At any given moment, a hypothetical photograph of the Mediterranean sea would show some 300 oil tankers containing around 20% of the total amount of oil being transported around the world. For this reason the Mediterranean is the sea most heavily polluted with hydrocarbons, of which some 60-80% are deliberately drained from the tankers between loads. The increase in the levels of pollution due to oil in Europe's marine basins is a source of concern for environmental protection agencies, both locally and nationally. Microwave radars have the potential to deal with this problem. Their capacity to locate oil on the surface of the sea is due to the way in which the capillary waves on the water surface are reduced by the action of the hydrocarbons. Thanks to this phenomenon, the backscatter from a contaminated area decreases, making the spill visible in the radar image. Microwave radar performance in this type of applications is not affected by weather conditions (fog, clouds, etc.) or by sunlight. However, it does require winds of a sufficient force to generate capillary waves. This particular condition is not very restrictive, given that "normal" windspeeds for the Mediterranean (2-12 m/s) are enough for X and C radar bands. Satellites generally have the problem of observing very distant (hundreds or thousands of kilometres) and small target vessels. Spatial resolution is limited by these two factors. SAR sensors, mounted on satellites, are synthetic aperture microwave radars, capable of overcoming the problem of resolution by using phase analysis and the Doppler effect of the return signal. Within the context of several international research projects, the Space Observation group at LaMMA has developed a procedure to identify oil spills through SAR satellite images. A specific algorithm has also been developed to identify ships that may have dumped pollutants into the sea. As a result of these activities, at LaMMA's branch offices in Livorno a pre-operative elaboration station has been created for SAR images, to identify oil spills, and to constantly update the statistics regarding hydrocarbons in the sea in the areas around Tuscany. In 2010 the LaMMA Consortium and the Region of Tuscany were offered the opportunity by EMSA (the European Maritime Safety Agency) to access the European CleanSeaNet system, as part of the interregional MOMAR project (integrated marine environment monitoring and control system).