Europe’s Black Seas investigation exposes a chronic, large-scale problem of illegal oily wastewater discharges that evade existing surveillance and enforcement mechanisms. Despite millions spent on the EU’s CleanSeaNet satellite and radar system, only 1.5% of potential spills are checked within the three-hour window needed for evidence collection. Vessels routinely bypass onboard treatment, falsify records, and dump under the cover of night or disabled AIS signals, ensuring most incidents go unpunished.

Key Findings from Europe’s Black Seas

The investigation estimates that roughly 3,000 vessels discharge mineral oil into European waters annually, equivalent to eight spills per day, each the size of 750 football fields. Using satellite imagery, machine learning, and AIS data, Lighthouse Reports and SkyTruth documented hundreds of potential bilge dumps since mid-2020, with 271 occurring within 50 nautical miles of EU coasts where dumping is prohibited.

Enforcement Gaps in CleanSeaNet

Only 1.5% of satellite-flagged slicks were physically inspected within three hours in 2019, far below the threshold for gathering conclusive water samples. Free-of-information requests reveal that member states’ response rates vary widely, yet remain generally low, and authorities rarely disclose follow-up actions even when spills are confirmed. The EU Commission’s review found CleanSeaNet “not optimally used or coordinated,” underscoring systemic shortcomings.

Project Sentinel: A New Paradigm in Marine Pollution Detection

Project Sentinel deploys AI-enabled underwater gliders that continuously patrol coastal and open-ocean waters, sampling the water column at depths of 30–100 m. Each glider carries oil-fluorescence, turbidity, and chemical sensors, alongside onboard anomaly-detection algorithms. Upon detecting a pollution event, the glider surfaces to transmit real-time alerts with precise coordinates and retains in-water chemical evidence suitable for legal action1.

Unmanned and energy-efficient, these gliders operate for months on a single deployment, covering gaps in nighttime and subsurface monitoring that satellites and patrol vessels miss. By providing persistent, in situ surveillance and rapid alerting, Project Sentinel can deter illegal bilge dumping, ensure consistent evidence collection, and transform enforcement outcomes across European seas.

This integrated approach promises to close the enforcement gap highlighted by Europe’s Black Seas report, making illicit discharges far riskier and more costly for polluters-and safeguarding marine ecosystems and coastal economies alike.