The large oil slick that appeared in the water area of the Tivat Bay in the morning was cleaned up in a coordinated action by the Navy of the Army of Montenegro and the authorities of the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs. In the morning, a spot of dark and black color stretched across the calm surface of the bay for several hundred meters along the coast from Opatovo towards Ponta Seljanova and southwest, about a kilometer from the Porto Montenegro marina in Tivat.
After the on-site inspection was carried out by the navigation safety inspectors of the Port Authority of Kotor, around 10.30:1 a.m. the action to remove pollution from the sea surface began. The ecological ship EKO-2 and the dinghy SAR-XNUMX of the Maritime Safety Administration of Montenegro and the members of the Rescue Squad of the Navy of Croatia, who serve those vessels, literally picked up the pollution from the surface of the sea with special absorbents on the floating dam, which the two ships towed between them, in the form horseshoes.
"We didn't use skimmers, but special absorbents that let water through, but retain all grease and solids. The action was carried out very quickly and professionally and was an excellent introduction to the upcoming large-scale exercise that we will carry out on March 24 in the Port of Kotor, where prevention of sea pollution will be one of the objectives of the exercise," the director of the Maritime Safety Administration told "Vijesta" the newly appointed acting director of the Maritime Directorate in the Ministry of Economy, Captain Vladan Radonjić.
In addition to him, the operation to clean up the pollution was supervised by the commander of the MVCG Rescue Squad, Corvette Captain Željko Nikolić, while the investigation into who polluted the waters of the Tivat Bay is led by the navigation safety inspector of the Port Authority of Kotor Željko Lompar.
"These are oily liquids and other similar substances, the so-called sludge, i.e. waste content that is collected in the ship's bilge. Emptying the bilge in this way is strictly prohibited and we are doing everything to find the culprit. We already have some assumptions, and the data from the VTMS system, which monitors the movement of ships in the bay, could help us in finding the culprit," Lompar told "Vijesta".
According to the Law on Prevention of Sea Pollution from Vessels, the owner of a ship who emptied the bilge in this way faces a fine of up to 20 euros, and the master of the ship can be fined up to 2 euros.
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