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Background
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During
the last 20 years the marine world has been subject to unprecedented
and continuing
change.This change has been embodied in a continuing flow of new regulations
at an
international level, which necessarily must be implemented and interpreted at
a national level. It
was in this environment that a new generation of global experts emerged. These
people,
technical experts with years of field experience in their own right, were called
upon to help
draft the international regulations and implement them in their own countries. Perhaps
for
the first time, this responsibility fell to people who were not yet nearing the
end of their careers.
As
a result, the same people who established the new regulatory régime
were in a position to
go out into the world to sell their ideas and assist others to implement
the new requirements in
a sensible and uniform way.Much of this work has been carried on under the auspices
of IMO
over the last 15 years. Some was done under  IMO's
Technical Co-operation (aid) program
but much was funded at IMO's request by key donor members of that Organization. Often,
the donor countries were those same nations that had provided experts to develop
new ideas and embody them in the regulations. |
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MRCC
Falmouth
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Thus
a small team of people grew up who became accustomed to travelling
the globe to provide their skills and experience for the benefit
of others. They were specialists in all aspects of maritime
communications, navigation, search and rescue and hydrographic
surveying. They
were equally at home writing national legislation to implement international
regulations as
they were conducting a sea rescue in a 30 foot motor boat or
finding local materials to build a coast radio station. But,
in recent years, there have been some fundamental changes in the way that governments
handle their aid programs and the business of their
civil services. As a result, national administrations are no longer prepared
to afford to send their national experts out to assist and influence the rest
of the world. |
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