EXERCISE BARENTS 2019 WILL TAKE PLACE MAY 28th

Petr Gerasun , Head of MRCC Murmansk and Bent-Ove Jamtli, Head of JRCC North Norway. Photo: Thomas Nilsen, Barents Observer.

Exercise Barents 2019 will be conducted in accordance with the mutual agreements between The Kingdom of in Norway and The Russian Federation within these fields of action in the Barents Sea. The Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) Murmansk and Northern Branch of the FSBI «Marine Rescue Service» (MRS) are responsible for the planning of the «Exercise Barents 2019» and will be official assigned to co-ordinate response to the Training Objectives. The Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) North Norway and Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) will participate in the joint exercise and provide support to Russia/MRCC Murmansk with dedicated resources and live assets from Norway.

Further development
The aims of Exercise Barents 2019 are to exercise in order to facilitate a further development of the search and rescue and oil spill response cooperation in the Barents Sea and adjoining areas. A pre-exercise meeting is the preliminary part of the exercise and will be held in Kirkenes May 27th. Focus will be on: communication, cooperation, safety on scene and confirmation of earlier agreed upon resources and objectives for the exercise.

Participants
Russian participants will be: – FSBI «AMP of Western Arctic» (MRCC Murmansk), – FSBI «Marine Rescue Service» (MRS)/North Branch of FSBI MRS,- Coast Radio Station Murmansk GMDSS A1/A2 (FSBI Rosmorport),  – Russian Northern Fleet,  – Russian Coast Guard Administration, – Federal state institution of Aviation Search and Rescue center, – NP «Nevsky Aeroclub»

Norwegian Coastal Administration represented by Senior Advisor Jan Pedersen participates in Exercise Barentas 2019.

Norwegian participants are: – JRCC North Norway, – Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA), – Norwegian Coastal Radio Service, – Norwegian Coast Guard, – 330 sqn,  – 333 sqn,  – AVINOR – National Joint Headquarters (NJHQ), – NAOC,  – Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue – AVINOR.

Improved international coordination
The main objective of Exercise Barents 2019 is to contribute to improved international coordination of maritime incidents in the Barents Sea area, through strengthening the collaboration between MRCC Murmansk and JRCC North Norway related to Search and Rescue (SAR), and between MRS and NCA related to Oil Spill Response (OSR).

Subordinate objectives

• Correct international (bi-lateral) notification and request for assistance.
• Correct and effective request for, and reply to border crossing clearances.
• Exchange of Norwegian and Russian liaisons (and interpreters if needed), through transfer between agreed vessels in the exercise area.
• Effective exercise control, exchange of information, and coordination of the scenarios (SAR and Oil Spill Response).

The following are common for all participating organizations and units:

• All operations shall be conducted in a safe manner. Safety is paramount.
• Proper initial noti-fication/reply to notification.
• Effective On-Scene Coordination (SAR)/On-Scene Command (Oil Spill Response).
• Effective coordination of participating aerial resources, utilizing the Aircraft Coordinator (ACO) function.
• Effective search planning and search operations at sea (SAR scenario).
• Effective Oil Spill Response operations (Oil Spill Response)
• Effective communications between the units

Exercise Barents 2019 will consist of more than one scenario, as a minimum one SAR and one oil spill scenario exercise and will take place in the Varanger Fjord in the area adjacent to the border between the two countries.