Advertise on podcast: Sounding the Silver Siren: Sea Alarm Celebrates 25 years

In this episode, Aida Bakri, founder and CEO of ADS Insight as well as Sea Alarm Board Member, interviews the full team. Hugo Nijkamp, Saskia Sessions-Puplett, Daniela Barreras-Biesot and Edel Shanahan have a chat about all things Sea Alarm. From discussing the importance of preparing for oiled wildlife incidents, to changing risks at seas and developing serious games in house. At the end, their creative minds think about what they would wish for if they had a magic wand. This episode is not to be missed!

This episode delves into the Bow Jubail incident from 2018, where a tanker ship collided with a jetty near the port of Rotterdam, spilling oil. Around 600 swans became oiled, but NGOs and authorities jumped into action. Daniela Barreras-Biesot from Sea Alarm explores the story by interviewing 3 guests who were onsite. First, she interviews Saskia Sessions-Puplett, who represented Sea Alarm during the incident. They talk about how they coordinated the response between existing national authorities and resources, coordinated with SON Respons, the EUROWA Network, and international responders. Next, Daniela interviews Claude Velter, Director at Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend, who brought in his expertise on how to set up a temporary facility and how to run it. Last but not least, Daniela interviews Jean Groels, Advisor Crisismanagement at Rijkswaterstaat (Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management in The Netherlands). He shares his perspective on how, as an authority, they had invested in oiled wildlife preparedness and how that helped during the incident.

Hugo Nijkamp, the General Manager of Sea Alarm, has an extended chat with Sonja Dobo from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency about what's happening with incidents at sea that impact shorelines. In a changing world, how can maritime and coastal authorities work together? Find out as they discuss our One Incident One Response philosophy and the associated OneX serious games. Sonja also shares her personal experience from the Marco Polo incident in 2023.

In our first episode, Edel Shanahan, a Technical Advisor at Sea Alarm, interviews Richard Santner, Group Crisis & Continuity Manager at BP. Together they take a look back at Sea Alarm's work over the last 25 years, with plenty of anecdotes from Richard who recounts the progress in oiled wildlife preparedness and response over the years with Sea Alarm at the helm.