MASTER EXAM ORAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - LATEST QUESTIONS | Page 131

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SAR Convention

Adoption: 27 April 1979
Entry into force: 22 June 1985
 
The 1979 Convention, adopted at a Conference in Hamburg, was aimed at developing an international SAR plan, so that, no matter where an accident occurs, the rescue of persons in distress at sea will be co-ordinated by a SAR organization and, when necessary, by co-operation between neighbouring SAR organizations.

Although the obligation of ships to go to the assistance of vessels in distress was enshrined both in tradition and in international treaties (such as the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974), there was, until the adoption of the SAR Convention, no international system covering search and rescue operations. In some areas there was a well-established organization able to provide assistance promptly and efficiently, in others there was nothing at all.

The technical requirements of the SAR Convention are contained in an Annex, which was divided into five Chapters. Parties to the Convention are required to ensure that arrangements are made for the provision of adequate SAR services in their coastal waters.

Parties are encouraged to enter into SAR agreements with neighbouring States involving the establishment of SAR regions, the pooling of facilities, establishment of common procedures, training and liaison visits. The Convention states that Parties should take measures to expedite entry into its territorial waters of rescue units from other Parties.

The Convention then goes on to establish preparatory measures which should be taken, including the establishment of rescue co-ordination centres and subcentres. It outlines operating procedures to be followed in the event of emergencies or alerts and during SAR operations. This includes the designation of an on-scene commander and his duties.

Parties to the Convention are required to establish ship reporting systems, under which ships report their position to a coast radio station. This enables the interval between the loss of contact with a vessel and the initiation of search operations to be reduced. It also helps to permit the rapid determination of vessels which may be called upon to provide assistance including medical help when required.

 
 
IMO search and rescue areas

Following the adoption of the 1979 SAR Convention, IMO's Maritime Safety Committee divided the world's oceans into 13 search and rescue areas, in each of which the countries concerned have delimited search and rescue regions for which they are responsible.

The technical Annex of the SAR Convention clarifies the responsibilities of Governments and puts greater emphasis on the regional approach and co-ordination between maritime and aeronautical SAR operations.

The Annex includes five Chapters:

Chapter 1 - Terms and Definitions
This Chapter updates the original Chapter 1 of the same name.

Chapter 2 - Organization and Co-ordination
Replaces the 1979 Chapter 2 on Organization. The Chapter has been re-drafted to make the responsibilities of Governments clearer. It requires Parties, either individually or in co-operation with other States, to establish basic elements of a search and rescue service, to include:

   -  legal framework;
   -  assignment of a responsible authority;
   -  organization of available resources;
   -  communication facilities;
   -  co-ordination and operational functions; and
   -  processes to improve the service including planning, domestic and international co-operative relationships and training.


Parties should establish search and rescue regions within each sea area - with the agreement of the Parties concerned. Parties then accept responsibility for providing search and rescue services for a specified area.

The Chapter also describes how SAR services should be arranged and national capabilities be developed. Parties are required to establish rescue co-ordination centres and to operate them on a 24-hour basis with trained staff who have a working knowledge of English.

Parties are also required to "ensure the closest practicable co-ordination between maritime and aeronautical services".

Chapter 3 - Co-operation between States
Replaces the original Chapter 3 on Co-operation.

Requires Parties to co-ordinate search and rescue organizations, and, where necessary, search and rescue operations with those of neighbouring States. The Chapter states that unless otherwise agreed between the States concerned, a Party should authorize, subject to applicable national laws, rules and regulations, immediate entry into or over its territorial sea or territory for rescue units of other Parties solely for the purpose of search and rescue.
Parties should enter into agreements with neighbouring States setting forth the conditions for entry of each other's rescue units into or over their respective territorial sea or territory. These agreements should also provide for expediting entry of such units with the least possible formalities.

Chapter 4 - Operating Procedures
Incorporates the previous Chapters 4 (Preparatory Measures) and 5 (Operating Procedures).

The Chapter says that each RCC (Rescue Co-ordination Centre) and RSC (Rescue Sub-Centre) should have up-to-date information on search and rescue facilities and communications in the area and should have detailed plans for conduct of search and rescue operations. Parties - individually or in co-operation with others should be capable of receiving distress alerts on a 24-hour basis. The regulations include procedures to be followed during an emergency and state that search and rescue activities should be co-ordinated on scene for the most effective results. The Chapter says that "Search and rescue operations shall continue, when practicable, until all reasonable hope of rescuing survivors has passed".

Chapter 5 - Ship reporting systems
Includes recommendations on establishing ship reporting systems for search and rescue purposes, noting that existing ship reporting systems could provide adequate information for search and rescue purposes in a given area.

 
IAMSAR Manual

Concurrently with the revision of the SAR Convention, the IMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) jointly developed the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual, published in three volumes covering Organization and Management; Mission Co-ordination; and Mobile Facilities.


SRR overlaps What happens to these areas?

A country has does not have exclusive jurisdiction over search and rescue in its national SRR, or that a country is required to seek permission for its ships and aircraft engaged on a rescue mission to enter the SRR of another country. Rather it is everyone%u2019s responsibility to save lives at sea. An SRR by itself is not a zone of maritime jurisdiction where a country has any exclusive rights or obligations. Conversely, a country%u2019s responsibility to save lives does not end at the limit of its SRR.
Jurisdiction varies between different maritime zones and is unrelated to whether or not a country has an SRR overlapping these zones. The maritime zones constitutes internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. Freedoms of navigation and over flight apply in the latter three zones and rescue units of another country may enter these zones to save lives without first seeking permission regardless of whether the waters are part of an SRR.
However, it would still be appropriate to inform the SAR authority of the coastal country if the area involved overlapped with its SRR. Permission would only be required if entry to archipelagic waters, territorial sea, and internal waters was required, although this would be automatic if the country concerned was a party to the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (1979) (SAR Convention). That convention requires that unless otherwise agreed between the States concerned, parties should authorize immediate entry into their territorial sea or territory of rescue units solely for the purpose of SAR.
Some regional countries have not joined the convention because becoming a party would bring with it the obligation to allow rescue units of other parties to enter territorial waters on a SAR mission.



Note- India has ratified the SAR convention
The Indian Coast Guard is the National Maritme Search aand Rescue Co-ordinating Authority for executing / coordinating SAR missions in the Indian maritime SRR. The Coast Guard SAR response involves multi-mission stations located in all maritime states, Coast Guard ships and Coast Guard aircraft linked by communication network.  Director General Coast Guard is the National Maritime SAR Coordinating Authority(NMSARCA). Under NMSARCA the Indian Search and Rescue Region of India is divided into three SAR areas with MRCC's located at Mumbai , Chennai and PortBlair with subcentres (MRSC ) at Porbandar , Goa, New Manglore, Mumbai and Kochi in the west, Vizag, Paradip and Haldia in the East and Diglipur, Campbellbay in Andaman and Nicobar.
Conforming to the provisions of SAR convention 1979 and with the aim of providing / co-ordinating the effective search and rescue operations in a possible event of any marine casualty at sea, the Indian Coast Guard has brought in to operations a supplementary Ship Position Reporting System with effect from 01st February, 2003 called %u201CIndian Ship Reporting System%u201D (INDSAR). This
is a supplementary and an advance computerized system designed to contribute to safety of life/timely search and rescue operations at sea.
This system is operated and maintained by the Indian Coast Guard through their Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) at Mumbai

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Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, 1988
 
Adoption: 10 March 1988
Entry into force: 1 March 1992
 
The main purpose of the convention is to ensure that appropriate action is taken against persons committing unlawful acts against ships. These include:

    the seizure of ships by force;
    acts of violence against persons on board ships; and
     the placing of devices on board a ship which are likely to destroy or damage it.  

The convention obliges Contracting Governments either to extradite or prosecute alleged offenders.

The original Convention and Protocol from 1988 were the reaction of the international community
to the appalling hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985 which resulted in the murder of one of its passengers, and a way to show unity after the diplomatic crisis that followed. The 2005 revision is the reaction to the enhanced sensitivity to terrorist threats following the destruction of the World Trade Center in NewYork. It was soon
realised that a ship could be used in a terrorist attack just as easily as an aircraft, and with potentially much greater effect.

2005 Protocol to the SUA Convention entered into force 28th july 2010.
 
Among the unlawful acts covered by the SUA Convention in Article 3 are the seizure of ships by force; acts of violence against persons on board ships; and the placing of devices on board a ship which are likely to destroy or damage it.
 
The 2005 Protocol to the SUA Convention adds a new Article 3b is which states that a person commits an offence within the meaning of the Convention if that person unlawfully and intentionally:
·  when the purpose of the act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a Government or an international organization to do or to abstain from any act:
   -  uses against or on a ship or discharging from a ship any explosive, radioactive material or BCN (biological, chemical, nuclear) weapon in a manner that causes or is likely to cause death or serious injury or damage;
   -  discharges, from a ship, oil, liquefied natural gas, or other hazardous or noxious substance, in such quantity or concentration that causes or is likely to cause death or serious injury or damage;
   -  uses a ship in a manner that causes death or serious injury or damage;
·  transports on board a ship any explosive or radioactive material, knowing that it is intended to be used to cause, or in a threat to cause, death or serious injury or damage for the purpose of intimidating a population, or compelling a Government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act;
·  transports on board a ship any BCN weapon, knowing it to be a BCN weapon;
·  any source material, special fissionable material, or equipment or material especially designed or prepared for the processing, use or production of special fissionable material, knowing that it is intended to be used in a nuclear explosive activity or in any other nuclear activity not under safeguards pursuant to an IAEA comprehensive safeguards agreement; and
· 

transports on board a ship any equipment, materials or software or related technology that significantly contributes to the design, manufacture or delivery of a BCN weapon, with the intention that it will be used for such purpose.

 
The transportation of nuclear material is not considered an offence if such item or material is transported to or from the territory of, or is otherwise transported under the control of, a State Party to the Treaty on the Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Subject to conditions).
 
Under the new instrument, a person commits an offence within the meaning of the Convention if that person unlawfully and intentionally transports another person on board a ship knowing that the person has committed an act that constitutes an offence under the SUA Convention or an offence set forth in any treaty listed in the Annex. The Annex lists nine such treaties.
 
The new instrument also makes it an offence to unlawfully and intentionally injure or kill any person in connection with the commission of any of the offences in the Convention; to attempt to commit an offence; to participate as an accomplice; to organize or direct others to commit an offence; or to contribute to the commissioning of an offence.
 
A new Article requires Parties to take necessary measures to enable a legal entity (this could be a company or organization, for example) to be made liable and to face sanctions when a person responsible for management of control of that legal entity has, that capacity, committed an offence under the Convention


Note - India has ratified the SUA convention & protocol of 1988 but not 2005!

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Implements ILO Convention No. 185. Contains and approves the Regulation for the Seafarer's identity document; the Regulations for the seaman's book; model seaman's book; and the description of the format for the seaman's book.

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Convention no. 108 - Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention, 1958 (No. 108) In Force from 17 Jan 2005 


The Convention was revised in 2003 by Convention No. 185 but not yet ratified by india.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the International Labour Organization took steps to revise its 1958 Convention on seafarers’ identity documents (also known as “seafarers’ IDs” or “SIDs”), under an accelerated procedure. The new Convention, the Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003 (No. 185), which was adopted by the
International Labour Conference in June 2003, introduced modern security features into the seafarers’ ID to help to resolve the urgent question of seafarers being refused admission into the territory of countries visited by their ships for the purposes of shore leave and transit and transfer to join or change ships. One of those security features is a fingerprint biometric template, which shall be printed as numbers in a PDF417 bar code “conforming to a standard to be developed.

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No
- The 1992 Fund is governed by an Assembly composed of representatives of the Governments of all its Member States. The Assembly holds an ordinary session once a year. It elects an Executive Committee made up of 15 Member States. The main function of the Executive Committee is to approve the settlement of claims for compensation.
- The Supplementary Fund has its own Assembly which is composed of all States that are Members of that Fund whereas the 1971 Fund, which is in the process of being wound up, has an Administrative Council which is composed of all former Member States.
- Organisations connected with the maritime transport of oil, such as those representing shipowners, marine insurers and the oil industry, as well as environmental organisations, are represented as observers at the IOPC Funds’ meetings. Decisions by the IOPC Funds’ governing bodies are, however, taken solely by the representatives of the Governments of the Member States.
- The 1992 Fund Assembly appoints the Director of the IOPC Funds, who is responsible for the operation of the three Funds and has extensive authority to take decisions regarding the settlement of claims. The Funds have their headquarters in London and are administered by a joint Secretariat.

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inform DG shipping and company, let company inform next of kin