SRI LANKA COAST GUARD ORGANIZED A COORDINATION MEETING ON OIL AND CHEMICAL SPILL RESPONSE

Sri Lanka Coast Guard organized a coordination meeting on ‘Oil and Chemical Spill Response’ with a delegation of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), members of the United States Embassy in Sri Lanka and other relevant stakeholders involved with maritime incident response in Sri Lanka, on 07^th and 08^th December 2021 at the Light House Galley, Colombo.

The visiting U.S. delegation included Lieutenant Commander Stephen Woodham, Engineering Plans Officer - Project Manager; Mr Quinton Ford, Marine & Environmental Engineering - Senior Manager; Mr Christopher Sholes, Environmental Security Program Manager. Representatives from the Central Environment Authority, Ceylon Petroleum Cooperation, Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited, Coast Conservation and Coastal Resources Management Department, Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of Wildlife Conservation, Disaster Management Centre, Marine Environment Protection Authority, National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency, Sri Lanka Coast Guard, Sri Lanka Navy, Sri Lanka Ports Authority and the Survey General Department were also attended to the meeting.

Fruitful discussions had mainly focused on the oil and chemical spill response and issues commonly associated with maritime casualty events. In addition, participants shared their roles and responsibilities in responding to maritime oil spills within their respective area of responsibility and the capabilities and limitation of oil spill response. The U.S. delegation agreed to hold a workshop in the first quarter of 2022, to enhance sustainable cooperation between the Government and other agencies to ensure that Sri Lanka develops adequate oil spill response capability within Sri Lanka to combat oil spills in the marine environment.