Maritime Security

Services

The main service is Maritime Border Surveillance which requires integration of coastal surveillance radar, Vessel Detection Systems, Vessel Traffic Management Systems and Automatic Identification Systems with airborne (piloted and unmanned) and satellite surveillance (including wide area medium resolution surveillance and high resolution monitoring for precise target identification).

The principal value is fusion of information from all sources to create a more effective Reference Maritime Picture. This may require integration of additional environmental data to support interpretation and analysis. This shall be structured so that operational fusion will support a greater tracking ability and a reduction in the number of unidentified vessels entering territorial waters.

National end user organisations and the European Council have participated in two workshops in November 2003 and March 2004 organised to agree requirements for maritime security information. As a result, the participants have agreed two priority regions for which, as a minimum, services are to be provided:

• The North East Atlantic
• The Central and Eastern Mediterranean

Although other regions are also at risk from illegal trafficking, these may be adequately served by existing monitoring infrastructure for the current levels of illegal activity.

This represents different information services and different user communities from on-going activities in marine environment and security. In particular, it should be noted that the following activities are addressed by on-going projects and are not considered appropriate for this tender:

• Oil spill surveillance and drift forecasting
• Water quality monitoring and algal bloom detection
• Port telematics
• Fisheries protection
• Sea ice mapping and evolution forecasting
• Wind, wave and current forecasting for safety of offshore operations and search and rescue
• Rapid environment assessment for navy operations support
• Marine habitat monitoring and assessment

User Feedback & Involvement

The target policy sectors to be addressed within this consolidation are national, European and international agreements. Key elements of the policy framework within which a service portfolio will be consolidated include:

• International

  • ­1949 UN Convention for Suppression of Traffic in Persons and 2000 New York Protocol to UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
  • 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees ­
  • 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Vienna Convention)
  • the Palermo Protocol to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime

   

• Regional

  • ­
  • the Barcelona Declaration supporting Euro-Mediterranean cooperation ­
  • OSCE actions against illegal trafficking in arms and human beings

   

• European– this is an evolving element with some key elements listed below:

  • ­
  • ­Declarations at European Councils including Cardiff (1998) and Tampere Councils (1999) ­
  • ­EUROPOL Convention for enhanced police cooperation to fight against all organised crime ­
  • ­Establishment of a European Agency for the Management of Operational Co-operation at the External Borders

   

• National – allocation of roles, responsibilities and competences over national agencies, specifically which entities can arrest maritime vessels within Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and territorial waters

Complementary projects - EC/National

Target end user organisations and intermediaries operate at national and European level. These include:

• National level end user organsiations include border control agencies, customs and excise agencies, Coast Guard and Navy operations and interception units and Police forces and intelligence agencies (anti organised crime and anti-terrorism units). In some cases these agencies may be intermediaries responsible for the provision of information to partner organisations in other government departments. Many national level users will also be service integration partners or intermediaries where they bring data from their own proprietary surveillance assets

   

• European level end user organisations include DG Justice, Freedom and Security and the European Agency for the Management of Operational Co-operation at the External Borders, including two regional centres for sea borders control.

   

• Europol, the Council of the European Union and members of the Strategic Committee on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum (SCIFA) have responsibilities where information provided under this consolidation action would be relevant.