FLEXIBILITY FOR NOAA IN DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF MULTI-HAZARD CONTINGENCY PLANS AND RESPONSE TOOLS: THE SANCTUARIES HAZARDOUS INCIDENT LOGISTICS DATABASE SYSTEM (SHIELDS)

摘要

In 2001, given the lack of appropriate off-the shelf products, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) undertook the development of a secure, web-based set of contingency plans and tools for the National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) to facilitate making critical decisions about environmental tradeoffs during an incident. This suite of tools is called the Sanctuaries Hazardous Incident Emergency Logistics Database System or SHIELDS. SHIELDS gives sanctuary managers and trustees efficient access to numerous NOAA databases and resources. This includes GIS data and ArcIMS mapping capabilities, real-time environmental data, and information on groundings and other incidents. The challenge was to develop consistent multihazard contingency plans for potential threats. These threats range in scope and type from oil spills and hurricanes to deteriorating underwater dumpsites, and vary geographically across 14 sites that are widely divergent in size, location and type of marine resources. For example, the proposed Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Marine Sanctuary is the largest marine protected area in the U.S., over 12,000nm long and 100nm wide of coral reefs, ocean and coastal waters and submerged lands, while Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Lake Huron, Michigan focuses on protecting historical and cultural resources. The National Marine Sanctuaries Program has national regulations and policies, and each site has specific regulations and resource protection issues. These issues are complicated by complex jurisdictions, with nearly half of the national sanctuaries incorporating state waters and shorelines. As NOAA developed SHIELDS and trained staff to work with the program, it became apparent that the tool was more flexible and had broader utility than was originally thought. SHIELDS can be used to address issues associated with permitting, management plan reviews, small boat handling, boat safety, general safety training, as well as preparedness and response planning and implementation. The development and training process has fostered closer working relationships with state, federal and tribal resource trustees and identified information gaps to be addressed with research. SHIELDS has served to bring NOAA to a better level of awareness and preparedness for its stewardship responsibilities.