SAN DIEGO — The Bahia Resort Hotel on Mission Bay hosted a one-day conference for the U.S. Coast Guard, the Mexican Navy, and other agencies and companies concerned with marine oil spill response March 19.
The conference is the result of a long-standing contingency planning and response agreement between the two countries called the MEXUS Plan. The Coast Guard and Mexican Navy meet twice a year, in San Diego and Ensenada to exchange technical information and to plan exercises.
The U.S. Coast Guard delegation was be led by Rear Adm. Paul M. Zukunft, Commander of the 11th Coast Guard District, and included the Commanding Officer of Sector San Diego, Capt. Thomas Farris and the District Chief of Planning, Capt. Douglas Kaup.
Vicealmirante CG. DEM Alberto Castro Rosas, Commander of the 2nd Naval Region was accompanied by his Chief of Response, Capitan de Navio Mario Martinez and several other senior officers including Capitan de Fragata Rodriguez Marquez, Chief of Marine Environmental Protection from Mexican Navy headquarters in Mexico City.
Topics for this meeting included calculating ocean currents in real time to more accurately predict the path of an oil spill by using high frequency radar, a report from a cross-border mercury spill where sister-city response plans were put into practice, and remote sensing of oil during a large spill.
