The Belize Center for Civil-Military Relations has begun a five day training on Response to Maritime Violence at the Radisson Fort George Hotel and Marina. Participating in the training are the Belize Coast Guard, Belize Defense Force, Customs Department, Immigration Department, Fisheries Department and Port Authority. Love News spoke to Captain John Borland, Commandant- Belize National Coast Guard.end

Captain John Borland; Commandant, Belize National Coast Guard

“We’re focusing on; piracy, terrorism, transnational activities on a whole including elicit trafficking of personnel, drugs and port security. This is a regional initiative on the part of a naval post graduate school in Monterey, California. The Centre of Civil Military Relations saw the need for a better understanding or maritime violence in the maritime domain, in the regions of Latin America and the Caribbean. This is the second such seminar; the first was held in Trinidad and Tobago a year ago through the offices of the US Embassy in Belize, the Military Liaison Office. They have requested that this training be brought to the shores of Belize and invite all the international partners and stakeholders to further expand and develop maritime security strategies. It is incumbent upon everyone; every single maritime agency in Belize to understand the threats that we face and that these threats can only be countered in a holistic approach by every agency involved. No one nation can develop a plan or strategy to counter the threats of maritime violence and terrorism and crime in general in the maritime domain.”

One of the facilitators is Jim Petroni, Adjunct Faculty of the U-S Naval Post Graduate School.

Jim Petroni; Facilitator, US Naval Post Graduate School

“Crime here in the maritime environment has not been as high as countries like Africa and they all want to keep it that way. They all enjoy the sea; they all derive benefit from their coastal exposure and their ocean exposure so they are all just trying to protect this maritime environment. Some of the solutions we expect to come up during the week are of course regional collaborations and some of that is information sharing which can be done in different ways at different times. We will also offer some tools and techniques that we have seen used elsewhere. These are not necessarily American solutions, they are practical aspects of how we manage incidents, how we access risk and threats before they happen and how we plan and prepare. So when they come away they will have first a better understanding of the problem and second some tools to help them reduce these problems.”

Eleven countries from the Caribbean Region are participating in the seminar this week.

Courtesy:www.shiptalk.com