A specialised aircraft carrying equipment which can detect pollution at sea is being assessed for permanent use as part of the Marine Emergency Service following four weeks of trials.
The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, said yesterday the trials for "eye in the sky" anti-pollution patrols of Ireland's maritime area had been completed.
The state-of-the-art equipment on board the aircraft could provide, by day or night, accurate positional information on detected pollution, estimation of area, thickness and volume of oil slicks and discharges, he said. It could also directly communicate vital information to the Marine Emergency Service and control and direct aircraft and vessels participating in clean-up operations.
His Department had contracted Air Atlantique Ltd to fly 25 trial hours, concentrating on areas of greatest risk such as the main shipping routes, port entrances and offshore installations.
"Having deployed this specialised aircraft on aerial surveillance trials, we can now assess the effectiveness of eye-in-the-sky patrols as a possible part of the IMES counter-pollution capability," the Minister said.
The trials were an essential experience of the benefits and value of air surveillance and they would now consider if such a service was necessary as part of the ongoing fight against pollution and, if so, how best it could be provided.
He stressed that his Department's Sikorsky helicopters based at Shannon and Dublin already regularly engaged in pollution surveillance flights.