Oil spill control drill held off Gadani beach

KARACHI: Pakistan Navy in coordination with the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) conducted the sea, or practical, phase of environment-friendly exercise Barracuda-VI in the North Arabian Sea near Gadani on Wednesday.

The exercise, conducted to rehearse oil spill control procedures and contingency mechanisms, became the need of the hour after the catastrophic and massive oil spillage at Karachi by MV Tasman Spirit in 2003. Thereon the National Marine Disaster Contingency Plan (NMDCP) came into action.

Pakistan Navy looks after the marine pollution aspects in Pakistan waters, including ports, harbours and the exclusive economic zone. The NMDCP lays down comprehensive organisation and contingency plans to effectively deal with marine disaster at the national level. The execution of the NMDCP is ordered by the Pakistan Marine Disaster Management Board (PMDMB), which is headed by the Chief of the Naval Staff. The deputy chief of the Naval Staff (operations) is the chairman of the Marine Disaster Response Committee (MDRC). The response committee is meant to coordinate the efforts to deal with the disaster from Disaster Response Centre (DRC) at the PMSA headquarters.

Units of Pakistan Navy with the PMSA, National Disaster Management Authority, Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim Authority, Gwadar Port Authority, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, National Institute of Oceanography, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency, the oil companies advisory committee, the commissioner of Karachi, etc, took part in the exercise.

Published in Dawn October 29th, 2015

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