Pakistan Navy looks after the Marine Pollution aspects in Pakistan waters including ports, harbours and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). After the catastrophic incident of massive oil spillage at Karachi by MV Tasman Spirit in 2003, a need was felt for formulation of a comprehensive Anti-Pollution Plan. Subsequently, a comprehensive National Marine Disaster Contingency Plan (NMDCP) was prepared to cater for all marine disasters including pollution from Oil, Search and Rescue and Salvage Operations at sea, said a press release issued here on Tuesday.
NMDCP lays down comprehensive organisation and contingency plans to effectively deal with marine disaster at national level. The execution of NMDCP is ordered by Chairman Pakistan Marine Disaster Management Board (PMDMB) which is headed by Chief of the Naval Staff. Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (Operations) is the Chairman of Marine Disaster Response Committee (MDRC). The response committee is meant to coordinate efforts to deal with the disaster from Disaster Response Centre (DRC) at HQ PMSA.
This year Pakistan Navy being conducted Exercise BARRACUDA-VI in co-ordination with HQ PMSA from October 26-28, 2015. The exercise is aimed at rehearsing the anti oil spill procedures and contingency mechanism. This marine Oil Spill exercise is being conducted in two phases. Phase-I was held on October 27 at HQ PMSA which included Opening brief, discussions and preparational checks for practical exercise. The units of Pakistan Navy along with PMSA and Civil Organisations ie National and Provisional Disaster Management Authorities, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim Authority, Gwadar Port Authority, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, National Institute of Oceanography, Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (PEPA), Oil Companies Advisory Committee, Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) & Refineries, Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), M/s BYCO, Commissioner Karachi, PSO, Chevron, Shell Pakistan Ltd, FOTCO, PRL etc are participating in the exercise.