Marine pollution experts lead oil spill table top exercise |29 September 2016

Representatives of different agencies involved in ensuring safety at sea, protecting sea trade routes and preventing pollution are meeting in a table top exercise to test their preparedness and response capabilities against oil spills.

The Seychelles Maritime Safety Administration (SMSA), the Division of Risk and Disaster Management (DRDM) as well as other key stakeholders involved in protection and rescue at sea are taking part in the exercise which is being conducted by three marine pollution experts from the European Union Critical Maritime Routes in the Indian Ocean(CRIMARIO) programme.

The two-day exercise, which started on Tuesday at the DRDM headquarters at Mont Fleuri, continued yesterday. A debriefing has been planned for this morning.

As the Indian Ocean represents the world’s third largest ocean through which  around 70% of all oil shipments pass, the threats on the maritime routes remain important, even if piracy and armed robbery at sea have decreased in recent years. The various forms of trafficking, smuggling, and illegal fishing jeopardise the development of the littoral countries and the threat of oil spills also exists.

Launched in July last year, the new EU CRIMARIO project aims to raise awareness on the above issues and tackle cross-border crimes in the Indian Ocean by developing regional cooperation and coordination between maritime agencies in the wider region.