SECTOR PUGET SOUND: A CASE STUDY IN COAST GUARD PARTNERSHIPS BY EDWARD LUNDQUIST
Partnerships with other federal, state, local, tribal, international and private entities are a critical enabler for the Coast Guard in carrying out its missions. Nowhere is that more apparent than Sector Puget Sound, where partnerships are paramount. Led by Sector Commander Capt. Linda Sturgis and Deputy Capt. Michael Balding, Sector Puget Sound covers 12 counties in Washington State with commercial maritime interests, and ten ports, including the three major commercial shipping ports of Seattle, Everett, and Tacoma, which together make up the third largest shipping port in the U.S. Puget Sound encompasses 3,500 square miles of waterway – including a 125-mile maritime international boundary with Canada – and nearly 5,000 commercial deep draft vessels transit the waters each year destined for U.S. and Canadian ports. Sector Puget Sound, as with the other 37 sectors within the Coast Guard, deals on a day-to-day basis with safety of navigation, environmental stewardship, emergency planning, law enforcement and maritime security. Because all of those functions involve other entities, the stakeholders meet together regularly in the Area Maritime Security Committee (AMSC); the Area Committee, which deals with oil spills and other environmental issues; and the Harbor Safety Committee, to name the big ones, and other more specific committees and working groups. The Coast Guard also participates in the Regional Coordinating Mechanism (ReCoM), which brings together the federal agencies in the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. Sector Puget Sound currently oversees the operations of Air Station Port Angeles, five stations, eight Coast Guard cutters, an Aids to Navigation Team, and the largest Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) in the United States. The sector also helps protect critical U.S. Navy facilities and assets in Puget Sound. Stakeholders at all levels are involved in everything the sector does, demonstrating the importance of partnerships for planning, prevention, preparedness and response.
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Coast Guard OUTLOOK
VESSEL TRAFFIC SERVICE Successfully managing an international boundary requires cooperation and collaboration on both sides of the border – especially when that border is at sea. Canada and the U.S. have developed a close partnership – and a shared responsibility – at all levels of government to ensure the safety, security and sovereignty of both nations. The shared responsibilities result in the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard each managing a portion of another nation’s waters. VTS monitors traffic in Puget Sound for navigation safety, but it also ensures the efficiency of the port so pilots, tug operators, stevedores, line handlers, customs officials, and husbanding agents can meet a ship on arrival and turn it around as quickly as possible so it can get back to sea. Sector Puget Sound’s Vessel Traffic Center is the largest in the U.S. and is a key traffic center in the Cooperative Vessel Traffic Service (C-VTS) shared between the U.S. and Canada. Sector Puget Sound’s VTS includes 3,500 square miles of waterways and supports more than 218,000 annual vessel transits. Seamlessly managed on an international basis in partnership with Canada, the Puget Sound VTS is a unique example of governmental cooperation. The Coast Guard’s Joint Harbor Operations Center in Seattle engages with local, state, federal, tribal, and international agencies, all staffed by representatives of those organizations so that quick and direct lines of communication are available. Across the border, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP’s) Marine Security Operations Centre (MSOC), located in the provincial capital of Victoria, British Columbia, provides integrated marine-related intelligence products for both Canadian and U.S. law enforcement agencies. All of the response agencies throughout the sector have a presence or connectivity with the Coast Guard’s Joint Harbor Operations Center (JHOC) in Seattle, and if there is a marine or maritime “911” call, the JHOC will determine and dispatch the asset that’s closest and best able to respond.
