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Sea Surveillance Cooperation Baltic Sea (SUCBAS)

Source: SUCBAS Website

SUCBAS is a cornerstone for sea surveillance, information exchange and co-operation within the Baltic Sea area and its approaches. The aim of the co-operation is to enhance Maritime Situational Awareness benefiting maritime safety, security, environmental and law enforcement activities in the region by sharing relevant maritime data, information and knowledge between the participants. The SUCBAS cooperation comprises Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and United Kingdom. The initiative is led by the navies of these countries. In recognition of the fact that responsibility for of maritime surveillance, maritime safety, maritime security, the maritime environment and maritime law enforcement are implemented differently in each country, SUCBAS information is shared among national governmental institutions with a maritime responsibility regardless if civil or military, at their discretion.

Coast Guard Functions
Maritime Safety Including Vessel Traffic Management
Ship Casualty & Maritime Assistance Service
Fisheries Inspection & Control
Maritime Border Control
Maritime Environmental Protection & Response
Maritime Monitoring and Surveillance
Maritime Ship and Port Security

Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC)

Source: REMPEC Website

In 1976, a Conference of Plenipotentiaries representing sixteen Mediterranean coastal States and the European Communities adopted the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution (Barcelona Convention). This included the “Regional Oil Combating Centre” (ROCC) with the mandate to strengthen the capacities of coastal States in the Mediterranean region. It also facilitates cooperation among those States to combat massive marine pollution by oil, particularly by developing national capacities to combat oil pollution and by establishing a regional information system with a view to dealing with marine pollution emergencies. In 1989, the name of the Centre was changed to the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC). The International Maritime Organization (IMO), in cooperation with UNEP/MAP, administers REMPEC.

Coast Guard Functions
Maritime Environmental Protection & Response
Maritime Accident and Disaster Response

Portugal-Spain ESPPS Exchange of Situational Picture of Neighbouring External Border Sections between the National Coordination Centres

Source: GNR Website

According to the EUROSUR regulation, the national coordination centres of neighbouring Member States shall share with each other, directly and in near real time, the situational picture of neighbouring external border sections. In this regard the information collected from the national surveillance systems in the neighbouring border sections of Portugal and Spain is shared directly and in near real time among them, contributing to improve the situational awareness and to increase reaction capability.

Coast Guard Functions
Maritime Monitoring and Surveillance
Countries involved

Portugal-Spain Memorandum of Cooperation between GNR and Guardia Civil

Source: GNR Website

Establishes effective coordination pillars, especially for the exchange of information, supported in the case of police operations, reinforcement of training programs and management of services and staff.

Coast Guard Functions
Maritime Monitoring and Surveillance
Countries involved

France (Martinique)-Saint Lucia: Bilateral Arrangement for Cooperation between SAR Services (2001)

Source: Ministry for an Ecological and Solidary Transition – Directorate for Maritime Affairs

The Government of Saint Lucia and the Government of the French Republic passed an agreement on maritime search and rescue. Based on the SAR conferences held in Caracas (Venezuela) in 1984 and in Lisbon (Portugal) in 1994, which made France responsible for a maritime Search and Rescue Region (SRR), in the Western Atlantic Ocean and the Eastern Caribbean Sea, in which Saint Lucia is geographically located. In this SRR, the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre is MRCC Fort-de-France.

Coast Guard Functions
Maritime Search and Rescue
Countries involved

Regional Maritime Information Centre – Madagascar (CRFIM)

Source: RMIFC Website

Based on information from Parties and Partners, the RMIFC receives, processes, fuses, stores, shares and exchanges information with the objective of issuing an alert in the event of imminent or proven danger to maritime security and safety in its general area of interest considered to be the regional maritime space laying between latitudes 26 ° North and 37 ° South and longitudes 20 ° East and 76 ° East. The general area of interest of the RMIFC is complementary to that of the IFC Singapore in the east and the Gulf of Guinea maritime safety and security architecture in the west.

Coast Guard Functions
Maritime Safety Including Vessel Traffic Management
Maritime Border Control
Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking and Smuggling and Connected Maritime Law Enforcement
Maritime Monitoring and Surveillance
Maritime Accident and Disaster Response
Maritime Ship and Port Security
Countries involved

France-Portugal Cooperation Plan: On Request for Assistance in Case of Large-scale Spill Response

Source: Secretariat General for the Sea - CGF Ops Center

This operational cooperation plan applies to large-scale spill response (oil, HNS). It establishes the technical conditions and procedures for requests for assistance between the General Direction of the Maritime Authority (Portugal) and the Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic (France) regarding the deployment and activation of assets. The applicable area is between the parallels 40°N and 46°N, and from the meridian 14°W, to the Portuguese, Spanish and French coasts. The parties may agree to extend it beyond this area in case of exceptional situation.

Coast Guard Functions
Maritime Safety Including Vessel Traffic Management
Ship Casualty & Maritime Assistance Service
Maritime Monitoring and Surveillance
Maritime Accident and Disaster Response
Countries involved

Poland-Sweden Governmental Agreement on Aeronautical and Maritime SAR Co-operation (1998)

Source: Polish Maritime Search and Rescue Organisation

The Ministry of Transport and Maritime Economy in Poland and the Maritime Administration in Sweden signed this agreement on Aeronautical and Maritime SAR Co-operation in Stockholm on 10.06.1998.

Coast Guard Functions
Maritime Search and Rescue
Countries involved

France-Portugal: Bilateral Arrangement for Cooperation between SAR Services (2008)

Source: Ministry for an Ecological and Solidary Transition – Directorate for Maritime Affairs

The Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Portuguese Republic passed an agreement for the exchange of information between the French Antilles and the Portuguese maritime search and rescue services. The maritime rescue coordination centres (MRCCs) of the two Parties shall regularly exchange the information, especially when a SAR operation is launched on the high seas in their search and rescue area. They shall exchange information on the available units in proximity to the location of the alert and carry out combined liaison tests at least to ensure their capacity to communicate.

Coast Guard Functions
Maritime Search and Rescue
Countries involved

France (New-Caledonia)-New Zealand: Bilateral Arrangement for Cooperation between SAR Services (2002)

Source: Ministry for an Ecological and Solidary Transition – Directorate for Maritime Affairs

The Director of Civil Aviation, New Zealand, and the Haut Commissaire de la République française en Nouvelle-Calédonie, Délégué du Gouvernement, passed an arrangement for cooperation between New Zealand Search and Rescue Services and French Maritime Search and Rescue Services in New Caledonia. This arrangement especially defines the standard operating procedures for the Rescue Coordination Centres (RCCs), particularly the determination of the Responsible RCCs, the transferring of SAR Coordination Responsibility or the liaison during a SAR operation.

Coast Guard Functions
Maritime Search and Rescue
Countries involved

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