(With videos) The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has published a new video focused on search and rescue in polar regions.
The video follows an earlier one on the IMO Polar Code. The second video in a series on IMO in the polar environment takes a closer look at the challenges of search and rescue operations in polar regions, for example, how the current lack of marine infrastructure, coupled with the vastness and harshness of the environment, makes emergency response significantly more difficult in the Arctic and Antarctica. The limitations of radio and satellite communications to monitor and control ship movements in polar waters is another issue.
SAR Convention
The new video also explores IMO’s International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue – the SAR Convention – which was adopted by IMO in 1979. Under the SAR Convention, individual countries are responsible for specified search and rescue regions, together forming the Global Search and Rescue Plan. A network of rescue co-ordination centres and sub-centres has been established and, together, they cover all the world’s oceans.
Challenges
Furthermore, the video features an exclusive interview with Commander Rodrigo Lepe, former Chief of the Chilean Navy base at Bahia Fildes on King George Island in Antarctica. The interview highlights the unique challenges he and his team face to ensure sound search and rescue practices in such a remote and inhospitable area.
Both the first video on the Polar Code and the second on search and rescue in polar regions can be watched below.
