Indian Ocean Rim Association |30 August 2022

Country reps conduct tabletop exercise on search, rescue and maritime assistance services

Representatives of member states of the Indian Ocean Rim Association are meeting here for a four-day working sessions to consider the merits of conducting a tabletop exercise on search and rescue and maritime assistance services.

The Indian Ocean Rim Association Search and Rescue Exercise 2022 (IORA SAREX 2022) workshop which is being hosted by the IORA in collaboration with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was officially opened yesterday morning by the principal secretary for Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, Alan Renaud.

The four-day working sessions, being held at Story Seychelles Beau Vallon, is being funded and facilitated by AMSA.

Noting that Covid-19 restrictions have prevented face-to-face meetings since early 2020, the objectives of the working sessions are to enhance relationships between Maritime Safety and Security (MSS) and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) officials in IORA member states as well as with regional SAR partners, identify existing regional SAR and maritime assistance capabilities, to test knowledge and communication processes and to identify gaps for improvement in regional maritime safety and security arrangements.

Other objectives and intended outcomes include ways to tap into each other’s resources for help in the event of any maritime calamity.

The member states are to benefit from direct capacity building of participating MSS officials by developing stronger MSS networks in the region with expert stakeholders and from lessons learned during the SAR Capability Partnership Programme (SCPP) that was conducted from 2015 to 2018 between Australia, Maldives, Mauritius and Sri Lanka.

Apart from the AMSA secretariat, IORA representatives and officials from Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG), the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA), the Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority (SMSA), the Disaster Risk Management Division (DRMD) and the National Information Sharing Coordination Centre (NISCC), the other IORA member states present are from Tanzania, Kenya, Iran, Oman, Mauritius, Franc/Reunion, Madagascar, South Africa and Australia.

Members that were not present include Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Somalia, Thailand and Yemen.

In his opening remarks, PS Renaud thanked the IORA and AMSA for hosting the meeting with the collaboration of the government of Seychelles to provide the tools, equipment and communication to conduct maritime safety and security at sea.

“We are delighted that the IORA has established maritime safety and security and disaster risk management as priority areas,” said PS Renaud, who noted that our country has contributed its shares in enhancing maritime safety and security in the region.

He stated that our small island state has demonstrated its commitment to safeguarding peace and stability in the Western Indian Ocean, whether it’s for piracy, illicit drugs, illegal fishing and rescue at sea and that it will continue to support IORA, and member states to guarantee a safe and secure region for all.    

The Indian Ocean region is vast, covering an area of approximately 70 million square km from South Arica to Bangladesh, across South East Asia to end in Australia. As a significant shipping route, it carries half of the world container ships and one third of bulk cargo.

Addressing the participants and guests, the deputy manager of AMSA, Jim Fryday, said that covering such a large area, maritime administrations in the Indian Ocean face many challenges including coordinating and conducting search and rescue activities and that regional collaboration and cooperation is critical to ensure shipping in the Indian Ocean is safe, efficient and has minimal impact on the environment.

“Working together we can improve, support each other to improve our search and rescue capabilities,” Mr Fryday said.

For his part, the IORA director for maritime safety and disaster risk management, Saravanan Muraugan, said the involvement of the organisation is purely to promote socio-economic development in the member states.

He noted that to achieve economic development, peace is required, thus the reason why IORA selected maritime safety and security among its priority areas to promote the tabletop exercise on SAR and maritime assistance services among the member states.

Apart from active discussions, the delegates will also tour SAR facilities in the country and yesterday afternoon a first of such visit was held at the SCAA SAR facilities at the Seychelles International Airport.

Speaking to the press, the commander of SCG, Colonel Jean Atala, said that the ocean being vast, to get concrete information on the exact location of an accident at sea at times is a challenge and that a collaborative effort between partners is the best way forward to deal with search and rescue in a vast ocean.

He added that with limited resources, such initiative to pull up additional resources from other SAR partners will be of paramount importance to search and rescue and maritime security.

For his part, the chief executive of SMSA, Captain Joachim Valmont, said while the country does not have certain assets, like a helicopter, very essential in a search and rescue, such an asset, among others which can be made available from other SAR partners, will be of great benefit to other member states who does not own one for big rescue operation at sea.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of the opening ceremony.

Text & photos by Patrick Joubert