Fishing Communities Assisting in a Response: MC252 Vessel of Opportunity-the Mobile, Alabama Model

Abstract

ABSTRACT On April 20, 2010 the BP exploratory drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded killing 11 people and creating the largest oil spill in history. As BP was mobilizing response resources from all over the U.S. and the World, the federal government declared the incident to be a Spill of National Significance (SONS). A SONS event is when a response is so large that geographic areas are competing for the same limited number of resources. The Unified Command (UC) created the Vessel of Opportunity (VOO) Program. This program recruited commercial and recreational fishing vessels to assist with response activities in the offshore environment. The program was designed in three (3) steps. The first step was for vessel owners, captains, and crew to participate in the Vessel of Opportunity (VOO) Introductory Course. This course educated participants to BP's safety standards and educated them on what may be asked of them and their vessel. Step two was the self-certification of vessels which were required to meet ...