Lisbon, 10 March 2010. How can Europe protect the coasts of Black Sea from oil spills, in the face of rising oil exports from the Caspian Sea region? Today, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is participating in an oil pollution response exercise organised off the port of Varna by the Bulgarian Maritime Administration. Two EMSA-contracted oil spill recovery vessels are
taking part: the GSP Orion and Santa Maria. This is the first time this type of exercise has been conducted in Bulgaria, with the aim of testing the coordination and cooperation between EMSA's contracted vessels and Bulgarian oil spill response resources.