To fulfil its obligations, the Navy will exercise a poli cing role that it alone could carry out efficiently because it would be a waste of time to decree laws and regulations if they are not artt’all respected.
The role of co-ordination will be assumed by the Depart ment in charge of Transport through its Directorate of Maritime /S.ffairs, For that purpose, it will assume the responsibility of leading and co-ordinating the actions of the different Minis-
*€
terial Departments and the local authorities in the working out and implementation of measures for the preparation of anti
pollution operations.
It. must also verify that this preparation, in the form of local plans for intervention., is carried out along the lines of the Government's directives.
This Department is also responsible for preparing Contin gency Plans; the framework of these plans is to be developed by the governmental unit, but their details will take into account local conditions.
As we can note, the Department of Transport will* have more technicr powers, than any other department has. In this field, . is responsible for matters related to safety at sea, whether for vessels themselves or shipping in general.
Finally, we can say that the preceding, scheme once esta blished will permit, without any doubt, to remove as far as pos sible the risk of pollution ofT the sea and to act with the maxi mumeffectiveness if a pollution accident does occur because it
encompasses the major steps needed for such an action namely, the prevention, surveillance, response and enforcement aspects.
I will lay. stress on the importance of setting up such Unit in small coastal states like Guinea and Guinea-Bissau
which are suffering from a lack of financial resources, because all things considered, this will make it possible to save mate rial and human resources and to avoid a waste of time in taking; decisions.
noreover, the Unit will consider the feasibility of crea ting a National Service for Coastal Surveillance which«will be composed either of Navy only or of civilians, or of a mixed unit.
Figure 6 gives the structure of the whole machinery. From this Figure, one can mention the following :
i> The Governmental Unit is not only an advisory body to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs which is the co-ordinating unit
but it is also in charge of the whole maritime policy of the country.As such it should have the overall responsibility for matters related to prevention and combating pollution.
ii) In this Organizational structure, the role of the Regional Inspectorate will be to co-ordinate all actions related to mari time activities which would happen in the limits of its juris diction; while the Local Directorate will be in charge of co-ordinating activities of the Maritime Districts which are under its control.
iii) The "National Service for Coastal Surveillance” will be a body within the Directorate of Maritime Affairs and will also be in charge of pollution prevention, while the Division of Safety of Navigation of the Directorate will be in charge of
f i g. 6 t ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF OIL SPILL RESPONSE
safety matters.
The efficiency of such a machinery at the national level requires preparationi work which will depend on several factors, but which we can summarize into three (3) factors as follows :
i) Establishment of an effective Maritime Authority/Adminis-
tration capable of
- implementing and enforcing the international conven tions related to marine pollution through the national maritime legislation, (subsidiary & primary),
- empowering Classification Societies and planning the training of nationals in this specific field,
ii) Establishment of a National Contingency Plan, iii) Regional/International Co-operation,
1 - Establishment of an effective Maritime Authority :
As a matter of highest priority, it is necessary to create a small "cell" in Guinea-Bissau which will perform the duties and functions of Maritime Authority despite the acute shortage of duly qualified personnel.
At the request of the country a study can be undertaken through the I,M,0,'s assistance on the establishment of prin ciples required by the local government for the development of a Maritime Authority, Once this new infrastructure is set up, it will start to draft the subsidiary legislation, prior to any effective enforcement of maritime safety standards.
While the maritime situation in Guinea remains at present as expressed in the different mission reports of I,M,0. 's Advisers, it has been found that there is a complete lack of
awareness on the part of the Government officials concerned of 9 2 .
g ^ .
the imperative need to establish an efficient Maritime Autho rity (or to reinforce the existing scheme) which will have a general knowledge of maritime activities#
Indeed the Directorate of Merchant Marine in its present situation cannot solve any problem as far as enforcement of the subsidiary legislation is concerned although the country be party to the I.M.O.^s International Conventions related to pnsrine pollution mentioned earlier#
The most important thing is to know what is the need of the country and to try step by step to solve the probl'ems by good planning.
For instance, there is no doubt that before coming back^ graduated in Maritime Safety Administration both Nautical and Engineering from' the World Maritime University, the country will not be doing survey and inspection of ships as prescribed by the international standards# To put this fact right, it must empower some Classification Societies under the strict control of the Directorate of Merchant Marine (.or Maritime Authority)# During this period, some nationals could be trained whether in the Societies'representative offices in the country or outside#
In the same line of thought, through these Classification Societies certain training programs for nationals can be orga nised especially in foreign Centres of combating Marine Pollu tion and some representatives can be sent to Seminaries such as "INFOPOL" in France#'
It has earlier been said that the only way for any effec tive application of principal rules (those formulated by I#M#0#) on Marine Pollution is by legislation, both subsidiary and
94.,
primary. In consideration of that, it would be a first and important priority that Guinea reuiewes, updates and promul gates her marine legislation. Before starting this important work on the legislation side, it should be desirable for both Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to ratify the following international conventions r
- The Convention for Co-operation in the Protection and Deve lopment of the Marine and Coastal environment of the West and Central African, Region, 1981 (Abidjan.) Convention,(GUINEA- BISSAU)
- The Protocol concerning Co-operation, in Combaring Pollution in cases of Emergency, Abidjan, 19B1, (GUINEA-BISSAU)
- The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, IBTJ as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto (MARPOL 73/78), (GUINEA & .GUINEA-BISSAU)
- The International Convention relating to Intervention on the High Seas in cases of Oil Pollution Casualties, 1969, (GUINEA & GUINEA-BISSAU)
- The International Convention for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969 (CLC 69), (GUINEA & GUINEA-BISSAU)
- The International Convention, on the Establishment of an Inter national Fund for Compensation, for Oil Ppllution. Damage, 1971 (FUND 71), (GUINEA & GUINEA-BISSAU)
In. addition to the preceding. Conventions, it would be de sirable that Guinea-Bissau ratifies those related to the safety aspects as indicated in Table 5 (p,60).
There are also many important Rules and Regulations (sub sidiary legislation), specially relevant to
9 5 .