespill planning, preparedness, and response activities. This paper briefly describes the scope, objectives, and status of this mapping initiative and highlights recent developments in the effort to combine the full range of prespill activities, from data generation and decision development to sensitivity mapping. The scheme addresses the requirements of decision makers, planning managers, and operation managers. The program in place for Atlantic Canada integrates the following:A single pollution reporting and alerting system covering the four eastern Canadian provincesPartnerships in the environmental emergency field, particularly with respect to the provision of comprehensive environmental adviceEnvironment Canada's SCAT methodology in prespill data generationShoreline segmentationResponse management by objectivesEnvironment Canada's Sensitivity Mapping ProgramEnvironment Canada's Field Guides for the Documentation and the Protection and Treatment of Oiled Shorelines The desktop mapping package and spill trends database that have been adapted provide an easy-to-use approach to the manipulation and display of the wide range of technical and support data and information stored in the databases. The databases, and therefore the maps, can be updated easily and quickly with new information as it becomes available. In this way response managers have access to a wide range of information that normally would be difficult to collate and present in map form, particularly under the pressures at the time of a response.
During emergencies the ready availability of information on the location and vulnerability of resources at risk is crucial to a successful response and in preventing or minimizing further environmental impacts. Environment Canada, Atlantic Region, has developed over a number of years a computer based GIS mapping system for managing and analyzing environmental information. This stand-alone user friendly mapping application has recently moved to the web; allowing broader access by federal, provincial and industry partners in the spill response field. Enhancements have been made that facilitate better coordination and exchange of data among partners. It incorporates a unique shoreline classification system which can be viewed in concert with biological, human use and logistical data. It includes a spill logging function to manage situation reports, maps, resource summaries, photographs and trajectory model outputs. The system allows thematic layers to be displayed on either topographic maps or hydrographic charts and possesses links to other sites that allow real-time display of weather and ocean current data useful in a response. With an open architecture concept the web mapping system is readily modified; partners are able to digitize on-line and to update their own databases shared on the system. Mapped data for the northeastern United States is also included in the package to facilitate joint response to trans-boundary pollution incidents. Although this paper will highlight the unique features of the web mapping application for planning and responding to environmental emergencies, other partners are using the system for conducting environmental assessments, inland management projects, or planning for nuclear emergencies around the globe.
Resource and sensitivity mapping has been underway in Canada
To illustrate the Canadian approach in developing contingency plans, we will use the example of lessons learned in the framework of the Irving Whale recovery project. The Irving Whale sank in 1970, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Canada), between the Iles-de-la-Madeleine (Québec) and Prince Edward Island. The barge came to rest in 67 meters (220 feet) of water, and contained an estimated 3100 tons of Bunker C oil and 7.5 tons of PCB s (Aroclor 1242). The recovery operation was successfully completed in the summer of 1996. Descriptions of some of the various tools, strategies, and emergency measures implemented to protect the environment are presented, including: (1) a brief description of the coordination of scientific and technical advice; (2) the geographic information system used for resource mapping and a shore-line restoration guide; (3) remote sensing; (4) trajectory modelling for oil and PCB spills; and (5) wildlife protection activities. All of these tools were coordinated through two regional environmental emergencies teams (REETs) established in Canada. The two REETs (one for the Atlantic region and the other for the Quebec region) provided the lead government authority for oil spill response, in this case the Canadian Coast Guard, with scientific and technical advice on environmental issues related to the project
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