(2/7) As we were already familiar with similar structures on radar images, we were able to assume that this track could be an oil spill. There are no oil and gas platforms in the Black Sea that could be possible sources of the pollution, so we focused on ships as potential polluters, Cleaning ship tanks in the open sea is unfortunately a common practice that goes unpunished far too often ...

(3/7) Sites such as “marinetraffic.com” or “vesselfinder.com” provide live tracking of the names, owners, routes, speeds and much more information on the large transport vessels. One oil tanker seemed particularly suspicious to us: The ‘Sunbeam’ was on its way from Istanbul to Odessa, and made a stopover near the spot where we later discovered the oil. The strange maneuvers of the ‘Sunbeam’ are recorded on the map. After a few hours the ship changed the route slightly and continued ...

(4/7) We contacted the International Maritime Organization (IMO), sent them our information as screenshots and received a quick response. They thanked us and gave us the contact details of the Romanian Maritime Authority in Constanta. In such incidents, it is not enough to work only with satellite images. It must also be inspected on site to make more detailed investigations ...

(5/7) Now we are eagerly waiting for the result of the further investigation of this case. It was our goal to change things, to improve things, and now this incident will be followed up in any case. So, if necessary, the oil can be removed as best as possible and polluters should be held accountable. But now this has to be clarified by other institutions. #activism #citizenscience