China, Japan, Korea and Russia – adopted the Regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan (RCP) and signed the MOU for this Plan in 2005. According to the decision of the 10th NOWPAP Intergovernmental Meeting (held in Toyama, Japan, in November 2005), the geographical coverage of the RCP has been expanded in order to cover the areas of production and transportation of oil and gas along the Sakhalin Island. From 1 July 2006, when this expansion entered into force, the RCP geographical coverage is from 33 to 55oN and from 121 to 145oE. In order to check the preparedness of NOWPAP member states to accidental oil spills, the First NOWPAP Oil Spill Exercise was organized on 11-12 May 2006 in Aniva Bay (Sakhalin Island, Russia). Several specialized ships and helicopters with oil containment and recovery equipment from Russia and Japan participated in the exercise. China sent several officials to observe the event. The exercise proceeded well at the beginning as planned but later turned to be a real rescue operation as a Russian helicopter crashed accidentally into the sea. In spite of that tragic accident, the exercise demonstrated high level of preparedness of NOWPAP member states in case of emergency.
Marine Litter Activity (MALITA) - is being implemented after its approval by the 10th NOWPAP Intergovernmental Meeting. One of MALITA objectives is to encourage and assist NOWPAP member states to participate in the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) which is being held worldwide for about 20 years. While Japan and Korea have joined the ICC since 1990 and 2001respectivley, Russia and China are encouraged to join too. - Sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NOWPAP is organizing an ICC campaign in September 2006 in Yamagata Prefecture (Japan) where representatives of government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), students and general public from all four NOWPAP countries will jointly collect garbage on the beach and share experience in dealing with marine litter. With the generous support from member countries, NOWPAP will continue to organize similar campaigns as both Japan and Korea indicated possible sponsorship of future events.