Search and rescue workshop and FAD work in Nauru

Most Pacific Islands’ Fisheries departments do not have to ponder much about ‘Search and Rescue” issues since they have their own National Sea Patrol or Navy to do this work for them. However, in Nauru the situation is different for the National Fisheries and Marine Resources Authority (NFMRA). Even though there is an impromptu group of volunteers from NFMRA, Nauru Fire Department, Nauru Police, Nauru Transportation, Nauru Marine and Ports, and Nauru Red Cross tasked with attending to S&R emergencies, the Technical Section staff of the NFMRA are the main team that actually go out and do the S&R work.

Several recent sea incidents involving small craft fishermen prompted the NMFRA to request for assistance to train their Coastal Fisheries Officers in basic Search and Rescue (S&R) procedures so that they could run consistent S&R operations when required.

The workshop focused on four areas:

• Small Craft Sea Safety Procedures
• Basic Chartwork knowledge
• Practical Search and Rescue Exercise
• Basic First Aid

The workshop was conducted over four days and was attended by sixteen participants who were later divided into two groups of eight for the practical S&R exercises. The schedule included two days for small craft sea safety procedures and basic chartwork knowledge, one day for S&R practical, and one day for the basic First Aid course.

Safe Operations Plans (SOPs) was also included as part of the S&R operations as this will ensure that the S&R team and equipment are fully ready and functional to engage in the operations.

Problems identified:

There is no formally registered group obligated to handle S&R emergencies.

Search and rescue is generally thought of as rescuing small crafts drifting at sea. However, it should also include any form of sea mishap such as coastal rescues for distressed swimmers, coordinating large scale S&R for yachts and ocean going vessels in Nauru territorial waters, man-overboard situations, fire at sea, etc.

Whenever an emergency occurs it takes around 1 to 2 hours to round up a team.

It takes another 1 to 2 hours to get the boat in the water after the team is rounded up. This is because the rescue boat has to be bunkered and then launched.

There is no proper shore command centre to coordinate search efforts.

Sometimes NFMRA staff are reluctant to go on the S&R trips, especially after normal working hours and on weekends, as they are not compensated for their time and efforts.

The teams that undertake S&R emergencies have very little chartwork knowledge or none at all.

At the conclusion of the workshop it was recommended that:

• A Search and Rescue task force be identified and formally established as the S&R unit for Nauru.
• A Search & Rescue command centre be set up as the communications and coordinating centre.

-       The centre needs to be fully equipped with a Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS).

-       A chart table with chartwork equipment and the appropriate charts for Nauru.

A team of systems operators (two or three personnel for a start) should be trained in the communications system and chartwork.

Two groups of four S&R technicians (eight personnel) should be identified and trained in professional S&R operations.

A schedule should be drawn up for the two teams to be on watch on alternate shifts that covers the full 24hr period and weekly roster.

It is understood that S&R emergencies occur less than 10 times a year in Nauru so it would not be feasible to finance full time teams to sit around most of the time. The current system of allocating S&R as secondary duties is appropriate as long as the teams identified for S&R duties should ensure that they are on call at any time during their roster and that the S&R boats and GMDSS are all functional and ready for emergency use. These teams should also conduct regular mock S&R exercises to keep them in form; similar to the Fire Department technicians.

Some form of monetary compensation should be considered for S&R technicians to maintain their dedication to their role. This can be in the form of stipends for S&R operations and S&R mock exercises or periodical retainers for the time that they are on call.

FAD work

Four nearshore FADs were constructed and deployed within two days; immediately after the S&R workshop. The day after deploying the four nearshore FADs a fifth FAD was constructed for offshore deployment in 1700m off Baitsi. This FAD could not be deployed at the time because the RONPHOS barges were preoccupied with renewing the mooring buoys for the phosphate and cargo ships.

The nearshore FADs were constructed and successfully deployed in 300m depths off:

Anibare:  0° 32.342’S and 166° 54.169’E

Anabar: 0°29.950’S and 166° 57.198’E

Baitsi: 0° 30.093’S and 166° 55.561’E

Meneng: 0° 33.532’S and 166° 56.161’E

For more information, please contact William Sokimi, Fisheries Development Officer