LIFELINE June 2011 - English

LIFE LINE

June 2011

December 2010 The Newsletter of the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) December 2010 News… Experience… Ideas… Information… Development…

December 2010 In this issue: 

December 2010 more on the World Maritime Rescue Congress and the IMRF’s Quadrennial General Meeting

  

- Shanghai, August 2011 the IMRF’s projects, and its work at the International Maritime Organization December news from the USA, South Africa, Switzerland, the UK, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean 2010 and more!

December 2010 A message from the Chairman of the IMRF Trustees December How time flies! By the time you read this, there will be less than three months to go until the IMRF‟s World Maritime 2010 Rescue Congress begins in Shanghai. You have probably read a good deal about it in previous editions of LIFE LINE (and there‟s more in this issue) or you may have received information about it directly. In any event, please December visit the Congress website at www.wmrc2011.org. There you will find all the latest information, about the Congress and the International SAR Exhibition that will accompany it; and about the IMRF‟s Quadrennial General 2010 Meeting - a very important event in itself.

I am delighted to be able to take this opportunity to announce that the Secretary-General of the International December Maritime Organisation, Efthimios Mitropoulos, has advised us that he will be able to attend the Congress; a clear 2010 indication of the importance Mr Mitropoulos attachs to maritime search and rescue.

On behalf of the IMRF Trustees, and of all IMRF Members, I would like to take this opportunity too to thank most December sincerely our hosts in Shanghai - China Rescue and Salvage. Their Director General, Captain Jiahui Song, is an 2010Gerry IMRF Trustee, and he and his team have been working very hard indeed - together with our Secretary, Keeling, and the other members of the IMRF Secretariat - to ensure that the Congress, Exhibition and QGM are a great success. My grateful thanks to them all.

For the Congress to really be a success, though, we need your participation.

December 2010

These are, of course, difficult times financially. We are all having to make hard decisions about how best to spend the budgets available to us. I can well understand that, although the Congress fee has been kept as lowDecember as possible (it is about 25-30% of comparable conference fees), the associated travel expenses are significant for many of you.

2010

But I believe that I can promise you that attending will be very well worth your while! The IMRF exists to give a voice to all involved in maritime SAR; and our Congress every four years is the occasion for all to come together to December discuss, face-to-face, matters of lifesaving importance. This is where, together, we can make a real and vital difference - and you need to be there to be a part of it.

2010 The same applies to the Quadrennial General Meeting, where our Members decide how the IMRF should be run for the next four years. We have important matters to discuss in Shanghai - not least who the IMRF‟s Trustees will be for the 2011-2015 period. I take this opportunity to remind Members too of the important papers our Secretary has sent to you for your early attention: please see the reminder on page 3 below. Gerry needs your replies as soon as possible, please.

In summary, the Congress, the Exhibition and the QGM are for you and about you and, in turn, they are about and for those who you work so hard to save. Please make every effort to join us in Shanghai in August. I look forward to seeing you

there!

Michael Vlasto, Chairman of IMRF Trustees

December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December page 1 2010 December

LIFE LINE

June 2011

Editorial

Contents

Welcome to LIFE LINE‟s June 2011 edition.

A message from the Chairman

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1

As regular readers will already know - and as our Chairman points out on page 1 - the IMRF‟s quadrennial World Maritime Rescue Congress convenes in Shanghai in August. It is being very kindly hosted by IMRF Members China Rescue and Salvage - who promise to put on quite a show!

Editorial

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In this edition we report on some of what will be on offer - and remind you of how you can participate.

Dates for the Diary

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World Maritime Rescue Congress an overview & call for papers

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3

IMRF Quadrennial General Meeting important constitutional change .....

3

World Maritime Rescue Congress themes: a rescue boat code, & mass rescue operations .....

4

IMO news

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5

The IMRF at the IMO ..............................

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From Aberdeen to Alaska

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News from the USA The Congress - which is open to all - will run th from Wednesday 24 August until Sunday th 28 ; and our hosts are adding an optional visit to Zhenjiang on the Yangtze the following day.

Zhenjiang is the site of what‟s believed to have been the world‟s first dedicated maritime rescue service. So, as well as discussing the latest in maritime SAR, you will be able to see where it all began. So far as we know, anyway!

An unusual South African rescue

You can also attend the IMRF‟s Quadrennial General Meeting, reviewing our work over the last four years, and planning ahead for the period 2011-2015 - and there‟ll be the International SAR Exhibition to visit too.

Booked yet...? You can email congress2011 @international-maritime-rescue.org; or phone +86 21 3381 2011; or fax +86 21 3381 2010.

And if you have a presentation to give, please get your outline paper in to the Secretariat as soon as you can - see the reminder on page 3.

There‟s a good deal about the Congress in this issue - but there‟s a good deal else for you too!

We report on some of what the International Maritime Organization - the IMO - is getting up to, and on what the IMRF has been getting up to at the IMO. We have our regular „SAR Matters‟ column and, as usual, there‟s news of SAR incidents and SAR developments from around the world - including two pieces on how maritime SAR units can assist with flood-related incidents inland; and two short articles on the serious problem of piracy and the terrible loss of life among migrants at sea.

The need for SAR is always there. Let‟s keep it going.

Best wishes, Dave Jardine-Smith news@internationalmaritime-rescue.org

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News from the Caribbean

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News from Switzerland and the UK

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News from Africa and elsewhere

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SAR Matters ...........................................

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Piracy: the response ..............................

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Send us your news & pictures .................

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Dates for the Diary World Maritime Rescue Congress 24-28 Aug 2011 The Congress will be hosted by China Rescue and Salvage in Shanghai. It will comprise presentations, workshops, an international SAR exhibition, and SAR exercises. It will also be the venue for the IMRF Members‟ quadrennial general meeting.

See the articles in this issue of LIFE LINE and visit www.wmrc2011.org for further details.

European Regional Meeting

27-28 Oct 2011

The next IMRF European Regional Development meeting will be hosted in Oslo by the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue.

More details in due course.

SAR ASIA-2011

6-7 Dec 2011

The first Shephard Group SAR event in the Asia-Pacific region will be held in the Holiday Inn Atrium, Singapore. For programme enquires contact Capt Gabriel Kinney, USCG (retired) at gkinney@twcny.rr.com.

Mass Rescue Conference

June 2012

The second in IMRF‟s conference series on mass rescue at sea will continue work begun in Gothenburg in June 2010 (see report in the October issue of LIFE LINE) and to be progressed at the World Maritime Rescue Congress in Shanghai. Further details will be announced in LIFE LINE in due course.

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The World Maritime Rescue Congress 2011 will be held at the InterContinental Shanghai EXPO Hotel in Shanghai, China, th th from the 24 to the 28 August 2011.

The Congress continues the long traditions of the International Lifeboat Conferences dating back to 1924.

The 2011 event will include: Opening and keynote addresses The International Search and Rescue Exhibition The IMRF Quadrennial General Meeting Syndicate sessions, in which delegates can exchange experiences, ideas, and lessons learned in search and rescue worldwide Workshops on key topics pertinent to international search and rescue

June 2011

Already booked?

Good! That‟s excellent news - and we look forward to seeing you in Shanghai.

A few of you have asked about the booking and payment process. We can reassure you that, if you have received an email from the Congress team acknowledging your booking, you have a place reserved at the Congress and accommodation (if you requested it) booked at the rates quoted in the Congress brochure.

Payment will be taken a little nearer the time.

If you have any queries, please don‟t hesitate to contact the Congress team at congress2011 @international-maritime-rescue.org; or phone +86 21 3381 2011; or fax +86 21 3381 2010.

Planning sessions identifying future priorities for the global SAR community It must be emphasised that the World Maritime Rescue Congress is about SAR people talking together - not being talked at by a succession of speakers. There will be introductory presentations, but the focus will be firmly on exchanging ideas, developments and lessons learned, as well as promoting open discussion among delegates.

Two of the main streams of discussion will continue core IMRF work already established at earlier conferences: Large scale („mass‟) rescue operations; and Developing IMRF guidance on the design and operation of maritime rescue vessels of less than 24m length.

A third stream - „SAR Developments‟ - is open for topics of general interest to those involved in SAR on the water. We will be hearing about SAR in the developing world, for example, as well as about new equipment and other important matters.

You have the opportunity to vote for subjects from a „topic questionnaire‟, or to propose sessions of your own. Go to the Congress website (www.wmrc2011.org) and click on the „Call for papers‟ button.

We will still consider your proposals even though the original submission deadline has passed. But please do not delay making your suggestions too long!

Do make use of this opportunity! This is your Congress; your chance to be heard on the world SAR stage!

IMRF QGM The IMRF‟s Quadrennial General Meeting will also be held in Shanghai, running in parallel with the World Maritime Rescue Congress. Anyone can attend the QGM - indeed, all Congress delegates will be very welcome - but only paidup IMRF Members are entitled to vote.

One very important item on the QGM agenda will be the election of Trustees to guide the IMRF during its next four-year period, 20112015. Another is a proposed change to the IMRF‟s constitution.

The closing date for Trustee nominations was 27 May - but Members‟ votes are still needed in Shanghai.

And Members‟ approval or otherwise of the proposed constitutional changes must be registered with the IMRF Secretariat as soon as possible. The papers have been distributed appropriately, but Members can also access them by logging on to the IMRF website www.international-maritime-rescue.org - and clicking on the „relevant documents‟ link in the note on the front page. The paper to return to the Secretariat is entitled „Draft Resolution Changes to Articles of Association‟. page 3

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One of the main Congress work streams will be:

June 2011

And a second will be:

A Rescue Boat Code The Congress will provide an important opportunity to hear about, and get actively involved in, the development of the IMRF Code of Practice for Maritime SAR Vessels of less than 24 metres.

As LIFE LINE has reported before, the Code working group have been making good progress - but the Conference represents the first opportunity for them to present their work to a wider audience and to hear delegates‟ views on what has been achieved so far and their ideas and proposals for the way ahead.

Whilst Project Manager Neil Chaplin feels that presentations and workshops on risk and regulation might not sound like the most enticing of subjects [he is too modest - Ed.], he points out that the Code is being created by IMRF members for the benefit of IMRF members. The working group want as many Members as possible to be a part of the development process.

Neil and the team will be keen to show delegates how the webbased application will be an easy to use, intuitive, interactive experience, which can provide a range of benefits for all.

Sharing our hard-won and valuable information is one of the IMRF‟s greatest potential benefits and through the on-line Code the IMRF community will be able to learn from and help each other quickly and easily. By tailoring the Code‟s guidance to their individual needs and using on-line links to useful, relevant information - including worked examples of best practice - users will be able to see how they can quickly gain access to what they need.

Apart from helping each other to develop, the working group also believe that the Code can help organisations prepare for those thankfully rare but still highly undesirable accidents that can happen when working in a risky environment and in an increasingly litigious society.

All operators face their own unique challenges. Some of their preparations may only be tested at a time of loss: we believe it is best to be prepared as well as one can be for such circumstances.

Preparation also reduces the chances of encountering accidents by improving risk awareness, training and procedures.

If you can see how some of these issues affect you and your operations then the Shanghai Congress is an ideal opportunity to get involved and to help direct the Code project in the most useful and productive direction.

Like to be part of this? Come to the Congress; and/or send your thoughts or comments to the Code Project Manager, Neil Chaplin, at: imrfcode@googlemail.com.

Mass Rescue Operations The aims of the IMRF‟s on-going project on „mass rescue‟ are to: 

provide an international focus on mass rescue at, or by, sea;



provide a forum for discussion;



identify specific problems which would benefit from further research & development;



identify potential amendments to international regulation and guidance; and



compile and host a dynamic, web-based compendium of practical data on the subject.

We want to improve the response to incidents in which large numbers of persons are in distress in any way we can. So the IMRF have begun a series of specific conferences on mass rescue operations, and will continue our work in Shanghai. Our aim is to identify the weak points in our potential response and to see what we can do to strengthen them In Shanghai there will be a series of workshops, on „on-scene operations‟, „coordination‟, „communications‟, and „mass rescue planning‟. These workshops will comprise introductory presentations followed by discussion sessions; sharing experience, identifying areas for further work, and suggesting potential improvements.

We will also run tabletop exercises as teamworking opportunities, enabling discussion of responses to mass rescue scenarios as applicable to each attendee‟s own circumstances, concerns and ideas. And we will conclude this phase of the work by asking „Where next...?‟ Please join in the debate! Come to the Congress and/or send your thoughts or comments to d.jardinesmith@internationalmaritime-rescue.org. page 4

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June 2011

IMO News

or from the water. This ability is of crucial importance when there are no dedicated SAR units such as those which IMRF Members provide to do the job when rescue has to be carried out mid-ocean, for example.

th

25 June has been chosen by the IMO as the annual Day of the Seafarer for 2011.

The aim of this day is to: o pay tribute to the world‟s 1.5 million seafarers for their contribution to the well-being of the general public o raise awareness of the vital role that seafarers play in the world economy o educate the public about issues facing the modern-day seafarer, such as piracy.

This year, the celebration takes the form of an online campaign using social media networks.

There are Day of the Seafarer pages on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, LinkedIn, and other sites. Please show your support with a click or two! You can find more information at: www.imo.org/About/Events/Pages /Day-of-the-Seafarer.aspx.

The IMRF at the IMO The IMRF has „consultative status‟ at the IMO as a non-governmental representative organisation. This means that the IMRF can present papers to the IMO and express the views of its Members, but unlike the IMO‟s Member States - has no formal voting rights. The NGOs accredited by the IMO Council present the opinions of their particular interest groups, uncoloured by national agendas or priorities. They are, in a way, advisers - and their interventions count. At the IMO it is the IMRF‟s role to advise on maritime SAR. In recent months the IMRF has attended the Radiocommunications and Search and Rescue (COMSAR) Sub-Committee; the Ship Design and Equipment (DE) SubCommittee; and their parent, the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC).

The IMO are inviting nominations for candidates for the International Maritime Prize for 2011.

As briefly reported in the April edition of LIFE LINE, the IMRF is currently chairing a review of IMO‟s guidance on cold water survival, and the treatment of people who have been recovered from cold water - one of the issues arising from COMSAR. We are also helping improve the International Aeronautical & Maritime Search and Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual guidance on communications, particularly in complex incidents. And we played a leading role in COMSAR‟s revision of safety guidance for non-regulated yacht races and oceanic voyages by leisure craft.

This prestigious award is made to individuals and non-governmental organisations judged by the IMO Council to have made a significant contribution to the IMO‟s work and objectives.

We have reported the results of our first mass rescue conference (held in Sweden in 2010) to COMSAR, and will continue to report the results of this on-going project to the Sub-Committee, recommending action if it seems appropriate at the IMO level.

The IMRF (at that time the „International Lifeboat Federation‟) were greatly honoured to receive this award in 1998.

Likewise we will be reporting the outcomes of the IMRF‟s rescue boat code project to COMSAR and other relevant IMO meetings.

If you would like to suggest that the IMRF make a nomination, please contact: d.jardinesmith@internationalmaritime-rescue.org

At DE, the IMRF have been supporting those Member States which wish to see an improvement in the ability of ships to recover people at sea, from survival craft

International Maritime Prize

„Recovery‟ of this type is a difficult issue at the IMO, with some Flag States and NGOs representing shipping interests concerned that new regulations intended to improve the situation will be too difficult for ships to implement.

The IMRF is seeking a compromise solution which is not too onerous but which does improve practical recovery capability: as usual, our aim is simply to help save lives at sea.

The IMRF will be playing its part too in other work going on in relevant Sub-Committees some of which is reported elsewhere in this edition of LIFE LINE. Incidentally, you may wish to note that the IMO‟s own newsletter, IMO News, is now available digitally. It can be downloaded from www.imo.org.

Picture this...

The IMO Secretary-General, Efthimios Mitropoulos - a keen supporter of SAR down the years - has commissioned this fine painting of the IMO building in London. A limited edition of 300 prints is now on sale, and the proceeds will go to the IMO‟s International SAR Fund, which promotes SAR in the developing world.

So - if you‟d like to buy a picture for your wall and support SAR development at the same time, email info@imo.org, with „SAR Fund painting‟ in the subject line.

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June 2011

From Aberdeen to Alaska One of the main reasons for the IMRF’s existence is to share experience between our Members - to the benefit of all.

Stuart Braithwaite is a final year medical student at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and a volunteer crew member with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). He has spent two months living with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in Sitka, Alaska, carrying out a research project into the use of medical equipment on board their helicopters. Here’s his report.

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday... A call every seafarer dreads to have to make; but despite the differences in structure of their respective organisations the people who answer that call, whether part of the RNLI or the USCG (or any other SAR organisation), are in essence from the same family. They share a common interest in saving lives.

Air Station Sitka covers 153,000 square miles of Alaska.

The difference in scale compared to my own patch in the UK was never more apparent to me than during patrol flights in the helicopter, covering some of the most spectacular but vast landscape I have ever seen.

Stuart Braithwaite, with one of the Jayhawks of United States Coast Guard Air Station Sitka

News from the United States The United States Coast Guard has implemented a new maritime search planning tool in its rescue coordination centres (RCCs). This software - called the Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System (SAROPS) - has been developed according to the concepts of the International Aeronautical & Maritime Search and Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual. The USCG is offering the software for consideration by other SAR services, and several States are in the process of obtaining it for use in their own RCCs.

I was enthralled to see first-hand the operational variations between the USCG and our own work in the UK; I could only look on in awe at the skilled use of the basket for casualty recovery and no words can really do justice to the sheer capability of the Aviation Survival Technicians (Rescue Swimmers). Conversely, the concept of a charity-funded voluntary SAR organisation as large and professional as the RNLI was a constant wonder to my friends in the USCG. Being an active RNLI crew member in the UK, I am, like us all, fully trusting of and reliant on my fellow crew members as well as my counterparts in the various partner rescue organisations. It is most gratifying and reassuring to see that this mutual trust and respect for each other is replicated, and paramount, as we function in our respective areas of operation around the world.

Unfortunately, all organisations have had their share of tragic losses whilst operating within this all too often perilous environment and those at Air Station Sitka are no exception. They sadly lost three crew aboard CG6017 only weeks before my visit. Despite this loss, the evident camaraderie and compassion along with the commitment and professionalism to provide the vital service of SAR confirmed to me that any loss, however sad, makes us all stronger as a family.

Indeed it is our relationships with one another that drive us forward in our common goal of saving lives - whether it is by sharing experiences, knowledge, or the pain of losing one‟s own, we constantly provide each other with the motivation that enables us to operate despite the inherent risks.

I have great admiration for my extended family at USCG Air Station Sitka and to them I give my heartfelt thanks.

My experiences with them have fuelled my passion to fulfil the aim of each and every one of us within the worldwide family of SAR: to respond to the call of “Mayday” whenever it comes.

SAROPS is a „Monte Carlo‟ based „stochastic‟ system that uses thousands of simulated particles generated by user inputs in a wizard-based Graphical User Interface.

A stochastic process is one in which subsequent state is determined both by the process's predictable actions and by a random element. We can, for example, say that wind and water currents will have particular effects on a floating object such as a liferaft - but, as every search planner knows, there are many variables, not all of them quantifiable, which will determine the actual drift of the raft. A „Monte Carlo‟ system allows for this essentially random element, with each of the thousands of particles shown representing a possible track.

SAROPS has the ability to handle multiple scenarios and search object types; to model pre-distress motion and hazards; and to account for the effects of previous searches. While it includes the latest in search planning theory and off-the-shelf technology, it was developed with the end user in mind: ease of use is a key factor.

The USCG are offering an installation and training package to colleagues around the world. page 6

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June 2011

An unusual South African rescue The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) volunteers based in the small town of Wilderness on South Africa‟s beautiful east coast are always prepared for the unexpected - but here‟s a rescue with a difference: two 15-year-olds trapped behind a waterfall in a flooded river, and the light fading.

It was two days before Christmas. The two boys had hired a canoe at the Kaaimans river crossing, to visit a waterfall one of them knew well, a place that his family had often paddled to. But he had never seen it after so much rain.

The flood gates of the dam upstream had been opened and the waterfall, normally quite strong, had turned to a torrent.

Leading up to the fall is a narrow and very high ravine, 5 metres across, 70 metres high and 150 metres long. Under normal conditions it is relatively easy to paddle up this ravine and then between the waterfall and the rocks - but on this day the water crashed all the way across the channel.

The scene of the waterfall rescue, shown during a subsequent exercise. On 23 December the fall was crashing onto the rocks the team are standing on.

The boys climbed up onto the rocks opposite the fall, pulled the canoe up after them, and sat watching the water in awe.

They saw that they would not be able to get through to the pool on the other side and had decided to head back when one slipped and fell into the water. His friend grabbed him and was also pulled in. They were instantly knocked against the rocks, and then swept in a circle to the back of the pool, on the other side of the waterfall.

Having tried and failed a number of times to swim out of their predicament, they eventually sat down and waited for help. The sun was getting lower and the boys started to get cold. Both were hypothermic by the end of their ordeal.

The Discovery Rescue Runner moves through the channel, and the Croc is deployed during the exercise

NSRI station commander Hennie Niehaus had got two calls for help - the second one saying that the children were up at the waterfall. First to arrive on scene, he and crewman Attie Hoffman took the Discovery Rescue Runner (imported from Sweden) up through the narrow channel.

They were horrified at what they saw. The waterfall was a raging torrent, and only when the sun was hidden by a cloud could the two rescuers see the children through the thick spray. This was a swift water rescue of note, and only Hennie and a colleague from the government rescue service, METRO, were formally trained in this discipline.

Clifford Marlow, deputy station commander, takes up the story: “Hennie came out and said that it was monstrous up there. I thought that he was exaggerating…until we came around that last bend and I saw it. The waterfall was vicious”.

It was impossible to hear one another above the noise of the water: the team could only use hand signals. And if the rescuers faced the waterfall they could not breathe properly - it was as if someone had turned a fire hose on their faces.

The only way to work was to stand with their backs to the fall, and lean back into the wind created by it.

Two rescue swimmers were sent across the pool and a pulley system - with the Croc in the middle - was set up to rescue the boys. (It’s a relief to see that the ‘Croc’ is an inflatable!

- Ed.) From being called out to getting the boys to safety took the team two and a half hours of intense work.

The NSRI is made up of 980 volunteers at 32 bases around a 2413 km coastline, together with stations on 3 inland dams. Annual running costs are covered by donations, bequests and sponsorships. The NSRI began in 1967, and makes no charge to the public.

The boys and their rescuers

News from the Caribbean Brian McArdle, of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary International Division, writes: It is with great pleasure that I can announce that the CAR-SAR team has two new Branch Chiefs.

Wagner Nolasco (wagner@silverstreamgranite.com) is the new point of contact for SAR organizations in Antigua & Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, St Martin, St Barts, St Lucia, St Vincent & Grenadines and the US Virgin Islands.

And Arthur von Pieschel (apieschel@comcast.net) is the contact for Anguilla, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bonaire, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Saba, St Eustatius, St Kitts & Nevis, St Martin, Trinidad & Tobago and the Turks & Caicos Islands. page 7

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News from Switzerland Switzerland may not have a sea coast - but it does have lakes, and people can get into trouble there just as they can on the ocean.

The IMRF is very pleased to welcome as new Members the Schweizerische Lebensrettungs-Gesellschaft (SLRG) based at Arbon on Lake Constance.

Eric Meyer of the SLRG writes: The lifeboat station at Arbon was founded in 1964 as a branch of the SLRG - the Swiss Life Saving Association. The small town of Arbon (population 14,000) is located in the Thurgau canton on the Swiss shore of Lake Constance (der Bodensee in German). The lake, shared between Germany, Austria and Switzerland, is the third largest in Central Europe, 63 km long and 14 km at its widest point.

The Arbon SLRG station operates a Linssen 372 SX Patrol boat (built in Maasbracht in the Netherlands) all year round plus, since 2004, a 6.8m RIB (a Work Jet, from MST, Liverpool, UK). All 20 crew members are volunteers and can be alerted on their mobiles by the emergency services‟ coordination centre.

June 2011

News from the UK While the prospect of warmer summers may seem appealing to the British, the reality of global warming may be more severe flooding and extreme weather - as other parts of the world can testify.

In March this year, 70 members of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)‟s Flood Rescue Team helped test whether the country is prepared to deal with this threat when they participated in Britain‟s largest ever civil emergency practise.

Known as Exercise Watermark, this four-day event simulated catastrophic floods like those seen in the UK in 1953 when 307 people lost their lives.

In all, 10,000 people participated in the exercise, which was organised by the government‟s Environment Agency. It involved ten government departments, utility companies, emergency responders, hospitals and schools. One of its main aims was to improve communications between the different bodies involved in flood-relief.

When a flood is imminent in England or Wales, calls for help will be made to rescue organisations listed for availability - the largest of which is the RNLI. Inland rescue operations are then coordinated by the police, although on-scene operations are run by the Fire & Rescue Services.

Usually the training is done locally but in 2011 half the crew have completed the search and rescue craft operation course at the Maritime Rescue Institute in Stonehaven, Scotland.

A long-standing member of the RNLI‟s Flood Rescue Team, Paul took part in the rescue operation in Cumbria during 2009.

He described the situation he found on arrival: „All the fast water was running through the town and buildings at such a fast pace. It was absolute carnage: I‟d never seen anything like it. „Conditions in fast-moving water inland are completely different to what we see at sea in our everyday lifeboat work. „Urban floods are a very nasty situation to be in. Obstacles such as fences and gate posts become hidden in dirty water, quite benign things when you are walking down a street but completely different when you are trying to pass down there in a small boat. „Lifeboat calls at sea are usually over in an hour or so. With floodrescue work we know we are going to be away for several days and don‟t quite know what is going to happen. There is fear, shock and excitement all rolled into one.

The station is funded by donation and membership, with small contributions from the Thurgau canton and the town of Arbon.

For more information please visit www.slrg-arbon.ch.

SLRG Arbon’s launch Sirius with the station’s 6.8m RIB

Paul Filby - senior helmsman at the RNLI‟s Criccieth station in north Wales - said: „It was really worthwhile training. It was good to see how people from different organisations work. It forged some great working relationships and friendships between the different organisations and brought down a lot of barriers. I think that any subsequent rescues will be much better because of this working relationship.‟

During Exercise Watermark, RNLI volunteers got the opportunity to work alongside crews from the other response organisations. Rescue scenarios worked on included a semi-submerged caravan with three people trapped inside, and casualties needing to be evacuated from the rooftops of submerged houses and cars and from fast flowing water.

„With flood-rescue, the RNLI are extending the boundaries. It is an exciting place to be. I‟m just so happy and proud to be part of it.‟

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News from Africa, and Central America What the IMO describe as “the final link in the chain of subregional MRCCs around Africa's coast” was completed on 3 March, with the opening of the Morocco Regional MRCC, located 20 km from Rabat. The new MRCC joins those already commissioned in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2006; in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2007; in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2008; and in Monrovia, Liberia, in 2009. Each has its own network of associated sub-centres (MRSCs), to coordinate search and rescue along the African coasts of both the Atlantic and the Indian oceans.

The establishment of MRCC Rabat completes a process which was initiated by a conference convened in Florence, Italy, in October 2000. The work has been supported by the International SAR Fund established by the IMO to “assist developing countries to enhance their maritime SAR capability, with a view to the effective implementation of the Global SAR Plan.”

The IMO Secretariat will now turn its attention to Central America, with the aim of setting up two Regional MRCCs (one on the Pacific, the other on the Caribbean side) and five supporting sub-centres in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

News from the Mediterranean For some time the IMO has been struggling with the issue of what to do with illegal migrants rescued at sea, sometimes in their hundreds.

This problem has been significant in the Mediterranean in recent years, with migrants seeking to cross into Europe from North Africa, often in unseaworthy craft.

Italy, Malta and Spain have been bearing the brunt, receiving thousands of people rescued by their SAR units or arriving under their power.

Things have got worse with the onset of the Libyan crisis: the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported in May that 14,000 people leaving Libya by sea have arrived in Malta or on the south Mediterranean Italian island of Lampedusa; and that, since 25 March, 1,200 people are unaccounted for and must be presumed lost. More than 200 were lost when a single vessel capsized on 6 April.

Spain, Italy and Malta, supported by the IMO Secretariat, are working very hard to resolve this terrible problem - and are, of course, fulfilling all their SAR responsibilities in the meantime.

All in SAR wish them well.

June 2011

News from the cutting edge...

The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) has served the maritime community well since 1999. As well as the provision of safety information such as weather forecasts and navigation warnings, it seeks to ensure that distress alerts are picked up wherever they may come from at sea, and that SAR communications are enabled in response. While the GMDSS carriage requirements do not apply to vessels of less than 300 gross tonnage, the system has been kept sufficiently flexible to provide cover for anyone with a maritime radio.

What it has not done, however, is keep pace with developments in modern communication. From an IMRF perspective, for example, there is no provision in the GMDSS for the use of cell phones - yet the users of small inshore craft in the developing world are much more likely to use this technology than marine VHF. The IMO is now beginning the long, slow and careful process of reviewing and (eventually) updating the GMDSS. The IMRF will assist with this work as needed, to ensure that all maritime SAR needs are accounted for.

We are also keeping in touch with the development of the „e-navigation‟ concept, which is intended to “improve situational awareness and use of data from multiple sources in support of decision-making on board and ashore throughout a ship‟s voyage”. This includes potential emergency response. At this relatively early stage information is being sought on who needs what data. We will ensure that the needs of SAR units which are not SOLAS ships are kept in mind.

News from the Poles The Polar regions, that is - not our colleagues in Poland!

The IMO are developing a code for ships operating in polar waters. The new code will supplement existing regulations, taking into account the remoteness of these areas, the extreme conditions, and the possible impact of shipping operations on the environment.

The IMRF will contribute to the work as necessary, with the difficulties of conducting SAR in these remote high latitudes very much in mind.

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LIFE LINE

June 2011

SAR Matters This discussion column provides a forum for LIFE LINE readers worldwide to contribute to debate on any relevant SAR issue. Comment and/or new items for discussion should be emailed to news@international-maritimerescue.org. In this edition we look again at how we should learn from experience.

Lessons learned...?

In our last edition we introduced the subject of how to ensure that lessons learned during drills and actual emergency response were acted upon, so that good ideas can be spread across the SAR community, and past mistakes avoided in future. Let‟s look at this a little more.

What is the point of a drill, or an exercise, first of all? Each one should have specific aims and objectives, but overall the point must be to test the effectiveness of training, equipment, and procedures. For SAR people there‟s a perpetual round of „train - test - learn - train...‟ The learning step is as essential as the others. We should not be conducting drills and exercises to show how good we are - that‟s for public relations events! The results of our tests should be carefully analysed and acted upon.

The same applies to real-life SAR response experience. Did something not go as well as it should? Did something work particularly well? If so, why...?

Lessons - „good‟ or „bad‟ - do tend to be learned by those directly involved in the incident or exercise. A well-run organisation and motivated people will ensure that this is so. But are those lessons passed on effectively - to others in the crew who weren‟t there that day; to other units in the same organisation; and to other organisations doing the same job - wherever they are? If the lessons are not passed on, the likelihood is that they will have to be re-learned. Which - in our game - introduces unnecessary risks.

As noted last time, there is often reluctance to „go public‟ with our lessons learned. We need to overcome this reluctance. We must find ways of learning from each other‟s experience, for the good of everyone concerned.

The exchange of experience is one of the IMRF‟s central purposes. We are exploring ways of improving that exchange process, worldwide. The World Maritime Rescue Congress is part of the process: its most important aim is to facilitate precisely such a sharing of experience and expertise.

We hope that you will be able to come to Shanghai to share your experience - good or bad! But whether or not we can discuss it at the Congress, please consider sharing it with your colleagues worldwide via LIFE LINE. Email news@international-maritime-rescue.org.

Captain Jack Sparrow: most people’s image of a pirate great fun, but far from modern reality

When you talk about „pirates‟ to many people they will tend to laugh and think of Johnny Depp.

But piracy is a real and deadly serious business in several parts of the world.

The western Indian Ocean is particularly badly affected: nearly 600 seafarers are currently being held hostage by Somali pirates who have seized their ships for ransom.

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Kimoon, describes the situation as „completely unacceptable‟, and the IMO is working hard to orchestrate effective response.

It‟s a very serious business - but what‟s it got to do with SAR? Well: you need only ask what the response to a local fishing boat in distress would be from ships hurrying through these dangerous waters...

The IMRF continues to fully support the IMO‟s efforts in dealing with this very difficult and urgent problem.

And finally...

We hope that you have found this issue of LIFE LINE informative and useful. We are well aware that there is much more going on among IMRF‟s membership that could be reported here, to the benefit of all - but, of course, we rely on you, the reader, to tell us about it! LIFE LINE and the IMRF website depend on you to provide their contents - your news, your projects, your events, your ideas, your lessons learned.

We also need your pictures, please: good quality pictures (more than 250 kB, if possible) of your SAR units - boats, ships, aircraft, RCCs etc. These will be used in LIFE LINE and on the website - but are also needed for presentations and to accompany press articles about the IMRF and its worldwide work.

Please send articles and pictures (or links to them, with formal permission for them to be used for IMRF purposes) to news@international-maritime-rescue.org.

Let‟s spread the word, for the benefit of all at risk on the world‟s waters.

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