<\/p>\n\n\n\n
St Vincent and the\nGrenadines is now better-equipped to patrol the waters of its exclusive\neconomic zone in a bid to reduce illegal activities such as drug-trafficking,\ntrafficking of arms and ammunition, human trafficking and even theft of lobster\npots among other crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This, with\nyesterday’s commissioning ceremony held at the Cruise ship berth in Kingstown\nof the 140-ft offshore patrol vessel purchased by the government from the Damen\nShipyard in Holland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vessel, named Captain Hugh Mulzac, is the only one of its kind in the OECS and has a capacity for 18 crew members and 4 guests and can remain at sea for a period of 14 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the commissioning\nceremony, Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves said that the overall cost of\nthe vessel amounted to US$6.5 million which included training of coast guard\nofficers, upgrading the coast guard base at Calliaqua to facilitate the vessel\nand the upgrading of the dorms at the coast guard base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The finance minister\nsaid that for a multi-island state such as St Vincent and the Grenadines it is\nimportant to beef up the coast guard service. He noted that this year, with the\nrecruitment of a number of police officers and coast guard officers this is the\nfirst time that the country can boast of have over 1,000 police officers and\nthe coast guard service can boast of having over 100 officers. He said it\nindicates the seriousness with which the government views the safety of the\ncitizens of this country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gonsalves noted that\nthis country is located between producers\/suppliers and consumers of drugs and\nhe commended Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves for his “vision and\nforesight.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Dr\nRalph Gonsalves in addressing the importance of the blue economy to a country\nthat has an agriculture-based economy, said there is need to protect the\nstate’s resources and the people who are working on the seas to prevent people\nfrom other places to come in and fish, hence the beefing up of the coast\nguard’s assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Gonsalves said that among the functions the new coast guard vessel will perform are: national defense, customs enforcement, environmental enforcement, search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, pericardial evacuation and search and rescue operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
St Vincent and the Grenadines is now better-equipped to patrol the waters of its exclusive economic zone in a bid to reduce illegal activities such as drug-trafficking, trafficking of arms and ammunition, human trafficking and even theft of lobster pots among other crimes. This, with yesterday’s commissioning ceremony held at the Cruise ship berth in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\n