Environmentalists to once again use drone to monitor pollution from ships in Baltic Sea

VILNIUS – Lithuania’s environmental protection officers will once again use a drone to monitor pollution from ships in the Baltic Sea, the Environmental Protection Department under the Lithuanian Ministry of Environment said on Tuesday.

The drone will be used as part of continued cooperation with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).

This time, the Atlas 4 drone will be flown over Lithuania’s coast and coastal waters during a period of three months to record concentrations of vessel emissions and incidents of potential pollution with oil, oil products or waste from ships, to carry out controls of commercial fishing and to assess safety of vessel navigation, in addition to other tasks, such as mapping of changes in the Baltic Sea coastline, water quality in the Curonian lagoon and the Baltic Sea, and monitoring in cases of emergencies in the Baltic Sea or the lagoon.

Environmental protection officers intend to start using the drone in the spring or summer of 2023 under a project funded by EMSA.

A similar drone was last used in 2020. The Marine Environment Protection Agency then received more than 130 emission reports over the quality of vessel emissions during a three-month mission.