Security in the Mediterranean: ASI on the front line
The BMM project starts in partnership with the EU, France, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Malta
20 Jan 2010
The official kickoff took place in Paris on 15 January 2010 at the Hotel de la Marine in rue Royale, but the origin dates back to 2008. More precisely, to MARE/2008/13, the European Commission pilot project for "the integration of maritime surveillance in the Mediterranean Sea and its Atlantic approaches". An opportunity that was immediately taken by the EU member states with a Mediterranean coastline: France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Malta and, naturally, Italy. The new integrated maritime surveillance programme, partly financed by Brussels and, at least for now, to last for two years, was named BMM, the initials of Blue Maritime Surveillance Systems Mediterranean.
The principal objectives of the programme are to more effectively and systematically counter all illicit traffic in the Mediterranean, improve search and rescue operations at sea and fight environmental pollution. Essentially, the aim is to increase the standard of security and surveillance by optimising the resources available and exchanging information. This is a pilot project because it will help to define the structure of the future system of joint surveillance of the Mediterranean, which represents the first real step in developing methods and processes to be shared with all the countries with a Mediterranean coastline and using information from both civil and military sources.
The Italian Space Agency has an important role in the programme, primarily because it is sharing the leadership of the project with the French governmental agency. Furthermore, the ASI is leading the eleven Italian partners from the following seven ministries: Defence; Internal Affairs (Immigration and Anti-drug Departments); Infrastructure and Transport (Coast Guard and Maritime Transport Department); Economy and Finance (Guardia di Finanza and the Central Anti-fraud Office); Environment, Land and Sea (Nature Protection Department); Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies (Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Department); and, finally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.