GANDHINAGAR, MARCH 21
The Indian Coast Guard (ICC) Headquarters, No. 1 Coast Guard District (South Gujarat, Daman & Diu) conducted a two-day Maritime Search and Rescue (M-SAR) Workshop and Sea Exercise on Tuesday in Porbandar.
On Wednesday, it conducted an Area Level Pollution Response Seminar and Workshop followed by Mock Drill at Porbandar. It aimed at revalidating the response mechanism and SOPs for combating marine oil spill and enabling Indian Coast Guard to fine tune the area Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan.
The event was aimed at revalidating the procedure and policies established for responding to maritime SAR by all maritime stakeholders and to check the readiness and integration of the resource agencies, equipment, communication procedures and effectiveness on training of maritime SAR.
The event was witnessed by various stake holders from District Administration, Space Application Centre (ISRO), GMB, private ports, VTS Kutch and officials from Fisheries.
During the event, matters relating to Maritime Search and Rescue were deliberated towards robust mechanism and steered the discussion of multi-dimensional issue of maritime search and rescue reiterating regular interaction and coordination amongst stake holders to gain synergized efforts and confidence amongst the sea farers in ensuring safety of life at sea. During the Op demo at sea/harbour, various serials like high speed demo, SAR ops etc were witnessed by all stakeholders.
During the Mock Drill, practical demonstration of pollution response equipment was carried out onboard ICGS Samudra Pavak which included operation of Ocean/River booms, Side Sweeping Arms, Skimmers and Spill Spray Arm alongwith its capability in containment, recovery and stowage of oil spill.
