Life is full of situations that present us with obstacles to overcome and problems to solve
on the fly. Through the daily challenges we face, we are always looking for ways and solutions
to overcome them as successfully as possible and to overcome the problem. Different problems
and difficulties have different solutions and approaches to solving them, as each one has
different causes and conditions of existence. In fact, solving problems and finding the right
solutions is an inevitable part of life. This philosophy can also be applied to the maritime
domain, where one of the biggest problems is the subject of this master thesis – maritime search
and rescue.
The problems we face are usually “simply complex”. This means that in most cases we
are given a simple information, which, when analyzed in more detail, reveals itself to be
extremely challenging. For example: an emergency call is received that a person is missing at
sea. Simple and understandable: one missing person, one problem, one target. The task is to
locate the missing person and deliver him or her safely to care. But right from the start we are
confronted with the complexity of the problem: who is this person, what is their psycho-
physical capacity to survive at sea, are they really in danger, what will be his drift at sea after
some time, etc. Above all, we ask ourselves: where exactly is this missing person?
The aim of the master thesis is to try to explain, present and distil a protocol that would
help decision makers who are confronted with these issues in their work and who are
responsible for dealing with these situations in Slovenia. Therefore, the master thesis focuses
and relies in particular on the MSAR (Maritime Search and Rescue) protocol and foresees the
possibilities for its establishment in the Republic of Slovenia (RS). In our country we currently
do not have any official protocol or policy for maritime search and rescue, therefore, in this
thesis we want to develop and present a suitable protocol or procedure that could be used by
authorities – operational members of the coordination of sea authorities in the practice of search
and rescue at sea.
Slovenia has a very small coastline compared to other countries. It measures about 47
km in length and is 8 km wide. Nevertheless, it is very likely that we will face more and more
complex maritime search and rescue cases in the future, as maritime traffic is increasing in all
sectors, be it an economic, tourist or private one. The Slovenian coastline is not as diverse as
that of our neighbor Croatia, but it is more complex than that of Italy in the Adriatic Sea, so
search and rescue in the Slovenian Sea is a challenge that is only partially comparable to its
neighboring countries and as such needs to be addressed - in a way that the solution is applicable
to “our” needs and our sea.
VII
The US Coast Guard has a remarkable motto for its organization: "Semper paratus!" –
"Always ready!". Let's try stickin to it.
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