U.S. Coast Guard 17th District Commander Rear Adm. Matthew T. Bell, Jr., and the Canadian Coast Guard Western Region Assistant Commissioner Roger Girouard signed the newly revised Dixon Entrance Annex to the national Canada-United States Joint Marine Pollution Contingency Plan today in Juneau.
The updated annex includes basic content and format changes in accordance with new national guidelines, clearer pollution notification and response protocols, and refreshed references to U.S. Customs Service procedures for transboundary movement of personnel and resources. The new annex also incorporates organizational changes within the two Coast Guards.
Canada and the United States are parties to a long-standing bilateral agreement regarding cooperation in protection of natural resources in Canada-U.S. (CAN-US) trans-boundary areas. Since 1983, the CAN-US Joint Marine Pollution Contingency Plan (JCP) has included five geographic annexes which outline the scope and terms for planning and coordinating responses to transboundary pollution in the maritime domain. These annexes are the responsibility of the respective regional Coast Guard offices.
Coast Guard 17th District collaborates with Canadian Coast Guard counterparts to maintain and exercise two of the annexes: Annex 4 (Beaufort Sea) and Annex 5 (Dixon Entrance).
The national level JCP was re-signed in August 2017 by the U.S. Coast Guard commandant and the commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard.
