In order to strengthen the collaboration among NOWPAP member states to deal with oil spills, the 3rd Joint NOWPAP Oil Spill Response Exercise was successfully conducted on 4 September 2010 in Wakkanai, Japan. Sponsored by Japan Coast Guard and the State Marine Pollution Control, Salvage and Rescue Administration of the Russian Federation, several vessels from Japan and Russia with various oil recovery and treatment equipment participated in the exercise. Representatives from all NOWPAP member states along with several hundred local citizens observed the exercise. Two Japanese helicopters were also involved in the exercise, simulating spraying of oil dispersants and rescuing people from the sea.
Immediately following the exercise, a forum on Sakhalin oil and gas projects was organized, where responsible officials in charge of oil spill contingency in NOWPAP member states, experts and representatives of oil producing and shipping companies shared information on oil spill response and preparedness measures. As the region has experienced rapid economic development, demand on oil export and import has been increasing significantly through maritime shipping, including the oil produced by the Sakhalin projects. Therefore oil spills are a major concern of NOWPAP states that suffered from the recent incidents, and consequently developed and adopted a regional oil spill contingency plan in 2004. Since then, three exercises have been organized, two previous ones conducted in Russia and China respectively. During the forum, activities relevant to the implementation of the regional contingency plan were introduced by the NOWPAP Marine Environmental Emergency Preparedness and Response Regional Activity Centre (MERRAC).
Implementation of NOWPAP contributes to the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) in the Northwest Pacific region.