LIFE LINE
August 2015
The Newsletter of the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF)
News… Experience… Ideas… Information… Development… In this issue:
reports on the World Maritime Rescue Congress and the IMRF’s Quadrennial General Meeting a message from our new Chairman news from China, Iran, the Mediterranean and the United Kingdom an opportunity to become an Individual Supporter of the IMRF and more!
WORLD MARITIME RESCUE CONGRESS Flying the flag! Our picture shows Congress, IMRF and DGzRS 150th Anniversary flags reflected in the windows of the venue of the IMRF’s 2015 Congress and Quadrennial General Meeting in Bremerhaven in June. Reports inside!
The International Maritime Rescue Federation is a registered company limited by guarantee in the United Kingdom and registered as a charity in England and Wales Patron: Efthimios E. Mitropoulos KCMG, IMO Secretary General Emeritus Registered office: IMRF West Quay Road Poole BH15 1HZ United Kingdom Company Registration Number: 4852596 Charity Registration Number: 1100883
www.international-maritime-rescue.org
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Editorial
Contents
Welcome to the latest edition of your newsletter.
Editorial
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A great deal has happened since we published our last edition, just before the World Maritime Rescue Congress began in Bremerhaven at the beginning of June. As we promised then, this edition contains as much as we can cram in about the Congress and our Quadrennial General Meeting and their results: see pages 3-6, 9, 10 & 11!
Dates for the Diary
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As you will read, there is a great deal of work for the IMRF to do as we begin our new quadrennium, and we have a dynamic new Board of Trustees to direct us on our way: see page 6.
MOAS calls for more donations
Mass rescue operations
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Let us pause a moment first, though, to salute old and very good friends who retired from the Board in Bremerhaven after many years of sterling service to the IMRF and the cause of global SAR. Below we picture the Board that was elected in Shanghai in 2011, with some of their better halves. From left to right, Hamish and Rene McDonald; Jorge and Sylvia Diena and Udo Fox (Jorge and Udo remain on the Board); our retiring Chairman, Michael Vlasto (well: ‘retiring’ in one sense!); Brooke and Jean Archbold; and Jiahui Song with Betsy and Rolf Westerström.
SAR planning software
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Pleasure boating in China
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A message from our new Chairman
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World Maritime Rescue Congress
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Quadrennial General Meeting
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Meet the new Board ...............................
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SAR Matters
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McMurdo partner with IMRF .................
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Join us!
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UK P&I Club gives a helping hand Rescue stories sought
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Send us your news & pictures
Dates for the Diary IMRF Regional Mass Rescue Operations Workshop hosted by the Maritime and Port Authority, Singapore 19-21 August 2015 For details, email info@imrf.org.uk
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary National Conference San Antonio, Texas 27-30 August 2015 For details, see http://cgauxa.org/nacon-2015.php
International Civil Aviation Organization / International Maritime Organization Joint Working Group on SAR Trenton, Ontario, Canada 14-18 September 2015 Thank you, guys – on behalf of lifesavers the world over and the people whose lives your hard work has helped to save. Bon voyages, and stay in touch! Now: the future beckons... We hope you will stay in touch too, via the newsletter or the website or in person. As the IMRF gathers way again on our departure from Bremerhaven, there will be much to tell you about!
For details, contact d.jardinesmith@imrf.org.uk
European Life Boat Crew Exchange 26 September - 3 October 2015 For details, email info@imrf.org.uk
European Regional Meeting Åland Islands
28-30 October 2015 For details, email info@imrf.org.uk
Australia & New Zealand SAR Conference 4-15 May 2016 Jupiters Hotel, Gold Coast Details in due course
Dave Jardine-Smith news@imrf.org.uk
www.international-maritime-rescue.org
If you are planning a SAR event of international interest which you would like to see listed here, please send the details to news@imrf.org.uk
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A message from the IMRF’s new Chairman to all the excellent Congress speakers, and to the team of ‘blueshirts’ (from the IMRF) and ‘redjackets’ (from DGzRS), as well as the technical team, who worked so hard backstage to make it all happen. Udo Fox writes: It is an honour, and it gives me great pleasure, to welcome you to this first edition of the IMRF’s newsletter since I was elected as the new Chairman of the organisation’s Board of Trustees at the Quadrennial General Meeting in Bremerhaven in June. You can read all about the QGM, and about the World Maritime Rescue Congress that preceded it, in the following pages. Both events were a great success, and helped my own organisation, the German Maritime SAR Service (DGzRS), to celebrate our 150th Anniversary in style. Let me also say what a particular honour it is to take over Michael Vlasto’s place as Chairman of the IMRF. Michael has worked tirelessly for the organisation for many years, and his are big shoes to fill! On his watch the IMRF has gone from strength to strength and is now well known and respected at the highest levels internationally. Michael will be a hard act to follow, but he and the outgoing Board have left secure foundations and a clear course ahead. Working with my colleagues on the new Board of Trustees, with the IMRF secretariat, and – most of all – with our Members, I hope to build on this success. It was great to meet so many Congress delegates in Bremerhaven, and colleagues from so many IMRF Member organisations represented at the QGM too. There was a real buzz of excitement – and I can speak for all who attended in giving special thanks www.international-maritime-rescue.org
But I think it is also my responsibility, as your new Chairman, to raise a note of caution. The Congress was a particular success, yes – but we must be aware of the expectations it has given rise to. It may have seemed to colleagues who joined us in Bremerhaven that the IMRF is a large, efficient and effective organisation able to change the world. This is not entirely true. In fact the IMRF, at its centre, is a very small organisation. Efficient and effective, yes: certainly. But its core team is small. The IMRF has been punching well above its weight. Human and financial resources are extremely short. If we want to change the world of maritime SAR, to save more lives, we – IMRF’s Members, and your Board – should recognize that the whole secretariat (the engine room of the IMRF) has been permanently working at a load rate of 100%, and sometimes 100%-plus. Nobody should expect that we can go on like that. Ignoring overload will lead to engine breakdown. The Board which led us through the last four years fully recognised this. They developed a revised strategy that
enables the IMRF to continue to work effectively, making a real difference, and which improves our ability to respond to the rapidly increasing number of calls for our help. Implementing that strategy successfully is now our core business. But please let me be very clear. The IMRF’s financial situation is tight. The people we have are working at the limit. To do more, we need more: more people and more financial resource. This is a hard fact, but a simple one. The Congress was great: the DGzRS Chairman, Gerhard Harder, called it “phenomenal” in his closing remarks, and I agree with him! But that sort of thing does not come cheap. Running a Congress of that scale creates a huge amount of work and a very large financial burden. We took a very clear decision at the planning stage that we wanted the Congress to be as inclusive as possible. We kept delegate fees well below commercial levels, for example, and helped a lot of people attend who could not otherwise do so. We hoped to ‘break even’, but could not do so in the end. That was much less important than making sure that the Congress achieved its main aims, of course – but it led to significant financial losses for the IMRF. We now need to recover and build up reserves. We will do so. It is important that everyone understands what is needed, but we will progress. I look forward to working with the new Board and the secretariat – and with you, our Members and supporters – over the next four years. Let us continue to improve maritime SAR, worldwide. To find out how you can support IMRF development please visit the “Support us” area of our web-page or contact us through info@imrf.org.uk. page 3
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August 2015
WORLD MARITIME
RESCUE CONGRESS
The IMRF’s third World Maritime Rescue Congress was held in Bremerhaven, Germany, 1-3 June, hosted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger – the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS). The Congress coincided with the celebration of the DGzRS’ 150th Anniversary, and with the IMRF’s Quadrennial General Meeting (see page 6).
considerably in those 150 years, the need for SAR services remains as vital as ever. He highlighted the too frequent loss of life in accidents on ferries in domestic trades; the IMRF’s mass rescue operations project, which, he said, is a good example of the positive action the Federation can take to enhance safety through the application of its special expertise (see page 10); and the terrible and ongoing loss of life among people trying to cross the Mediterranean as migrants and refugees.
Nearly 500 people attended the Congress in all, 275 as delegates and 223 as crew of the rescue craft old and new that gathered for the occasion. 104 IMRF member and other organisations were represented, from some 40 countries around the world. There were 70 speakers in all, covering a very wide range of maritime SAR subjects. And 45 organisations took part in an International SAR Exhibition nearby. Delegates were welcomed to Bremerhaven by the city’s Mayor, Melf Grantz; the DGzRS Chairman, Gerhard Harder; and Enak Ferlemann, Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. Opening the Congress, IMRF Chairman Michael Vlasto highlighted how the combination of advances in rescue craft design, improved training regimes and better communications had reduced the overall risk to those carrying out the often difficult and dangerous work of rescuing those in distress at sea. He also noted the growing importance of prevention and education strategies which had a vital part to play in reducing the loss of lives in the world’s waters. Congratulating DGzRS on their 150th Anniversary, IMO Secretary-General Emeritus and IMRF Patron Efthimios Mitropoulos remarked that, while SAR practice and technology has changed www.international-maritime-rescue.org
Hang out the flags! Rescue boats and crowds gathered at Bremerhaven to celebrate DGzRS’ 150th Anniversary; preparing for the party in Bremen; and scenes from the Congress
Paul Boissier, Chief Executive Officer of the UK & Ireland’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and Martin Xuereb of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), also gave keynote speeches.
photo: Manfred Buttke
Paul said that every SAR organisation has to decide what it wants to achieve, and reflect that ambition honestly and openly in its vision statement. It then needs to create a strategy that will allow it to move in the right direction, and a structure that gives it the best possible chance to deliver the strategy. Martin described the situation faced by SAR organisations responding to the migrant and refugee crisis in the Mediterranean, and the establishment and work of his own charity as part of that response (see page 8). The Congress delegates also heard from Bruce Reid, IMRF’s CEO, who introduced brief reports by the project leaders on the Federation’s ongoing work on SAR development, mass rescue operations, rescue boat guidelines, and the crew exchange boat. (Please see www.internationalmaritime-rescue.org for details, and see also page 10 as regards the MRO project.)
The main work of the Congress was divided into three parallel work streams (continued on page 5) page 4
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under main headings of ‘SAR Organisation & Management’, ‘SAR Coordination’ and ‘SAR Operations’, each loosely divided into ‘workshops’. The opportunity to discuss the wide-ranging subjects raised, and to network generally, was enhanced by a programme that included many breaks and social events. We encourage you to join in the conversation! The full Congress report and all the presentations may be downloaded in pdf format from www.internationalmaritime-rescue.org/index.php/homewmrc. As a taster, here are the workshop titles and contents: Prevention o to significantly impact drowning worldwide, do we need to look beyond just rescue organisations? o the WaterWise Academy, South Africa o risk identification and ‘black spot’ models o Coastguard New Zealand’s Boating Education programme Mass Rescue Operations o the IMRF’s online MRO resource library o unconventional solutions in improving MRO response o operational prioritisation in MROs o the Local Incident Coordinator function o process-optimised communications o the FIRST project: hoistable liferafts o the Medical and Psychological Emergency Cell, France Unmanned Systems o unmanned aircraft and surface systems in SAR – potential roles, benefits & limitations (3 presentations) Development o domestic ferry safety in the developing world o the SAR response to ferry accidents (see also page 10) o an appraisal of maritime SAR in Nigeria o transforming a charity into a social business in Uganda o restructuring a long-established SAR organisation o developing a culture of innovation o an analysis of maritime and riverine SAR services in Brazil Databases o NikooSAR – SAR management software package o modelling maritime casualty investigation o a study of deaths due to drowning in Africa o Surtsey.org: open source projects, ideas and innovations Decision-making o research into decision-making in maritime SAR o Vessel Triage: enhancing situational awareness www.international-maritime-rescue.org
August 2015
Funding o is it possible to cut costs and deliver a better service? o a case study of funding SAR support o better use of modern mass communications o the power of stories, pictures and social media o a fundraising and budget allocation workshop Special Cases o international humanitarian law and SAR in conflict zones (2 presentations) o migration and loss of life at sea o UNHCR’s perspective on the ‘mixed migration’ problem Training o the potential of simulation in complex incident training (3 presentations) o training and practice in high-speed navigation o stress exposure training: ‘drills versus reality’ o training in low cost and low technology environments o the IMRF European Region’s crew exchange project o a resuscitation course for rescue craft crews o an intuitive first-aid assistance application Communications o challenges & opportunities in the ‘SAR ecosystem’ o MEOSAR and 2nd generation emergency beacons o a close scrutiny of the GMDSS o SAR-related communication issues o SAR and the Global Navigation Satellite System o crisis communication management and social media Organisational Culture o building an effective organisational culture o leadership and innovation in high-risk teams o volunteers in rescue service organisations o making safety a core cultural component Casualty Care o what happens during drowning and how this affects resuscitation o medical support by SAR crew: strategic considerations o an integrated approach to casualty (patient) care Other presentations o ‘KNRM Helps’: an innovative mobile safety app o responding to floods in low-income countries o experience gained from a liferaft exercise o the effects of Whole Body Vibration o the response to major marine incidents in China The Congress is over – but it’s still not too late to join in! Visit www.international-maritime-rescue.org.
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Meet the new Board
The IMRF’s Quadrennial General Meeting A well-attended IMRF Quadrennial General Meeting (QGM) took place on 3-4 June, in Bremerhaven, Germany, after the close of the 2015 World Maritime Rescue Congress. Michael Vlasto was in the chair. In his report Michael noted the IMRF’s successes over the last four years, including significant increases in membership and improvements in communications and our international reputation and presence; the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (APRC); and successful progress on IMRF projects – for example, on SAR development in North and West Africa; Mass Rescue Operations, the Rescue Boat Guidelines, and the European Crew Exchange programme. But Michael also spoke about the challenges the IMRF faces. He pointed out that the IMRF’s ability to progress an increasing number of opportunities for global SAR development has been limited by the resources available to us. CEO Bruce Reid supported this in making his financial report: there had been significant organisational change and progress over the quadrennium, but this came at a cost. The focus is now on increasing IMRF income, to enable us to do the work required of us. In other business, the QGM agreed to a revision of the IMRF’s constitution – a revision primarily required by changes to the UK legislation under which we work, but which also created a new membership class of ‘Individual Supporter’ (see ‘Join us!’ on page 9) and improved the way in which IMRF Trustees are appointed. The revised constitution may be found on the IMRF website. Michael and Bruce also discussed the revised strategic plan developed by the outgoing Board: more on this in the October edition of LIFE LINE. In accordance with our constitution – old and new – a new Board of Trustees was elected, to guide the IMRF through the next quadrennium (see right). Five members of the old Board – Rolf Westerström, Song Jiahui, Hamish McDonald, Brooke Archbold and Michael himself – had retired. They were thanked and applauded by the membership, and received certificates acknowledging their new status as Honorary Members of the IMRF. Thank you, gentlemen! The full minutes of the QGM are available on the website.
www.international-maritime-rescue.org
The IMRF’s Board of Trustees, who oversee the charity and provide our strategic direction, is elected every four years, at our QGM. With five of the previous Board retiring in Bremerhaven (see left), a full election was held. We are delighted to introduce our new Board (in alphabetical order): Jorge Diena is a member of Asociación Honoraria de Salvamentos Marítimos y Fluviales (ADES, Uruguay). He has been an IMRF Trustee since 2011. Mohammed Drissi was co-opted onto the Board at the 2015 QGM. He is head of the SAR Bureau at the Ocean Fisheries Ministry, Morocco, and IMRF’s Regional Coordinator for North & West Africa. Matthew Fader works in Human Resources, Training and Project Coordination at the Swedish Sea Rescue Society. He was elected to the Board by the QGM in Bremerhaven. Udo Fox is a longstanding IMRF Trustee, and has been Executive Director of the German Maritime SAR Service (DGzRS) since 2001. He was elected Chairman of the new IMRF Board in Bremerhaven. (See Udo’s article on page 3.)
Dean Lawrence, elected to the Board by the Bremerhaven QGM, is President of The Royal New Zealand Coastguard. Dean has an extensive 'hands-on' operational SAR background. Rikke Lind became Secretary General of Redningsselskapet (the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue) in August 2012. She too was elected to the IMRF Board at the 2015 QGM. James Vaughan was co-opted by the previous Board, and elected by the QGM in Bremerhaven. He is International Director of the UK & Ireland’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Zhang Rongjun, also elected by the QGM, has been Deputy DirectorGeneral of China Rescue & Salvage’s Donghai Rescue Bureau since 2012, and is also Deputy Manager of the IMRF’s Asia Pacific Regional Centre (APRC). Welcome aboard. It’s going to be quite a voyage! page 6
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SAR Matters This column provides a forum for LIFE LINE readers worldwide to contribute to debate on any SAR issue. Have a look at previous discussions in our Newsletter Archive, online at www.international-maritime-rescue.org: every LIFE LINE since 2010 is available there for free download. You can join in the debate by emailing news@imrf.org.uk. It’s good to talk! In this edition we return to the ongoing crisis of migrant SAR. photo: MOAS.EU/Jason Florio
The rescue of migrants and asylum-seekers at sea in unseaworthy vessels and dangerous conditions has become perhaps the greatest SAR challenge of our time. Tens of thousands of people are moving across the Mediterranean, fleeing poverty or fear and seeking safety or simply a better life in Europe. Thousands are dying in the attempt. People are trying to cross other seas too: Bangladeshis, and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, looking for work or escaping persecution, are facing terrible conditions in the eastern Indian Ocean, for example. The SAR challenges are manifold. The number of people needing rescue is obviously a huge difficulty: these are multiple mass rescue operations (see page 10). The people at risk are not equipped for survival at sea: their rescue is therefore more urgent. For both these reasons merchant ships are essential to the rescue effort, for despite the extra SAR units now helping out – which we will turn to shortly – there are not enough available. We need passing ships to help; but the pressures on ships’ crews and operators are immense, under-reported, and inadequately addressed by the authorities. We are relying on them too much. Perhaps most challenging of all, however, is the fact that this is not a problem that can be solved at sea. It can only be resolved at source, ashore. Something must be done – in reality, a large number of different things must be done – to stop people risking their lives in this way. The most basic principle of maritime SAR is that people in distress at sea should be rescued whenever possible. It should not matter who they are or how they came to be there. www.international-maritime-rescue.org
Yet it would be disingenuous to argue that migrants and asylum-seekers are the same as other rescued people. They are more difficult to land. Some States take a hard line. Some divert ‘migrant’ boats to other countries. Some are said to be simply sending them back out to sea. Some argue that they bear no responsibility. Some, on the other hand, continue to accept their humanitarian and legal responsibilities, and save thousands of lives. The IMRF salutes the latter – but, while the flows continue, the victims and their would-be rescuers remain at risk. And so do some fundamental SAR principles. Just as we need passing ships to help pick people up, we need States to accept their responsibility to provide places of safety. The two things together are what ‘rescue’ means. The IMRF urges the international community to address the wider issues urgently, so that the pressure on SAR authorities and responders – merchant shipping in particular – can be relieved, and the threats now visible to the basic principles of SAR at sea can be averted. Fundamentally, there are thousands of people in distress. What caused it, and what should be done with them after they have been rescued, are separate arguments. SAR – from retrieval to delivery to places of safety – stands alone, and its principles must be staunchly defended. Some of these issues were addressed at our World Maritime Rescue Congress in June (see page 4). Sumbul Rizvi, representing the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Konstantinos Mitragas of the Hellenic Rescue Team spoke about the matter, from the international and a SAR organisation’s perspectives. Martin Xuereb of MOAS (see page 8) gave a keynote address. Congress delegates suggested that IMRF’s larger member organisations could support the Mediterranean rescue effort, and volunteer SAR organisations in the region in particular. This is now happening, in various ways. For example in June Matthew Fader, of the Swedish Sea Rescue Society (SSRS) – a newly elected IMRF Trustee and also a registered nurse specialising in pre-hospital emergency medicine – joined a rescue operation initiated by the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and, aboard Bourbon Argos, helped rescue over 1,200 people in a period of two weeks. Many of those rescued were in poor condition before they set out, and needed extensive medical treatment after being rescued. Bourbon Argos has a medical clinic with emergency room aboard, staffed by experienced nurses and doctors around the clock; for transfer to places (continued on page 8) page 7
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of safety in Italy can take over 48 hours. SSRS contributed expertise in mass rescue, SAR methods, and recovery of people from the water, and supported medical evacuation from boats containing up to 400 men, women and children. Redningsselskapet (RS: the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue) is another IMRF Member which is contributing to the SAR effort in the Mediterranean.
MOAS calls for more donations Christian Peregin of MOAS writes: SAR charity MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) has saved more than 5,500 lives in the first half of this year’s operation, while raising just about enough money to complete its six-month mission in the Mediterranean Sea. The recent rescue efforts at sea have significantly reduced the death toll in the world’s deadliest border crossing, but more financing is urgently needed to keep MOAS at sea beyond October.
The RS rescue vessel Peter Henry Von Koss has been assigned an operating area between Greece and Turkey as part of the European Union’s ‘Operation Poseidon’. The vessel is manned by RS crews, Norwegian police and representatives of the Greek authorities. She made her first rescue on 29 July, picking up 14 Syrians whose rubber boat foundered as they tried to make the crossing.
"We have been working to make the Norwegian coast safer for 125 years, and now we are taking part in an operation outside Norway for the first time,” says Rikke Lind, Secretary General of RS and also a newlyelected IMRF Trustee. “We are pleased to accept this new responsibility."
Rikke Lind (right) with RS crew and Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg www.international-maritime-rescue.org
Following a successful two-month mission last year in which MOAS saved 3,000 men, women and children from crammed and unseaworthy boats sent out by smugglers, the NGO set sail again on May 2nd aboard MY Phoenix.
In three months, MOAS assisted 17 vessels in distress, under the guidance and coordination of Rome’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre. All the refugees were disembarked in Italy where they can be processed for asylum. Public support for MOAS has also shot up in these past months, with almost €1.5 million raised within a few weeks.
“When we started MOAS we had faith that the global community will be inspired to respond to this humanitarian crisis of historic proportions. We created an innovative direct response which the public could support and help finance. Now people have responded to our call that nobody deserves to die at sea,” said MOAS founder Christopher Catrambone. The biggest single donation to MOAS came from drone operator Schiebel, who will be providing two drones and personnel for free for the months of September and October, worth €600,000. Meanwhile, the Avaaz.org community has raised an additional €450,000 following an online appeal to its large member database. A fundraising activity in Germany also helped raised an additional €250,000 thanks to the efforts of the Archdiocese of Cologne and Caritas. MOAS has also received direct donations from the public and enjoys ongoing support from MSF and German philanthropist Jürgen Wagentrotz and his company Oil and Gas Invest. “This is a great example of civil society responding to a global problem. We are incredibly proud of what we’re witnessing,” said Mr Catrambone. Donations can be www.moas.eu/donate.
made
to
photos: MOAS.EU/Jason Florio
Meanwhile, a flotilla of other private ships has joined MOAS at sea, including two boats run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF – Doctors Without Borders), which also has a presence aboard Phoenix where its doctors and nurses provide post-rescue care. page 8
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Member Focus: McMurdo partnering IMRF to improve maritime SAR globally McMurdo – world leaders in search and rescue and maritime domain awareness solutions – have partnered with the IMRF to help us target some of the key challenges facing maritime SAR globally, including rescue team training, the safety of artisanal fishermen and the emerging requirements of the SAR services managing unsafe mixed migration by sea.
The IMRF’s partnership with McMurdo will help us build on the work we have been doing with the International Maritime Organization’s Technical Cooperation Committee and Secretariat, and with developing SAR organisations, to complete the Global SAR Plan – which aims to provide consistent SAR response and emergency communication around the world. “The depth of knowledge of the entire end-to-end search and rescue process which McMurdo brings to the table will add enormous value to the workshops, forums and meetings we will hold over the next two years,” says IMRF Chief Executive Bruce Reid. “By combining our knowledge, skills and influence we can do more to prevent loss of life in the world's waters.” Randel Maestre, Chief Marketing Officer for McMurdo, has been instrumental in identifying the key SAR areas the organisations will be working together on. “Our vision to build an ecosystem of products, technologies and services that prevents emergencies, protects assets and saves lives is tightly aligned with IMRF's goal of preventing the loss of life in the world's waters,” says Randel. “We look forward to working with the IMRF, the IMO and with search and rescue organizations to implement these key initiatives and to create a world where everyone – whether on land, in the air or on the sea – feels safe and secure.” The IMRF’s partnership with McMurdo is initially for two years. Its cash component will help us meet the increasing demand for IMRF involvement coming from the SAR community. But as important to this support is the access to the information and knowledge McMurdo can provide to support our key projects and expansion of information available to our members and the wider SAR community. www.international-maritime-rescue.org
Join us! As noted in our report on the recent IMRF Quadrennial General Meeting (page 6), we are now able to offer a new class of IMRF membership, that of ‘Individual Supporter’. The IMRF has always been based on membership by organisations (see below). But now anyone wanting to support global maritime search and rescue development, or the promotion of water safety, can join in. The minimum subscription for an Individual Supporter is €30 a year (although you can give more if you wish!). The IMRF is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom, and therefore subject to UK charity law – so you can be certain that your membership subscription will be carefully used in our work of preventing loss of life in the world’s waters. And there is a great deal of work to do. The IMRF has an international reputation in this field, and we are asked to help with all sorts of SAR development projects. Your support will help us meet more of these requests. What do you get in return, apart from the knowledge that you are helping save lives? Well, you will receive this newsletter; you will be made aware of any promotions and events and will be eligible for any Member discounts available; and you can benefit from a 20% discount on purchases you make in the IMRF’s online bookshop. Visit www.international-maritime-rescue.org and click on ‘Become a Member’ for more information. And, if you represent an organisation, have a look at our other membership classes too: o ‘Full Members’ provide maritime search and/or rescue services as one of their primary purposes, and are our core membership group, with ultimate responsibility for governing what the IMRF is and does; o ‘Affiliate Members’ are subsidiaries of Full Member organisations; or organisations whose primary purpose is the promotion of water safety; or organisations engaged in setting up search and rescue services; and o ‘Associate Membership’ is open to any organisation or person with an interest in the provision of maritime search and rescue, or the promotion of water safety. Visit the website – and join us if you can!
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Mass rescue operations Costa Cruises have announced recently that they are to build two ships which, at 6,600 passengers apiece, will set a new capacity record. SAR people may think that, when you add their crews and a maritime disaster, they present potentially the biggest SAR challenge in the world. But this is not necessarily so. Modern ships of this size are built to survive major accidents, keeping their people aboard. The challenge, as pointed out in the IMRF’s mass rescue operations (MRO) project (see below), is to consider how SAR organisations should adapt their responses so as to be able to support such ships’ crews and operators in dealing with the consequences of an accident. The main MRO challenges actually lie elsewhere, however; often in the developing world, where accidents are too often under-reported. Since the World Maritime Rescue Congress closed at the beginning of June, the IMRF has been made aware of a mix of cases, in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sweden, the United States, Egypt, Papua New Guinea, Greece, Bangladesh and Oman. As LIFE LINE goes to press there is news of a passenger boat capsizing after a collision in the Kenyan waters of Lake Victoria. And, of course, from the Mediterranean comes a stream of stories of mass rescue operations, often in desperate circumstances (see pages 7-8). As our Patron, Efthimios Mitropoulos, noted in his speech to Congress (see page 4), the loss of life in ferries in domestic trades – not covered by international regulation – is far too high. Kiersten Sander of the IMRF has been collaborating with the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association on research into the causes of passenger vessel accidents and the SAR response to them. Both sets of research were reported at Congress (see page 5). www.international-maritime-rescue.org
The WFSA’s analysis reveals that there were over 17,000 fatalities in domestic ferry accidents between 2000 and 2014: about 1200 deaths per year. Developing world nations accounted for 95% of the fatalities. Ferry capacity is increasing but vessels are often sub-standard (an issue that the IMO too is now seeking to address). Kiersten’s report may be found at www.international-maritimerescue.org/index.php/qgm-papersdownload/file/989-search-rescueresponse-to-ferry-accidents-commonproblems-potential-solutions-goodpractice-by-kiersten-sander. She concludes that when rescue is necessary SAR resources may be insufficient or, apparently, not available at all. SAR reports are often lacking, but “the results of this research suggest that SAR authorities in developing nations are underresourced, with vast rivers, lakes and coastlines to monitor.” A mass rescue operation is, by definition, one that is beyond the normal capability of the SAR services available. Even if low probability incidents, they carry high consequences, and require planning for. The IMRF’s Mass Rescue Operations Project has sought to gather and share experience and information on these most challenging types of SAR operations. David Jardine-Smith, the project manager, announced the launch of the IMRF’s online ‘MRO Library’ at Congress. The Library is primarily designed to share information useful to the MRO planning and training processes. It may be found on the IMRF website at:
www.international-maritimerescue.org/index.php/homemropublic The Library contains a wealth of useful documents freely provided by IMRF members or available from other sources. It also contains ‘MRO guidance papers’ prepared by the IMRF’s project team to provide an overview. These guidance papers can be individually accessed on the site, enabling the user to quickly find information relevant to his or her particular needs. They are also available in eBook form, as a down-loadable pdf formatted to enable printing, if desired, in A4 size. To help raise funds for the continuing project, this version of the guidance is for sale, at the modest price of £10 – £8 for IMRF members. Please visit the IMRF Bookshop at www.internationalmaritime-rescue.org. The IMRF also runs MRO workshops, designed to enable discussion of the issues and to assist planning and training. We take this opportunity to extend an invitation to maritime SAR organisations across the Asia-Pacific region to join us in Singapore for a regional MRO workshop, 19-21 August. This event will include a demonstration utilising multiple simulated bridges and a full day workshop delivered by IMRF MRO specialist, John Geel. For further information about the Singapore event or future MRO workshops, please contact us at info@imrf.org.uk. As has been said, with MROs it is not ‘if’ but ‘when’. Preparedness – improving capability – is key to success.
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Comprehensive SAR planning software The IMRF is delighted to pass on a very kind offer made by the NikooSAR team to share the SAR management software package they presented at the World Maritime Rescue Congress in June.
The NikooSAR software provides a comprehensive view of any SAR region in the world. It includes live data on the waves, currents, wind and weather conditions, offshore platforms, environmentally sensitive areas, buoys, MRCCs and MRSCs, as well as vessels in the area. It can zoom in, allowing the SAR planner to oversee the local situation, and also provides for regional and international cooperation. In addition to monitoring, the software helps locate people in distress, using live information to provide a probable location of the search object, whether a person, liferaft, vessel or aircraft. The software will be provided free of charge, without conditions or requirements for the countries or authorities interested in having it. “It would be our pleasure,” say the NikooSAR team, “To follow in IMRF’s footsteps and play a small role in this humanitarian movement.” Any interested SAR organisation is invited to contact the team direct, at nikoosar@yahoo.com. See too the team’s Congress presentation, at www.international-maritimerescue.org/index.php/homewmrc Please note that, as a matter of policy, the IMRF does not endorse any product or service we advertise, nor can we act as ‘agent’ between interested parties. www.international-maritime-rescue.org
August 2015
Pleasure boating in China The IMRF’s Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (APRC) recently co-hosted an International Yachting Safety and Rescue Forum as part of the Shanghai International Marine Festival organised by new IMRF Associate Members Shanghai Yuan Zhou Cultural Communications. Pleasure boating is still very new to China, though it is growing in interest and participation. The IMRF arranged international speakers from New Zealand, the UK and Finland to provide presentations on regulating the recreational fleet, educating the recreational boating community and establishing volunteer search and rescue services. The audience was a mix of regulators, insurers, recreational boat builders and rescue services. Mr Zheng Weihang of the China Yacht Development Experts Committee provided valuable insights into the growing recreational boating community. Currently, recreational boating is the domain of the wealthy, with pleasure craft being used more for entertaining while securely moored than for cruising. But there is a strong push to create public marinas and make boating more accessible to the wider community. With only an estimated 7,000 pleasure craft the market is still very small – but demand is growing. Mr Zheng, and other speakers, also noted that recreational boats looking to go out on the coastal waters are treated in the same way as commercial vessels. It is hoped that regulations will be developed better suited for recreational activity. By comparison, New Zealand has a recreational fleet of approximately 900,000 with very little regulation, and no requirement for licencing or registering boats. The UK is a similar environment with about 2.8 million
people going boating and no skipper training or licencing required. In both countries the safety record is good with around 30 fatalities per year. Many of these occur in vessels of under 5 metres length, and a good number would have survived had they been wearing lifejackets. Lindsay Sturt, of Maritime New Zealand, explained how a strategic approach had been used to improve recreational boating safety, bringing all the stakeholders together to discuss, plan and collaborate. This approach has provided a focus point and a sounding board for proposed safety regulations. John Cowan of NZ Coastguard Boating Education provided an overview of the training and education they deliver, with a move to on-line training recently implemented. Without compulsory training having options for training that fit the time available to students is key to completing the courses. John also noted that because of the increasing number of Chinese moving to New Zealand the courses have now been translated to cater for this growing market. The Finnish Lifeboat Institute’s Jori Nordström made the important point that in many cases distress is relative to the skipper’s experience. He discussed how volunteer rescue groups are an effective way of improving the response to pleasure craft in distress. Identifying where the service is needed requires good relationships between Governmental and non-governmental groups, but the establishment of volunteer services can happen quickly. Jori cited Estonia as a good example. Building a safety culture is an exciting challenge – and the work has begun! page 11
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August 2015
Rescue stories sought Researcher Kathryn Kingston writes:
UK P&I give the IMRF a helping hand The UK P&I Club is one of the oldest P&I Clubs in the world. It provides protection and indemnity insurance in respect of third party liabilities and expenses arising from owning ships or operating ships as principals. One of the largest mutual marine P&I organisations, UK P&I insures over 200 million tonnes of owned and chartered ships from more than fifty countries across the globe.
Each year the Club supports a number of charities in the maritime sector and in Bermuda where the Club is incorporated. The Club’s Directors, at their board meeting in May, chose the IMRF as a charity that they would like to support this year and authorised the Secretary to make a donation of $5,000. The IMRF pass on our thanks to the Directors of UK P&I Club for their support which will help us continue to deliver on our shared humanitarian goal of preventing loss of life in the world’s waters. To get behind the IMRF with a donation please go to www.international-maritimerescue.org and click on the ‘support us’ tag.
Providing assistance to those in distress is an ancient maritime custom. Seafarers know better than any that the search and rescue system relies on their commitment to this fundamental humanitarian tradition. The Master of the ship Sibonga provides a record of one such rescue: ‘Having been in such tightly packed conditions for almost four days, some could hardly stand, their badly cramped limbs refusing to take the weight of their bodies. Cargo gear was rigged and a large box inside a cargo net was used to hoist those aboard who could not climb the shipside ladders. A couple of the ship’s crew went onto the refugee boat to lift people into the box and prevent it being overloaded, as refugees, afraid I would leave without them, kept throwing exhausted children into the box in an attempt to ensure their safety. It was a heart-breaking scene and one I shall never forget.’ Today, of course, it would not be uncommon for a ship passing through the Mediterranean Sea to encounter such a scenario – but this eye-witness account was recorded over 35 years ago. The migrants the captain describes were among the ‘boat people’ fleeing Vietnam in the late 1970s. But encounters between merchant vessels and migrants in distress are almost unchanged since. I am looking to illustrate the often unreported role of merchant seafarers in the rescue of migrants by collecting eyewitness accounts from
mariners who have had interactions with migrant boats. The accounts will contribute to a chapter in a new book on Lampedusa (a focal point of the Mediterranean migrant traffic and response). Stories sent to me will be anonymised on request. Your contributions will provide a unique perspective on events that, while separated by time and place, remain strikingly similar – not only in their acutely tragic nature but also in the humanity of the seafaring community’s response. As a judge in an 1880 salvage case observed, ‘the impulsive desire to save human life in peril is one of the most beneficial instincts of humanity, and is nowhere more salutary in its results than in bringing help to those who, exposed to destruction from the fury of the winds and waves, would perish if left without assistance.’ If you would like to discuss or contribute to this project, please contact me at: lampedusaeyewitness@gmail.com I look forward to hearing from you.
And finally... We hope that you have found this issue of LIFE LINE informative and interesting. If you would like to contribute articles and pictures about your news, projects, events, ideas or lessons learned, please contact news@imrf.org.uk
LIFE LINE www.international-maritime-rescue.org
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