The international conference on maritime search and rescue (SAR) was held last year in Chennai, the regional headquarters (East) of the Coast Guard. This was the first-ever conference on the subject. The international maritime conference held in Mumbai in October 2000 was on anti-piracy. It happened to be the first conference at world level on maritime subjects.

The conference started with a call by Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes for the identification of ways and means to provide credible assistance to those in distress and trauma at sea. In his inaugural address, he cautioned against accidents and tragedies and escalating militant activities at sea. He referred to the timely assistance being rendered to men in distress and complimented the role of international organisations like International Maritime Organisation, International Telecommunication Union, INMARSAT and COSPAS-SARSAT in SAR operations. The immense impetus provided by them with the support of Coast Guard and other rescue agencies around the world has made life at sea safe.

Mr Fernandes informed the delegates that about 60 per cent of the lives that the Indian Coast Guard saved since its inception was of foreign seamen. It truly reflected the Indian contribution towards international search-and-rescue effort. An internationally recognised and effective distress reporting and SAR system is being put in place in India with Indian Coast Guard at its helm, he added.

Vice Admiral OP Bansal, the then Director General of Coast Guard, in his opening address, cautioned against new issues that impinge upon maritime search-and-rescue operations. Territorial sovereignty, threat to coastal environment and protection of human rights require attention. The recent cases of seeking shelter and safe haven for ships, the safety of crew of a pirated ship or the plight of unwelcomed asylum-seekers and refugees in a sinking ship and extremely high rate of false alarms are matters of concern. He suggested that the International Maritime Organisation on maritime SAR could become proactive by creating an international M-SAR fund, developing programmes for coordination in the West Asian regional SAR system and instituting measures for training and implementation of global maritime distress and safety signals throughout the region.

Vice Admiral Bansal highlighted the role of the Indian Coast Guard in maritime SAR and said there were more than 50,000 mechanised and non-mechanised fishing vessels in the country, most of them without basic survival equipment and distress alert system. Merchant traffic in the Indian SAR region has been increasing. "These developments call for a high degree of preparedness to mount assistance at short notice. A modern SAR incident command system coordinating the effort is currently under development by the Coast Guard. The national SAR Board is to implement a position reporting system called 'INDSAR' in the Indian SAR region. INDSAR will make rescue efforts much more efficient and quicker", he added.

Vice Admiral Raman Puri, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command stressed the need for ensuring a secure maritime framework with a high level of inter-agency cooperation for coordination, preparation and execution of plans for effective management of maritime affairs. Emphasising the need to provide necessary safeguard to the mariners against the growing threat of piracy at sea, he told the delegates that India has made a modest beginning by undertaking joint patrols with the foreign navies like Indonesia. On this occasion, the Department of Posts released a special cover. Mr George Fernandes received the first cover from Dr US Raghavan, Chief Post Master General, Tamil Nadu Circle.

The conference, hosted by the Indian Coast Guard to mark its silver jubilee celebrations and attended by delegates from over ten maritime countries including China, Russia, USA, UK, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, discussed global SAR plans. Issues like regional cooperation, operations and SAR infrastructure in India, role of satellite communication for SAR, vessel reporting system for SAR, use of computer resources in SAR operations and mass rescue operations also appeared in over 15 papers presented by the delegates.