Maritime officials trained to handle oil spills

Dec 13, 2014 News

Officials from the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), the Ministry of Home

The Guyana team with their certificates. (L-R) Clive McDonald, La Verne Vyphus, Geoffrey Babb, Akosua McPherson, Ronald McIntyre, and Facilitator Paul Lattanzi of the UNEP.

Affairs and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard, recently participated in a Sub-Regional Workshop on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC) in Paramaribo, Suriname.
According to MARAD, the workshop was organised by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Maritime Authority of Suriname (MAS), Regional Activity Centre/Regional Marine Pollution Emergency, Information and Training Centre (RAC-REMPEITC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It was held during the period November 17-20, 2014.
The five-member Guyanese team comprised of Geoffrey Babb, Pilot/Inspector of Shipping (MARAD); La Verne Vyfhus, Administrative Officer, Safety Division (MARAD); Akosua McPherson, Public Communications Officer (MARAD); Clive McDonald, Commander of Emergency Scenes (MOHA) and Ronald McIntyre, Sub-Lieutenant of GDF.
Participants were also drawn from Belize and the host country; Suriname.
In his opening remarks, Michel Amafo, Director of (MAS), highlighted his country’s status with respect to the ratification and implementation of the IMO Conventions.
Paul Lattanzi, IMO Consultant and former Commander of the US Coast Guards, delved into the subject of developing a cross border environmental plan for Guyana and Suriname based on global standards.
Other trainers dealt with topics such as the OPRC convention, oil spill preparedness, net environmental benefits and the readiness of evaluation tools for oil spills (RETOS).
“This workshop has brought us further along in our quest of being prepared to deal effectively with an oil spill in Guyana’s waters,” MARAD said in its statement.