Coastguard Agency Research Articles

Unannounced Drill Program: Testing Spill Management Team Capability through Vessel & Facility Oil Spill Contingency Plans

California has approximately >10,000 vessels calling its ports each year, and 200–300 facilities state wide, many of which are required to have a California Oil Spill Contingency Plan (Contingency Plan) on file with Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR). Spill Management Teams (SMT), either staffed by Contingency Plan holders' employees or contracted out, and the use of the Incident Command System (ICS) structure must be described in these plans. OSPR introduced an unannounced SMT drill program (Program) in 2012 to ensure that Contingency Plan holders can successfully complete the proper initial notifications, activate their SMT, and use ICS in accordance with their approved Contingency Plan and California Code 820.01, Drills and Exercises. There are multiple goals of this Program, including the enhanced capability of SMTs, OSPR, and other partners. This Program provides continued education and training for Contingency Plan holders and SMTs in an effort to bolster the initial response phase of an actual incident. Through these drills, SMTs must demonstrate that they could make proper notifications and decisions during an actual incident and be staffed with trained personnel in ICS to fill positions before State and Federal representatives respond. Additionally, SMTs should deploy resources listed in their approved Contingency Plans and ensure those resources are up to date, available, and sufficient. Furthermore, drills provide an opportunity for OSPR and SMTs to build relationships through testing these procedures, which should make the initial response more efficient and effective. Lastly, the drills are often conducted with representatives from United States Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency, both of which have their own drill programs. Working in conjunction with federal partners ensures continuity and fewer required drills of SMTs. Since the beginning of the Program, SMTs continue to improve their response capabilities, validated by more successfully completed unannounced drills. OSPR has conducted 30 unannounced drills, all of which were on SMTs for marine facilities and vessels. With the expanded authority of OSPR to regulate facilities statewide in 2015, this Program will continue to grow. Ultimately, a more comprehensive Program should lead to enhanced SMT capability statewide, and therefore better protection of the State's natural resources overall. The goal of this poster will be to describe: 1) the history and purpose of this Program; 2) the lessons learned and improvements of SMTs and Contingency Plans; and 3) the expansion of the Program from marine to statewide.

Recovery of a Toxic Cargo from a Sunken Tank Barge: Lessons Learned and Policy Implications

Abstract: In December 2015, operations were successfully completed in the recovery of a highly toxic cargo from the sunken tank barge ARGO in Lake Erie. The ARGO, constructed in 1911, sank in 1937 with a cargo of benzol that contained a high percentage of the carcinogen benzene. The ARGO was previously listed as the highest environmental risk in the Great Lakes by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Remediation of Underwater Legacy Environmental Threats (RULET) study. To recover the cargo, salvors designed a diver directed hot-tapping and pumping system to pump the remaining high benzene cargo from the sunken barge at a depth of approximately 50-feet below the lake’s surface. The cargo off-load system included pumping the cargo to a series of storage tanks onboard a barge equipped with designed-for-purpose inert gas and vapor recovery systems to ensure the safety of the public and responders. Working in a Unified Command that included the Coast Guard, U.S. and Ohio Environmental Protection Agencies and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the salvage crew achieved all operational objectives – from safely conducting around-the-clock cold-water contaminated water diving operations to collecting environmental and barge hull samples for further analysis. The ARGO case study will provide lessons learned to assist future responders in safely performing subsea oil removal operations. Additionally, the case study will frame the discussion of current submerged oil recovery regulations and guidance, including the 2016 American Petroleum Institute (API) sunken oil detection and recovery guidance and the U.S. Coast Guard’s guidance on the classification of Oil Spill Removal Organizations (OSRO) that perform non-floating oil detection and recovery operations.

One Gulf – Commitment to Preparedness

ABSTRACT: Anadarko Petroleum Corporation partnered with the U.S. Coast Guard Eighth District and the Mexican Navy (SEMAR Zone 1) in a multi-year Mexico-United States (MEXUS) exercise series. The MEXUS Plan is a Joint Contingency Plan between the United Mexican States and the United States of America Regarding Pollution of the Marine Environment by Discharges of Hydrocarbons or other Hazardous Substances. It provides standard operational procedures with respect to bi-national coordination in case of pollution incidents that may represent a threat to coastal waters or the marine environment of the border zone of both countries. The MEXUS Agreement and Plan were developed after the Ixtoc I well blowout in June 1979. This international agreement entered into force on 30 March 1981. Under the MEXUS Plan there are two regional annexes: Gulf (MEXUSGULF) and Pacific (MEXUSPAC). Each Annex incorporates regional resource and high-level strategic information to assist each country in communication and coordination during an incident that impacts both countries’ jurisdiction. The regional annexes are not tactical; tactical planning remains at the local level (Area Contingency Plans in the U.S.; Local Contingency Plans in Mexico), led by the respective Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC). For the U.S., the U.S. Coast Guard is the lead agency serving as the Federal On-Scene Coordinator; the Mexican Navy serves as the lead agency in Mexico. The U.S. Coast Guard has been working with the Mexican Navy (SEMAR) to update the MEXUS Plan, with a near final draft as of March 2017. The proposed changes incorporate several organizational changes that have occurred over the years while reiterating the core purpose as a communication and coordination plan. With the impending development of offshore leases in Mexico, coupled with efforts to update the MEXUS Plan, a tabletop exercise was conducted in 2016. This tabletop exercise allowed senior officials from federal and state agencies and industry representatives to openly discuss emerging scenarios and high-level strategies to identify gaps and shortfalls in existing plans, policies and procedures. To achieve this concept, both countries shared procedures and processes to allow for resources to operate in each respective country to minimize impact to natural resources and sensitive shoreline areas. In 2017, the lessons learned were incorporated in a multi-day exercise to demonstrate how industry, the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies would manage a hypothetical offshore subsea well incident originating from the U.S. with resulting impacts in Mexican waters. This paper discusses the planning process and shares the lessons learned from both exercises in an effort to promote continued preparedness and improved response coordination. With the help of Mexican Association of Hydrocarbon Companies (AMEXHI), Mexico’s newly-formed national oil and gas industry association, these lessons learned will further help promote implementing Mexico’s new subsea containment and offshore response requirements.

The Search and Rescue Tasks Coordinated by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) Regarding the Surveillance of External Maritime Borders

Abstract: Regulation 656/2014 represents an important step towards the clarification of EU surveillance obligations, including search and rescue missions and disembarkation in operations coordinated by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). This Regulation is complemented by Regulation 2016/1624 as part of the integrated border management system, reinforcing Frontex and increasing its level of autonomy. However Frontex has not got a more proactive mission in saving lives. Therefore the main function of search, rescue and disembarkation remains in the hands of the Member States. According to this legal framework each operational plan coordinated by Frontex should guarantee the protection of fundamental rights in the conception and implementation of a joint operation. This also codifies, integrates and develops the rules of international maritime law related to search and rescue and also the European jurisprudence relating to the principle of “non-refoulement”. Although the scope of Regulation 656/2014 is limited to the operations coordinated by Frontex, it should also be extended to other European and national surveillance operations at sea. Beyond the improvements identified in such regulations, a more stable and automatic design of resources and instruments is still required for the effective development of this kind of joint operations, as well as a more equitable sharing of burdens and responsibilities among all Member States. Keywords: surveillance, search and rescue, disembarkation, Frontex, non refoulement.

A proposed quantitative methodology for the evaluation of the effectiveness of Human Element, Leadership and Management (HELM) training in the UK

In 2006, a review of maritime accidents found that non-technical skills (NTSs) are the single largest contributing factor towards such incidents. NTSs are composed of both interpersonal and cognitive elements. These include things such as situational awareness, teamwork, decision making, leadership, management and communication skills. In a crisis situation, good NTSs allow a deck officer to quickly recognise that a problem exists and then harness the resources that are at their disposal to safely and efficiently bring the situation back under control. This paper has two aims. The first is to develop a methodology which will enable educators to quantitatively assess the impact of Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)-approved Human Element, Leadership and Management (HELM) training on deck officer’s NTSs with a view to identifying further training requirements. The second is to determine whether the HELM training provided to develop the NTSs of trainee deck officers is fit for purpose. To achieve these aims, a three-phase approach was adopted. Initially, a taxonomy for deck officer’s NTSs is established, behavioural markers are identified and the relative importance of each attribute is calculated using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Subsequently, a set of scenarios were identified for the assessment of deck officer’s NTSs in a ship bridge simulator environment. A random selection of students that have completed the Chief Mate (CM) programme was performed, and data regarding their NTS-related performance in the scenarios was collected. Finally, the collected data was fed into the evidential reasoning (ER) algorithm, utility values were produced and, having established these values, the effectiveness of the HELM training that the students have received was then evaluated.

Predictable hydrodynamic conditions explain temporal variations in the density of benthic foraging seabirds in a tidal stream environment

VC International Council for the Exploration of the Sea 2016. James J. Waggitt was funded by a NERC Case studentship supported by OpenHydro Ltd and Marine Scotland Science (NE/J500148/1). Shore-based surveys were funded by a NERC (NE/J004340/1) and a Scottish National Heritage (SNH) grant. FVCOM was funded by a NERC grant (NE/J004316/1). The bathymetry data used in hydrodynamic models (HI 1122 Sanday Sound to Westray Firth) was collected by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) as part of the UK Civil Hydrography Programme. We wish to thank Christina Bristow, Matthew Finn and Jennifer Norris at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC); Ian Davies at Marine Scotland Science; Gail Davoren, Shaun Fraser, Pauline Goulet, Alex Robbins and Helen Wade for invaluable discussions; Thomas Cornulier, Alex Douglas, James Grecian and Samantha Patrick for their help with statistical analysis; and Jenny Campbell and the Cockram family for assistance during fieldwork.

Deglacial landform assemblage records fast ice-flow and retreat, Inner Hebrides, Scotland

High-resolution bathymetric data have been central to recent advances in the understanding of past dynamics of the former British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS). As approximately two-thirds of the former BIIS was probably marine-based during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) ( c. 29–23 ka), geomorphic observations of the seabed are required increasingly to understand the extent, pattern and timing of past glaciation. Until recently, glacial reconstructions for the Inner Hebrides, offshore of western Scotland, have been based primarily on terrestrial observations. Previous workers have proposed generalized reconstructions in which the Inner Hebrides are located within a significant former ice-sheet flow pathway that drained the western Scottish sector of the BIIS, feeding the Barra Fan during the LGM and earlier glaciations (Fig. 1). Results from numerical ice-sheet modelling suggest that former ice-flow velocities within the region were on the order of hundreds to thousands of metres per year, but yield further insight by demonstrating how dynamic binge/purge cycles may have affected ice-sheet mass balance over time (Hubbard et al. 2009). Following the LGM, ice-sheet retreat through the area is estimated to have been in the order of 20 m per year (Clark et al. 2012). Here we present swath-bathymetric data from the Inner Hebrides that provide in situ constraints on ice-sheet flow and subsequent retreat dynamics from within this important sector of the BIIS. Fig. 1. Swath-bathymetric images. ( a ) Inner Hebrides, Scotland (acquired with both multibeam (e.g. Kongsberg EM3002D) and interferometric systems for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's UK Civil Hydrography Programme © Crown copyright. Grid-cell size 5 m). ( b ) Superimposed flow sets of streamlined landforms. Landforms associated with black flow arrows post-date features associated with white arrows. ( c ) Convergence zone of two ice-stream tributaries overlain by a series of recessional moraines, indicating later ice margin retreat to the NE. Inset shows interpreted glacigenic-landform map highlighting …

The Constructing of Shipping Forecasts in English: A Pilot Study

This paper studies how shipping forecasts are constructed and shaped. A pilot corpus of ten shipping forecasts issued by the Met Office, on behalf of the maritime and Coastguard Agency, and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 has been collected for this purpose and examined in terms of its rhetorical structure. Adopting a genre-centred approach and making use of Swales's (1990) terminology, shipping forecasts are analysed and structured into a number of moves and steps. Findings are expected to help linguist researchers to gain knowledge of the textual organisation of shipping forecasts as a very particular type of oral discourse within the professions, and also, to provide maritime English teachers with genre-based tools that may contribute to enhance their teaching practices in maritime English classrooms.

Setting occupational standards for insulin‐treated diabetes at sea, on land and in the air

AbstractDiabetes, particularly treatment with insulin, has proved a longstanding and frustrating barrier to employment in certain occupations where public safety has been deemed to be potentially at risk. Historically, health and safety issues within the work environment have dictated employment policy, precluding people with diabetes who would otherwise be entirely capable of undertaking required responsible and skilled activities. Such considerations have been especially evident for professional occupations involving both commercial and public transport on land, by sea and in the air. This situation is changing. With the combination of individualised diabetes management and implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act, it is no longer appropriate to apply a ‘blanket ban’ restriction to employment irrespective of circumstances.The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have each accepted the principle that insulin‐treated diabetes should no longer be an absolute contraindication to occupational employment, but to be potentially permissable subject to strict, robust individual assessment. Each transport agency has established regulatory standards and operational protocols appropriate for their respective domains with a prime emphasis on minimising hypoglycaemia risk. Ensuring public safety remains paramount, but, with these protocol surveillance and assessment processes in place, it has proved possible for individuals with insulin‐treated diabetes to achieve fitness certification and gain employment previously excluded to them. Over the last few years, despite having diabetes and being treated with insulin, many merchant seafarers, drivers of heavy goods vehicles and commercial airline pilots have successfully achieved fitness accreditation to work safely and reliably within these special occupational situations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons.

Interpreting monitoring data for shoreline and geohazard mapping

The demand for marine-related spatial information has become increasingly apparent in recent years at a European and national scale, due to the increased pressures on the sea-floor environments and marine resources of UK territorial waters. The advent of economically viable swath bathymetry data acquisition in the coastal zone and effective collaborative partnerships between the Channel Coastal Observatory, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, UK Hydrographic Office, British Geological Survey and academic institutions, have opened up new opportunities to produce a robust scientific evidence base to inform integrated coastal zone management objectives and contribute to wider scientific initiatives. Interpretation of high-quality bathymetric data, acoustic backscatter and ground-truthing data allows zones of exposed bedrock, rock outcrops and pinnacles to be identified, along with areas of mobility or stability of surficial sediments. Temporal and spatial analyses of coastal and marine monitoring datasets also contribute to improved understanding of interactions between natural coastal process and coastal-defence and beach-management operations. Furthermore, developments in three-dimensional mapping techniques and visualisation technologies have enabled seamless high-resolution coastal geology maps to be re-interpreted and extended offshore, providing a more complete picture of the baseline geology, physical properties, structure and geohazards in the coastal and nearshore zone. The full paper details the methodology developed to produce a range of indicative marine mapping layers, and presents examples from eastern and southern England where marine-related spatial data has contributed to the multi-disciplinary scientific evidence base to inform development of UK marine policy and planning, coastal management and coastal zone geological mapping.

Oil Spill Response Under the NCP and the NRF/Stafford Act - Incompatible Regimes?

ABSTRACT This paper examines oil pollution response during disaster situations when the Stafford Act is invoked by the President and the National Response Framework provides funding under ESF-10. The interrelationship between the National Contingency Plan (NCP), created by various pollution statues (Clean Water Act/CWA, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability/CERCLA, Oil Pollution Act/OPA) and the National Response Framework (NRF), created to deal with declared disasters under the Stafford Act, is becoming more fractious as time passes and the financial scope of disasters grows. The paradigm that existed when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005 was not in evidence when Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy made landfall in the fall of 2012. The NCP envisions oil and chemical spill response in the context of a single spill, ideally with a known responsible party (RP), who takes action to respond to the spill. That RP is liable for costs and damages resulting from the spill. Action commences when the spill occurs and the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) determines that federal action is required. If the federal funds (Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund/OSLTF, CERCLA/SUPERFUND) are used, the federal government seeks cost recovery afterwards. The NRF envisions the federal government acting like a “no-fault insurance” regime, providing federal resources/funds to states when their capabilities are overwhelmed and their citizens require immediate succor. FEMA action commences when the State requests and the President approves aid. The states agree to a cost share – not to exceed 25% of Federal funding. There is no private party liability when actions are complete. The Homeland Security Act established the NRF, and operationally subsumes the NCP under it. However, the Homeland Security Act does not address what fund (Stafford or the pollution funds) will be used when a declared disaster occurs. Furthermore, the Stafford Act structure (State requests, Presidential approvals, Federal Emergency Management Agency Federal Coordinating Officer (FEMA FCO) appointment, area surveys, mission assignments) becomes sclerotic in a large incident when compared to the much more nimble NCP process (spill, FOSC decision, immediate funding). The effect for Coast Guard (CG) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) field responders is to lean forward with NCP processes to protect the public. FEMA, faced with dwindling resources, observes this tendency and declines to provide disaster funding when the other federal funds “can be used”. The paper proposes a new paradigm for the “Makris-Suiter” Agreement of 1998 between EPA and FEMA. The opinions stated in this paper are the author's alone, and do not reflect the official policies of the United States Coast Guard.

KIS Approach to Data Management for Oil and Hazardous Material Response

ABSTRACT On August 28th, 2012 Hurricane Isaac made landfall on the lower peninsula of the state of Louisiana near the mouth of the Mississippi River. A FEMA mission assignment under Emergency Support Function 10 (Oil and Hazardous Material Response) was issued to the U.S. Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to mitigate hundreds of orphaned containers deposited throughout a 3200 square mile area of coastal Louisiana by flood waters associated with Hurricane Isaac. A team comprised of U.S. Coast Guard, EPA, NOAA, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, local Oil Spill Response Organization, EPA contractors and other Federal, State and Local personnel was assembled to manage the response. Beginning with the end in mind and understanding that a major challenge in oil or HAZMAT response is data management and timely collaboration of data, the team decided to “keep it simple” and leverage off-the-shelf, inexpensive and intuitive options to manage the response data.. The objective was to keep costs to a minimum while ensuring the average responder could use the systems selected. The Microsoft ACCESS and Google Earth platforms were selected and enabled the team to operate very efficiently. Ultimately the mission assignment was completed weeks ahead of schedule and several hundred thousand dollars under budget. This paper describes a budget conscious response approach to a large and dynamic area of operation; specifically, the efficient and successful operations that were executed through novel use of free GIS software, COTS GPS equipment, readily available interagency digital information sources, and efficient aerial surveillance planning. The organizational concepts necessary to integrate these techniques into Incident Command System (ICS) and the logistical considerations of managing a response effectively with these tools with minimally staffed personnel are also addressed.

Fatalities in recreational boating and sub-aqua diving

To establish the causes and circumstances of fatalities in recreational boating and sub-aqua diving inland or around the United Kingdom during the years 2006 and 2007, to comparefatal accident rates according to the type of boat, to identify causal patterns, and to discuss preventative measures to reduce the fatalities. Examinations of marine accident files and reports from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and other sources, including the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Association of Inland Navigation Authorities and the British Sub-Aqua Diving Club. There were 102 fatalities in recreational boating and 28 in sub-aqua diving with corresponding fatal accident rates of 12.0 and 48.0 per million participants. In recreational boating, fatal accident rates were highest for motor and power boats (20.2), yachts (19.3) and canal boats (16.0). Most fatalities (64%) occurred from April to September, with a peak during August. In recreational boating, 24% of fatalities were recorded as alcohol-related. These were most prevalent in canal boats, occurring largely during the autumn and winter months rather than during summer holidays, among people living on boats, often asa result of fires and falls overboard. Causal patterns of the fatalities varied strongly according to the type of recreational boat anddiving. Prevention of fatalities should include raising awareness of hazards, adequate training in diving, yachting and canoeing, etc., installation and maintenance of smoke alarms and fire extinguishers on residential boats, and increases in the use of personal flotation devices in recreational boating.

Verification of marine forecasts using an objective area forecast verification system

ABSTRACTMany meteorological service providers issue forecasts that contain short summary statements. These forecasts attempt to capture all the expected conditions during a forecast period. The area forecast verification system has been developed to verify these forecasts when they are issued in pre‐determined geographical areas. This system verifies forecasts by comparing them with gridded nowcast model analysis fields. Results are presented for the wind speed component of the shipping forecast and the inshore waters forecast. Both of these products are issued by the UK Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Like most summary forecasts these products contain hand written text. This text is carefully interpreted into a series of invariant sub‐periods. These sub‐periods are then compared to the nowcast model analysis fields. During each forecast sub‐period all available hourly nowcast model analyses are accumulated to create an observation distribution within that sub‐period. Verification is performed using a contingency table approach which is specifically designed to reflect the distribution formed by the observations within each sub‐period of the forecast. Various performance measures are calculated including the Gerrity skill score – which is weighted according to the priorities of the customer. Shipping forecasts issued during the 12 month period ending on 31 August 2011 had a proportion correct to within ± 1 Beaufort Force of 0.886 and a Gerrity skill score of 0.823. Inshore waters forecasts issued during this period had a proportion correct to within ± 1 Beaufort Force of 0.940 and a Gerrity skill score of 0.848. Analysis indicates that both forecasts tend to exaggerate the wind speeds and often neglect to include the lower Beaufort Force categories. © 2013 British Crown copyright, the Met Office. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Nearshore substrate and marine habitat mapping to inform marine policy and coastal management

Colenutt, A., Mason, T., Cocuccio, A., Kinnear, R. and Parker, D., 2013. Nearshore high resolution substrate and marine habitat mapping to inform marine policy and coastal management.The Defra-funded National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes of England, through collaboration with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's Civil Hydrography Programme, are increasingly utilising cost-effective technology to achieve 100% seafloor coverage to International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) Order 1a standard, of the nearshore zone from about Mean Low Water Springs to approximately 1km offshore. Detailed specifications have been developed to ensure efficient acquisition of swath bathymetric data that are accurate, repeatable, maximise interoperability and are made freely available. Analysis of seabed substrate and habitat maps, which identify zones of exposed bedrock and surficial deposits of coarse, fine and mixed sediments, provide spatial detail of seabed features, such as sand waves, rock outcrops, pinnacles and scour and provide baseline conditions for monitoring of marine ecosystems. Interpretation and production of marine geology maps may also provide important information about seafloor composition and structure, physical properties and sedimentological and geological processes such as natural hazards. The methodology developed for data processing and interpretation combined with examples from a suite of detailed indicative substrate and marine habitat maps is presented. Interpretation of the full coverage swath bathymetry and acoustic backscatter information and ground-truthing data enables high resolution marine-related spatial and temporal substrate whilst habitat maps provide a sound multi-disciplinary scientific evidence base to inform development of European and UK marine environmental policy and planning, and are valuable tools for managing the sustainable use and conservation of coastal and marine resources, thus aiding the integration of terrestrial and marine planning regimes.

Evaluation of the Impact of Oil Tanker Accidents on Niger Delta Areas in Nigeria.

: This study was carried out to critically evaluate the impact of maritime tanker accidents in the Nigerian coastal Environment with its objective to determining the causes of the maritime tanker accidents and the effects on the coastal environment. Data was collected by both primary and secondary sources with a personal interview of ninety respondents out of a target population of 200 officially recognized maritime tanker operators in Nigeria. Secondary data was also generated by the consultation of periodicals, journals and magazine. Demographic characteristics of the respondents was analyzed using both descriptive statistical tools like the percentage, tables while the hypothesis was tested utilizing a chi square statistical tool in order to determine the acceptance or the rejection of the stated hypothesis. The study revealed that marine tanker oil accidents were caused mainly by human errors also that marine tanker accidents actually do have a negative effect on the Nigerian coastal Environment and that these tanker accidents in the Nigerian coastal environment affects the nation’s economy by the detrimental effects it places on aquatic habitat , farmland and the climate as a whole. Consequently, it was recommended amongst others that the need for and enforced coast guard agency should be on ground to check mate operations along the Nigeria coastal environment and penalties be placed on defaulters of coastal environmental regulations.

A critical look at SOLAS CH II-1 with respect to floodable length of compartments in RoPax ships

The paper presents findings of a research project (RP625) funded by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) with the purpose to provide evidence of equivalence, or lack thereof, between previous and currently in force legislative instruments governing damage stability of RoPax ships, with special focus on inboard spaces with low degree of subdivision, referred as long lower holds (LLH). The outcome of this research brings more clarity and reassurance to the industry and administrations when addressing the specific safety implications of new designs with such large un-subdivided spaces, specifically indicating that the present SOLAS 2009 regulations are able to adequately cater for ship design equipped with LLH.

Agreement between UK Maritime Coastguard Agency medical referees

The seafaring industry remains a hazardous occupation that requires sophisticated systems of risk and fitness assessment. To study the extent of agreement between the medical referees (MRs) and the determinants of agreement between the MRs. A total of 232,878 seafarer medical examinations were carried out by approved doctors (ADs) between 2003 and 2009. The extent of agreement between the MRs was studied in those cases considered by the MRs because the seafarer appealed against the AD's decision. The identified determinants of agreement between the MRs were analysed. There were 465 appeal cases that covered all medical categories. Cardiovascular disease was the most frequent cause of appeal, in 31% (143) of cases. The MRs upgraded the seafarer's fitness category in 58% (271) of cases, upheld the initial AD's decision in 40% (184) and downgraded the seafarer's fitness category in only 2% (10) of cases. There was no statistically significant difference between the MRs when they assessed the fitness of seafarers. MRs seemed to agree with each other as they upgraded the fitness category of seafarers to allow more of them to work at sea. It appears that the outcome of the appeal process was multifactorial and was affected by a combination of multiple variables.

The shipping forecast and British national identity

This article looks at the cultural impact of the shipping forecast issued by the Meteorological Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. It has a strange status that is unprecedented for a weather bulletin. The forecast has become engrained as a part of British culture and as a signifier of Englishness. This distinction of British and English is deliberate; this article will suggest that while the forecast covers the whole of the United Kingdom, and has an aesthetic resonance that extends nationwide, the characteristics and opinions that it has been used to represent appear to have been made specifically in respect of Englishness. The article considers reactions to the change of the sea area named Finisterre before looking at the artistic uses of the forecast. It argues that the cultural importance of the forecast has increased at the same time as its functional, informative role has become virtually redundant. Reactions to the forecast from the 1980s onwards have tended to reflect a crisis in English national identity, jostling for position in the ‘new Europe’ and re-evaluating itself at home in light of the establishment of the Scottish parliament and the national assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland at the end of the 1990s.

Coast guards and maritime piracy: sailing past the impediments to cooperation in Asia

Despite the efforts of the past decade, maritime piracy remains of international concern today. Countries need to cooperate actively at both the regional and international levels to eradicate the problem effectively. In particular, the nature of the threat in the Asia-Pacific region suggests that coastal states – countries that possess sovereignty over the pirate-infested waters but lack the law-enforcement resources – have to turn to resource-rich extra-regional powers for assistance. Unfortunately, cooperation between such disparate countries has traditionally been impeded by sovereignty sensitivities, as best exemplified by Malaysia's and Indonesia's hostile responses to the United States' Regional Maritime Security Initiative in 2003. Faced with this apparent dilemma, a new phenomenon has emerged. National coast guard agencies, instead of their military naval counterparts, have become attractive alternatives for promoting international cooperation against non-traditional security threats, such as maritime piracy. Spearheaded by the Japanese Coast Guard (JCG), coast guards from various countries have imparted training expertise, conducted joint exercises, hosted low-publicity multilateral meetings, and even transferred security equipment across international borders. Together they have succeeded in promoting cooperation without arousing the sovereignty sensitivities often associated with such cooperation. This article analyzes the evolution of coast guard cooperation in Asia, highlighting in particular the Japanese Coast Guard's success in this endeavor. With the general alignment of regional and global power interests in Southeast Asia, coast guard agencies hold promise for extra-regional powers wishing to help eradicate maritime piracy in the region.