DARTMOUTH, Nova Scotia – Rear Admiral Daniel Neptun, commander First Coast Guard District, and Ms. Nancy Hurlburt, Assistant Commissioner Maritimes Region, Canadian Coast Guard sign the Atlantic Geographic Annex June 29, 2010. The annex is part of a regional response plan that covers the marine boundary between the U.S. and Canada and defines the Joint Response Team. Photo courtesy Canadian Coast Guard.
BAR HARBOR, Maine – The United States and Canadian Coast Guards are partnering in a cruise ship grounding exercise in Bar Harbor, Maine this week intended to help prepare both governments if such an occurrence were to happen. The exercise, called CANUSLANT 2011 – Canadian/United States Atlantic Exercise – is designed as a learning environment for players to exercise emergency response plans, policies, and procedures as they pertain to a grounded cruise ship that is significant enough to justify activation of a coordinated joint US/Canada response under the Atlantic Geographic Annex.
This years premise evolves around the grounding of a large cruise ship in the vicinity of GRAND MANAN ISLAND near the U.S. Canadian Border with a simulated Mass Rescue Exercise.
Both the United States and Canada recognized the need for an international marine pollution contingency plan for years. The first such plan was the Joint Marine Pollution Contingency Plan for the Great Lakes, started in 1974 under the Canada-United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1972.
Under the Atlantic Geographic Annex, the Coast Guards of both countries are required to conduct biennial exercises for management and a deployment of resources exercise are required to:
• Ensure overall preparedness;
• Ensure and enhance the knowledge and skill of potential participants; and
• Ensure that people and resources can be effectively deployed to an environmental response incident.
Recommendations arising from CANUSLANT2011 will be included in the Atlantic Geographic Annex to the Joint Contingency Plan. This updated annex was recently co-signed by Canadian and Coast Guard dignitaries in July of 2010 and is posted on the JRT Website; http://www.uscg.mil/d1/response/jrt/canuslant.asp.
Via Coast Guard News
Join the gCaptain Club for curated content, insider opinions, and vibrant community discussions.
Join the 110,162 members that receive our newsletter.
Have a news tip? Let us know.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton has returned from a 110-day Arctic patrol. Stratton extended U.S. surface vessel presence this summer to above 72°N latitude, waters traditionally reserved for icebreakers and ice-capable ships.
By Malte Humpert (gCaptain) – Commercial Polar icebreaker Aiviq will join the U.S Coast Guard inventory before the end of the calendar year, officials announced during a Congressional hearing on...
by John Konrad (gCaptain) United States Coast Guard operations have never been more crucial. Ninety percent of global trade moves by sea, and more than twenty percent of the world’s...
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
Sign Up
Maritime and offshore news trusted by our 110,162 members delivered daily straight to your inbox.
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
Sign Up
Join The Club
