The 'crucial' exercise involving boats and aircraft happening off Cornish coast

  • A new piece of equipment is being used to practice collecting oil out at sea in Cornwall.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has carried out a 'crucial' counter-pollution exercise in Cornwall aimed at tackling pollution.

Crews off the coast of Falmouth are learning how to deal with oil spills using a new piece of a equipment.

Stan Woznicki, MCA Head of Counter Pollution and Salvage, said: "We are launching a one stop oil recovery and containment system, which we use to confine oil then collect it and move it into a storage facility.

"This is a very relatively new capability but it's a one stop shop."

It is 'crucial' crews can tackle oil spills quickly to protect the environment.

Stan said there is a variety of other tools available for tackling oil spills depending on their size and location.

"We have to be prepared for a whole pile of different options".

"We use a lot of capability to meet the oil product and the environmental conditions".

He added the drill is crucial to tackling oil spills.

Coastguard crews in Falmouth learning how to deal with oil spills using a new piece of a equipment.

"Oil is dreadful for the environment, you've got to get to it quickly, if you leave it, it spreads - therefore your problem gets bigger.

"The aim is to get to the scene as quickly as you can, collect it before the oil has a chance to spread.

"Various oils spread at different rates, some of them are easier, some of them are harder to collect, so we have a range of options we can use, but it has to be removed from the environment because it can have a long term effect."