Rescue at sea: primary and priority function. Last year, the Coast Guard rescued 22,300 migrants, an average of 60 every day. “It is the Port Authorities that represent the national body that ensures the general coordination of maritime rescue services” recalls the first Annual Report signed by Commander General Nicola Carlone presented today. That of rescue is only one, certainly the most visible in the news, of the many operational variations of the Port Authorities: 10,870 soldiers with the responsibility of monitoring 500 thousand square kilometers of sea and 8 thousand kilometers of coastline.
Migrants and landings
The report discloses how the relief efforts are coordinated “centrally by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre of Rome at the General Command and from 15 Maritime Rescue Sub Centre located in the maritime directorates, at the regional level, with the support of about 100 coastal guard units “. Last year, 300 SAR (search and rescue) events were coordinated by the Operations Center of the General Command and, in total, 1,529 events, more than four every day. The activity on migrants still remains frenetic, indeed it is greater. The data from the Ministry of the Interior recorded 25,988 landings since the beginning of the year compared to 19,361 last year in the same period. In 2020 there were 6,353.
Savings with the satellite
The Annual Report highlights the great expansion in the use of satellite images for operational activity. Last year 880 images of this kind were received and managed. It should be emphasized, in particular, that “318 people in danger of life were rescued and rescued with the sole aid of satellite technology in 2021, 306 of whom in areas under Italian responsibility” says the document. The rescues in this mode have tripled: they were 98 2020, 63 in 2019 and 59 in 2018. These are the numbers of the “Italian Cospas Sarsat satellite station in Bari which, directly reporting to the Civil Protection Department and operational to the General Command of the Port Authorities, guarantees the reception of satellite alarms aimed at safeguarding human life “. With a range of action on “Italy and 19 other countries (between Europe, Asia and Africa), so as to guarantee coverage of an area that extends from the central Mediterranean to the Horn of Africa”.
Safety and training
Last year the Port Authorities carried out inspection and control activities on 7,353 foreign ships arriving in Italian ports, with 140 units detained. The environmental missions and the surveillance of marine protected areas have ascertained 2,211 offenses and 800 subjects have been reported to the judicial authority. In the sector of the protection of the fish supply chain and the consumer, 107 thousand inspections were carried out, 2.5 tons of dates seized, 4,448 offenses found. Admiral Carlone, among others, wanted to underline the strategic profiles of training: of the nearly 11 thousand employees, one third (3.55 units) is in training. In terms of percentage, that of the Coast Guard on the update is undoubtedly a first.