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Contact:
John Emmanuel
Tuesday, December 10, 2002 - Seafarers traversing the Caribbean waters
from St. Lucia all the way to Anguilla will have an additional sense of
security, when a state-of-the-art VHF Radio Extension Project becomes
operational in the sub-region. On Tuesday, December 10, 2002 a French team of
engineers headed by Yves Caderon wrapped a field study that brought them to
various high elevations of the island to be used as possible transmitter and
repeater sites.
Plans for this project were unveiled as far back as in 1996 following a meeting
in Barbados which discussed a national maritime radio communications plan for
the sub-region. Funded by the French Government, the initiative falls under the
Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Convention, and will be overseen by French
authorities under the auspices of the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre based
in Martinique.
“The main objective of this project is to extend VHF coverage by putting into
service, a different radio station that will be remote control from Martinique
and to set up transceivers which will be remote control by the Coast Guard of
St. Lucia,” said Caderon of the Technical Studies Centre in Martinique.
With more mega ships carrying two thousand passengers plying the Caribbean
waters, coupled with increases in leisure craft and other water sporting
activities like the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), St. Lucia Air and Sea
Ports Authority (SLASPA) officials say the new system is needed now more than
ever. According to Director of Maritime Affairs at SLASPA Dermot Saltibus, “this
project fits in quite well with what is referred to as the Global Maritime
Distress and Safety System and this GMDS project is in effect part of that
system. This is an international system of vessel alerting. Whenever a vessel is
in distress it’s important that you have quick alerting followed by quick
response.”
The new radio communication system when operational will also play a significant
role in protecting the lives of Caribbean fishermen who frequently go missing
when venturing far from port.
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