"Implementing the Small Vessel Security Strategy" was among the featured presentations at the IDGA 7th Annual Maritime Homeland Security Summit by Mr. M. Robert Gauvin, Technical Advisor in the USCG Office of Vessel Activities (CG-543).

Mr. Gauvin spoke in the context of the growing need for solutions from the increasing occurrence of small boat related criminal activities in the USA to the terrorist related activities in Mumbai, India and piracy issues off of Somalia. He outlined three major areas of work now underway:

This is a daunting task with some 18 million registered small commercial vessels and leisure craft and nearly 12,000 marinas in the USA and Canada alone yet constitutes an important part of U.S. domestic security.

In addition to the DHS Small Vessel Strategy Document, which can be downloaded from the DHS website here (1.28 MB PDF), Mr. Gauvin cited an article by Admiral Thad W. Allen, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard which is reprinted here from U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) Proceedings with permission; Copyright © 2008 U.S. Naval Institute at www.usni.org.

Admiral Allen's article, "The Small Vessel Threat in U.S. Ports and Waterways: A New Approach to Reducing the Risks" can be found here in our Maritime Security articles section.