Mangaluru: The Coast Guard (Karnataka), in conjunction with stakeholders, conducted a two-day Area Level Pollution Exercise along with the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) to evaluate the capabilities and response mechanism at sea, off the coast on November 14 and 15.
Preservation and protection of the marine ecology and environment, including combating oil spills at sea, is one of the chartering of Indian Coast Guard. The two-day exercise aimed to evaluate the capabilities and response mechanism of various stakeholders at sea as per National Oil Spill Disaster and Contingency Plan (NOSDCP).
The tabletop exercise was held on November 14 and focused on pollution response wherein the Spill Management Team demonstrated the procedures, policies and capability to operate within the frame work of their Emergency Response Plan, along with the mobilisation of appropriate resource and execute communications and decision-making, to effectively manage a worst-case spill response in the coastal state of Karnataka under the provisions of the NOSDCP for Tier-I and Tier-II Spills.
The second day of the exercise was focused on readiness and integration of the resource agencies equipment, communication procedure and effectiveness of training of oil spill response. One Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV), ICGS Vikram and one Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV), ICGS Savitri Phule of Indian Coast Guard along with tugs and barges belonging to NMPT participated in the exercise.
Evaluation of the tabletop exercise was a critical step in cultivating the effective emergency response plans for the coastal state of Karnataka.
