Here are some points that emerged from the discussions between participants during the conference.

A collaborative approach

There is a general and quite positive tendency to seek external collaboration and cooperation at the regional or extra-regional level. Few States have the capacity to develop their own MDA with their national means, so the trend is to coordinate with regional partners and organisations as the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) or the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to contribute to a more inclusive and therefore more effective regional security. Building a regional architecture that aims to enhance MDA should benefit all users: countries and maritime actors in and outside the region with a legitimate interest in transparency and stability at sea.

This search for collaborative mechanisms and the recognition of the role of regional organisations or intergovernmental cooperation forums such as RECAAP (Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery) or the Jeddah/Djibouti Code of Conduct have also meant that the many initiatives proposed by the European Union to strengthen regional maritime resilience have been well received. This is particularly true of the EU’s CRIMARIO program and its development of the IORIS maritime information exchange platform, which was launched in 2015 to combat piracy in the Western Indian Ocean. Its regional success has paved the way for the establishment of CRIMARIO II in 2020, adopting a broader concept of maritime security and extending its scope to the whole Indo-Pacific. Similarly, in 2013, the EU financed the MASE program implemented by the IOC in the Western Indian Ocean. The EU is also supporting the operationalisation of the Yaoundé architecture in the Gulf of Guinea area since 2016 with the GOGIN initiative.

The importance of the Blue Economy

Another point is that coastal and Island States in the Indo-Pacific are paying greater attention to managing their areas of maritime jurisdiction and activities within them, meaning taking care of ‘Ocean Governance’. This is due to a better awareness of the economic importance of these areas in link with the emergence of the concept of ‘Blue Economy’ and the need to contribute to the security and the safety of the oceans to benefit from their resources. With the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean as part of a major Sea Line of Communication (SLOC) for trade and commerce and are rich in natural resources, including fish, which need to be developed sustainably, the Blue Economy holds great promise for the all-region.

Apart from the Blue Economy, the growing interest for greater MDA in the Indo-Pacific and beyond reflects the evolving security challenges that the region is facing. One would observe that these new challenges are mainly linked to non-traditional security threats, such as Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing, climate change, marine pollution, and smuggling of all kinds. This is particularly noticeable in the South Pacific.

Rise of maritime Law enforcement forces

A recent trend that one can also observe in the all-region is the development of coastguards and law enforcement forces. The Kenyan Government has recently established its first-ever coastguard to supplement its Navy by patrolling Kenya’s territorial waters and safeguarding marine interests in its Exclusive Economic Zone.

However, many countries do not have coastguards or navies capable of patrolling their territorial seas and vast EEZs effectively or the enforcement and judicial machinery necessary to apply their laws. While this situation exists, there is a substantial risk of increased IUU fishing and maritime criminal activities, as well as growing instability at sea.

However, with increased regulation of activities at sea and more international maritime conventions, maritime law enforcement has become more complex, requiring specialist expertise.

Interconnecting maritime centers

There is also a relative consensus on the fact that cooperation between neighbouring countries is fundamental to the provision of maritime security governance at the regional level. Building this cooperation in the Indo-Pacific is going to be difficult due to the diversity of the region and the lack of a clear common interest – other than protecting and securing the oceans and maritime spaces. Sharing data may be a complex and painful process at the national level, but it is even more challenging when you want to share information with other countries. For a State, achieving an effective MDA requires the sharing of information with other countries because of the interconnected nature of maritime security and the fluidity of the maritime domain.

There are several existing MDA information-sharing arrangements in the Indo-Pacific, including multilateral information-sharing or fusion centres, from the East African coasts to Peru. The achievements of these projects remain limited, and the region is far from having an independent and efficient MDA structure. Through its SHARE.IT initiative, the EU is encouraging a greater regional MDA for all partners. Its strength is to be a software accessible to all that supports regional maritime security architecture that should be interlinked.

Marianne Peron-Doise

L’article Sharing data for the benefit of safe and secure seas: a complex, painful, necessary process? est apparu en premier sur Crimario II.

This video illustrates the skills achieved during the maritime data processing training cycle (MDP) delivered in Mombasa, Kenya by EU CRIMARIO in 2018-2019.

Olivier Bézier, CRIMARIO training and capacity building component manager, introduces the whole training cycle and details the maritime data analysis course.

Tony Kibwana, acting Head of Port Security, Kenya Port Authority, provides his feedback as CRIMARIO focal point in Kenya.

Five trainees (3 from Kenya and 2 from Madagascar) testify on their achievements during the training cycle.

L’article [Video] Skills achieved during Maritime Data Analysis training est apparu en premier sur Crimario II.

The EU CRIMARIO project has designed a complete training programme on maritime data analysis for the specialized staff of civilian and military agencies involved in the action of State at sea. The full cycle breaks down into six sessions on data visualisation and three on data analysis. As a result of this cycle, trainers on visualisation and analysts have acquired trainer skills, which will further facilitate knowledge and practice updates.

Kenya started this complete programme in 2018. After the data visualisation cycle (3 sessions and 6 certified trainers), the current cycle is dedicated to maritime analysis. This third and final session was attended by the 14 participants who successfully completed the test following the first sessions. They learned the alert warning process, and basics of maritime intelligence; they deepened their knowledge in law of the sea, oil and gas offshore installations, and they practiced with simulation exercises. As a result, trainees are prepared to analyse, synthesise & brief their authorities on decisions to be undertaken.

Kenya attendees belong to the main agencies involved in the surveillance of maritime domain: KPA, Fisheries Service, KMA, Navy, Revenue Authority, Wildlife service and Ministry of Interior. In addition two participants from Madagascar working at RMIFC (Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre), and one from Seychelles working at RCOC (Regional Coordination Operations Centre).

The recent size of Chinese flagged fishing vessels in Mombasa port demonstrates the importance of inter-agency cooperation, as emphasised and illustrated during the whole training cycle.

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L’article Training in maritime analysis contributes to a better surveillance at sea est apparu en premier sur Crimario II.

Today they are certified “analyst in the maritime domain” after having developed their training skills and deepened their knowledge in maritime domain issues.

Seychelles attendees belong to: RCOC, Coast Guard, Police (Narcotic, financial), DRDM. Participants of Mauritius works in Mauritian Police (Coast Guard).

In the coming months, maritime cooperation will be enhanced with the utilisation and transfer of ownership of IORIS, the web platform for maritime information sharing and incident management at sea. Recently the IOC President, SE Vincent Mériton, Seychelles Vice-President has confirmed that the IOC Council of Ministers validated the transfer of IORIS ownership to IOC. Together with the RCOC staff, CRIMARIO will continue to mentor the national and regional teams in using IORIS and collaborating on a regional basis with IOC and MASE programme to ensure a clear and solid governance and administration of this tool.

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L’article Seychelles & Mauritius: certified analysts in the maritime domain est apparu en premier sur Crimario II.

The Indian Ocean Region is vital to world trade and economic prosperity of many nations as more than 75% of the world’s maritime trade and 50% of global oil consumption passes through the IOR. However, maritime terrorism, piracy, human and contraband trafficking, illegal and unregulated fishing, arms running and poaching pose myriad challenges to maritime safety and security in the region. Response to these challenges requires enhanced situational awareness of the maritime activities in the region so as to enable security agencies function effectively.

However, the scale, scope and the multi-national nature of maritime activities, make it difficult for countries to address these challenges individually. Hence, collaborative efforts between maritime nations in the IOR, is essential. Towards this, the IFC-IOR aims to engage with partner nations and multi-national maritime constructs to develop comprehensive maritime domain awareness and share information on vessels of interest. The intention of this collaborative endeavour shall be to secure the global commons for a peaceful, stable and prosperous region towards the well-being of all.

More on the full press release published by Indian Navy

L’article Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) is launched est apparu en premier sur Crimario II.

Kenya is welcoming the complete training programme on maritime data analysis in 2018. After the data visualisation cycle (3 sessions and 6 certified trainers), the current cycle is dedicated to maritime analysis. This second session was attended by the 15 participants who successfully completed the test following the first session. They learned the alert warning process, and basics of maritime intelligence; they deepened their knowledge in law of the sea, oil and gas offshore installations, and they practiced with simulation exercises.

The successful ones will attend the next train the trainer session organized by the first quarter 2019 in Mombasa, to develop training skills in maritime analysis.

Kenya attendees belong to the main agencies involved in the surveillance of maritime domain: KPA, Fisheries Service, KMA (Kenya Maritime Authority), Navy, Revenue Authority and Ministry of Interior. In addition two participants from Madagascar working at RMIFC (Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre), and Secretary of State at Sea and one is from Seychelles.

In Kenya, CRIMARIO collaborates closely with Kenya Port Authority (KPA), the national focal point of the project. A training program has been established, focusing on maritime data processing and the training of trainers. IORIS the web platform for information sharing and incident management at sea is already running in the Joint Operations Centre. The strengthening of the AIS national network is under implementation.

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Read the articles published by Kenyan media: the Star and Capital Business.

L’article How to analyse the maritime domain? est apparu en premier sur Crimario II.

These two events, and the high attendance level, illustrate how both the EU CRIMARIO project and the RMIFC advocate regional cooperation and interagency coordination, in order to control crimes and incidents at sea.

The EU CRIMARIO project has designed a complete training programme on maritime data analysis for the specialized staff of civilian and military agencies involved in the action of State at sea. Implemented in collaboration with RMIFC (Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre), this first cycle was attended by 25 participants from Comoros and Madagascar: it breaks down into six sessions on data visualisation and three on data analysis, delivered by a dozen European specialists during the year 2017. As a result of this cycle, six trainers on visualisation have been certified and some fifteen analysts have acquired trainer skills, which will further facilitate knowledge and practice updates.

During this last session (from 9 to 26 October 2017), participants were able to reflect on various potential situations such as the closure of Suez Canal and its impact on maritime traffic or the consequences of ship collision in Comorian waters. With this cycle, specialists working within the RMIFC and agencies involved in the action of State at sea have developed a collaborative spirit, favourable to the information sharing.

The end of this cycle was marked by the development of actions led by the MIFC resulting in the signing of maritime information sharing agreements between the MIFC and the agencies working in the maritime domain (Prime Minister’s office agencies, National Defence, Environment, Meteorology, National Gendarmerie, Internal Security, Scientific Research, National Hydrographical Institute, Fisheries Surveillance).

With these agreements, MIFC will be able to improve the interagency maritime information sharing and to provide an enriched analysis of the situation off Madagascar as well as decision-making and warning elements.

In the coming months, maritime cooperation will be enhanced with the construction by CRIMARIO of a web portal called IORIS, dedicated to maritime information sharing and incident management at sea and proposed to all the partner countries of the project. In the same way, RMIFC will ramp up progressively on a technical level and will welcome the liaison officers from the countries of the region, allowing the centre to monitor in real time any event at sea, detect anomalies and alert the competent authorities.

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L’article Stronger maritime cooperation in Madagascar & Comoros est apparu en premier sur Crimario II.

EU CRIMARIO, in collaboration with the Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre (RMIFC), has designed a set of three courses on maritime data analysis for specialized staff of the Comoros and Madagascar maritime administrations. Thanks to the acquired skills, these administrations will be able to better identify, understand and anticipate events incompatible with a peaceful exploitation of the sea and its resources.

After a first course (September) dedicated to maritime general culture, this second course focuses on learning the method of analysis. It is complemented by a reinforcement in technical English and by case studies. At the end of October, the third course, focusing on training in analysis, will terminate this cycle, which contribute to reinforce the technical skills of the agencies and administrations participating in the action of State at sea, including the RMIFC in Madagascar and the ANAM (National Agency for Maritime Affairs) in Comoros which play a central role in the capacity building dynamics.

Coordinated by Olivier Bézier, CRIMARIO Training Manager, four trainers delivered the learning modules to 31 participants from the main agencies involved in the activities at sea: maritime affairs, port authorities, customs, national police, air force, national navy, coast guards, national gendarmerie, fisheries monitoring centre, national office for risk and disaster management, meteorology, mines, inter-ministerial commission on drugs.

L’article A new session within the training in data analysis est apparu en premier sur Crimario II.

Content of the training on analysis of the maritime domain

The objective of this training, which includes three on-site sessions (MDP7, MDP8 & MDP9), is to provide all necessary knowledge to become a competent maritime sector analyst. The analyst transforms data prepared by the visualisation specialist in value added information useful for decision making.

After a quick overview of what can be requested from a visualisation specialist in data processing of maritime interest, the participants are trained to make assumptions to explain facts or trends, and to undertake necessary tests and / or investigations in order to verify or invalidate their assumptions. Thereafter, they are trained in predictive monitoring methods (definition and implementation of interpretation indicators and rules) in order to acquire the capacity to carry out a strategic analysis.

Finally, during the whole training, they acquire in-depth knowledge of the maritime domain in particular in the areas key to the role of an analyst (non exhaustive examples: vessel documents, port information flow, merchant marine in the Indian Ocean, insurance providers- P & I clubs and H & M…). This in-depth knowledge of the maritime sector will hence allow them to rapidly identify all regular suspicious/unusual behaviour beyond the peaceful and legal exercise of a maritime activity.

The conferences and workshops are led by University lecturers and professionals of the maritime sector. Laptops are used during the full training. The successful completion of the MDP7 training is mandatory to start the MDP8 session.

L’article The course on maritime domain analysis starts in Antananarivo est apparu en premier sur Crimario II.

To analyse this huge amount of data, exactEarth partnered with machine-learning and geospatial analytics firm CCRi to help evaluate the viability of Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for managing and analyzing satellite-collected data more efficiently. Google Cloud Bigtable, Google Cloud Dataproc and GeoMesa are the main components in this solution for global geospatial analytics.

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L’article Solution for global geospatial analytics est apparu en premier sur Crimario II.