Strategy to Overcome Maritime Blindness: The Sri Lankan Case

Abstract

The strategic location of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean not only make the island a vital connecting nod for the East-West maritime traffic, but also behaves as a centre to monitor the entire ocean space that spans to the southern tip of the globe. The importance of knowing the activities that are taking place in a country�??s ocean space is a very critical factor in ensuring maritime security. The vastness of the ocean space and the inability to monitor each and every inch of the ocean is a major challenge faced by many navies. Further Increased apprehensions have made impacts on drug trafficking, human smuggling, gunrunning, piracy, etc. Within this context Sri Lanka Navy has taken measures to tackle those illegal activities. The Sri Lankan ocean space comprised of an EEZ that is seven times larger than the land, continental margin around twenty one times larger than the land and a search and rescue region around twenty seven times larger than the land area. By every means it shows that this is a huge area to conduct effective surveillance by utilizing assets and sensors. As a consequence of that limitation there are number of illicit activities that take place in surface and subsurface water Therefore, an effective maritime surveillance strategy is essential to minimize the strategic maritime blindness Sri Lanka is facing at present. The prime objective of this research is to formulate a strategy to reduce the maritime blindness in the Sri Lankan ocean space with the assistance of regional as well as global partners. When formulating a strategy, it is essential to analyse existing maritime surveillance mechanisms and advanced sensors used by other navies. However, the strategy should also focus on how best the navy could use available assets as well as new acquisitions under three dimensional visibilities (Above, Surface and Subsurface) on ocean affairs.