The AFTAG organises an anti-pollution exercise in Guernsey

On 15 October, an anti-pollution exercise was organised in Guernsey as part of the Anglo-French Accident Technical Group (AFATG). The exercise was organised last year in Jersey. The AFATG is a working group that meets every year in France or the United Kingdom to learn from their respective experiences. Belgium, Ireland and the Governments of the Channel Islands are associated as observer states. This exercise was organised in collaboration with the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea, the Regional Operational Centre for Surveillance and Rescue (CROSS) Jobourg, as well as the anti-pollution unit of the Cherbourg naval base and the Guernsey coastguard.

During the drill, the RNLI’s Lifeboat Spirit of Guernsey simulated man-overboard rescues and then towed the Argonaute to shore. Guernsey Ports’ workboat Sarnia with the Argonaute helped deploy a containment boom, a floating barrier placed around an oil spill to stop it spreading and limit environmental damage.

Assistant harbour master, Simon Granger, said that this exercise provides an opportunity for crews to work together ‘in a realistic operational environment’ and test practical arrangements for deploying containment equipment. The French delegation also visited the infrastructure of the Guernsey coastguard and discussed the common subjects of the maritime ORSEC (search and rescue, anti-pollution, assistance to ships in difficulty and traffic in the Channel) with their Guernsey counterparts.

The AFATG is a component of the Mancheplan, led by France and the United Kingdom, which defines the cooperation between the two States in the case of a major maritime event in the Channel.

C: Picture from PREMAR