Emergency response in National Marine Sanctuaries

National Marine Sanctuaries preserve and protect unique national treasures in our coastal environments. They are not immune from threats posed by marine transportation accidents. NOAA has been working with the U.S. Coast Guard and state partners to ensure that emergencies in sanctuaries are met with the most effective and protective response possible. NOAA developed an emergency response exercise called Safe Sanctuaries 2005 (SS2005) to highlight NOAA's ability to deliver data, observations, forecasts, and expertise during emergencies threatening life, commerce, or the environment. SS2005 revolved around an 800-foot cargo vessel carrying 200,000 gallons of fuel grounding near Elbow Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Such grounding would injure coral habitat and historical artifacts and threaten other resources with spilled oil. This scenario provided a setting for integrating people and capabilities across NOAA. The exercise objectives stressed NOAA's internal and external communications, procedures for deploying technical capabilities during emergencies, and the health and safety of NOAA response personnel. The exercise included a tabletop component in March 2005 and field operations in April 2005. The April field operations demonstrated observation, information processing, modeling and forecast capabilities from across NOAA. Real-time metrological and oceanographic observation capabilities were deployed at the grounding site and integrated with weather and pollution forecasts. A navigation response team surveyed the area in support of salvage operations, providing immediate navigation chart updates. NOAA also joined forces with the State of Florida to survey environmental impacts from the grounding and oil. The information from all of these activities was integrated by a NOAA scientific team supporting a unified command comprised of U.S. Coast Guard, State of Florida, and the private sector. A significant component of the exercise focused on providing training in emergency response management, including the use of the Sanctuaries Hazardous Incident Emergency Logistics Database System (SHIELDS) and the Incident Command System. Training included field staff from multiple agencies, providing an opportunity to build the personal relationships necessary for effective emergency response. A post exercise debriefing helped identify gaps in operational capabilities, areas requiring further research, and training that could enhance future operations. The training, tabletop, and field exercises provided an opportunity to both demonstrate NOAA's operational capabilities and to analyze future requirements.