Royal Navy delivers training on Exclusive Economic Zones

Some 27 law enforcement officers from Caribbean government agencies, Coast Guards and police marine units are now better able to protect the waters around their island homes following a week’s training on Exclusive Economic Zones.

Thirteen Caribbean nations were represented in a weeklong training course delivered in Antigua 1-5 October and hosted by the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force (ABDF). 

A team from the Royal Navy’s International and Commonwealth Training Unit worked with officers drawn predominantly from RSS countries – Antigua, Grenada, Barbados, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines. 

The trainees examined maritime legislation, physical threats to the marine environment including crime, piracy and terrorism, fisheries protection, search & rescue and threats to the environment through marine pollution. 

Working interactively, they established valuable contacts across the region, enabling them to collaborate in the future against common threats.

Lt Col Anton Gash, British Defence Adviser to the Caribbean said: “One of the main positives that results from this training is the ability to get different maritime departments in a country or region, who often have never met before, talking to each other, with a very real networking benefit, building relationships across the Caribbean and establishing new friendships and stronger working relationships.” 

The course ended with a closing ceremony attended by Lt Col Gash, the Head of the ABDF Coast Guard Lt Cdr Skerritt, and Maj Benjamin the ABDF Staff Officer Operations & Training, representing the ABDF Chief of Defence Staff.