IHCantabria leads POLARIS the European project addressing accidental pollution by pellet discharges into the sea

POLARIS aims to strengthen preparedness and response capabilities for accidental spills of plastic pellets in the marine environment

The Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the Universidad de Cantabria (IHCantabria) brings together the partners of the European project POLARIS for the implementation of this initiative aimed at increasing the capacity to anticipate and act against accidental spills of plastic pellets in the marine environment, also promoting awareness and public awareness.

Microplastics, used as raw materials in the plastics industry, can be released into the environment during production, transport or handling, generating significant impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems, as well as on key economic activities.

The POLARIS initiative, funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Civil Protection, addresses three main lines of action: improving knowledge about the behavior of pellets in the marine environment and developing modeling and risk assessment tools; developing guidelines, protocols and digital tools to facilitate decision making and operational coordination; and designing training and capacity building programs for authorities, intervention teams and communication professionals to strengthen preparedness and response to this type of emergency.

The POLARIS kick-off meeting took place on April 9 at the IHCantabria facilities. The event brought together the consortium formed by the “Centre de Documentation, de Recherche et d’Expérimentation sur les Pollutions Accidentelles des Eaux” (CEDRE, France), “AZTI” (Spain), “Météo-France” (France), the “Sociedad de Salvamento y Seguridad Marítima” (SASEMAR, Spain) and the “Norwegian Coastal Administration” (Kystverket, Norway). Key aspects of the project such as planning, governance, requirements and main technical challenges were discussed. During the conference, the partners presented their capabilities and roles within the project, highlighting the multidisciplinary nature of the consortium and their experience both in the scientific-technological field and in the operational and decision-making in emergency management in the maritime and coastal field.

IHCantabria, coordinator of POLARIS, will contribute with its extensive experience in the analysis and capacity in numerical modeling of ocean dynamics and contaminant transport, the generation of hazard and risk maps, and the development of data-driven decision support systems, as well as in the development of advanced tools for environmental risk assessment.

During the development of the project, key international actors in the field of marine pollution prevention and response, such as the Bonn Agreement, the OSPAR Commission and REMPEC, will be involved, whose participation will contribute to align the project’s results with regional cooperation frameworks and maximize its impact at the European level.

Also, on April 16, the representatives of IHCantabria in this project, the principal investigator Ana Julia Abascal and the European project manager Patricia Bueno, participated in the official kick-off meeting, organized in Brussels for the 14 selected projects of the UCPM-2025-KAPP-PVPP call, to which 92 proposals were submitted. This event, held at the “Directorate General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations” (DG ECHO), allowed the coordinators to receive practical information on the administrative, financial, legal and communication implementation of the funded initiatives, as well as to establish direct contact with the Commission managers and the coordinators of the other approved projects. During the day, they presented their objectives and lines of work, thus reinforcing coordination with the European Commission and promoting synergies with the other participating projects.

POLARIS, funded by the European Commission under the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), specifically the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) through the “Knowledge for Action in Prevention and Preparedness (KAPP)” call for proposals.