EU CRIMARIO – Project to strengthen maritime safety and security

Launched in 2015, EU CRIMARIO is an EU-funded initiative, which aims to support partner countries from the Western Indian Ocean in securing their maritime areas. It includes activities such as information sharing, capacity building and training, with a focus on Maritime Domain Awareness.

The project aims to strengthen cooperation and complementarity between the national maritime operations centres of more than 50 countries, regional information fusion centres (IFCs), joint operations and coordination centres, as well as regional organisations such as the Djibouti Code of Conduct and the Indian Ocean Commission.

In 2020, the EU CRIMARIO project was extended for five years to improve crisis management and strengthen inter-agency cooperation especially in investigation and judicial matters. The scope of the project increased to the whole Indopacific region, South and South-West Asia, the Pacific and Latin America. It falls within the EU’s strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, passed in 2021, and promotes an open, inclusive and rules-based region, the respect of international law, freedom of navigation and multilateralism.

Major results were reached thanks to the creation of the IORIS platform, a neutral web portal for maritime cooperation, communication and coordination (MarCo3) launched in 2018. This platform strengthens collaboration at the national, regional and international levels and comes with in-depth training programmes on the processing of maritime data.

It includes a maritime exercises programme for national and regional organisations. Participants are exposed to realistic scenarios to test procedures, identify capacity gaps and improve Standard Operational Procedures, while strengthening trust between cross-border actors.

Moreover, national thematic workshops are organised with an interinstitutional approach. They gather policy-makers and practitioners on topics such as counter-narcotics, the application of maritime law, maritime safety, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), shipping industry standards and operations, port safety, illegal unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) and the protection of critical maritime infrastructure.

This third phase has been extended to new countries along the Atlantic Coast in South and Central America; and other partners from the Caribbean may join this cooperation over time. It will thus strengthen international cooperation on maritime safety and information sharing.

To meet the objectives of EU CRIMARIO, regional partners benefits from several initiatives, which include:

• The creation of a neutral and secure web portal for information sharing and incident management: IORIS. It includes advanced mapping features to import and export vessel tracks and navigation markers to display vessels and maritime incidents in a graphic way. The vessel interception functionality identifies the optimal route and speed to intercept a vessel or a specific target. Functionalities also include messaging chat and alerts; file and form exchange; and document archiving. During this new phase of the project, an app linked to the portal will be developed to make it easier to use. The IORIS community gathers 1,700 users across 150 organisations in 50 countries.
• The organisation and participation in maritime exercises with the objective of enhancing interagency collaboration and regional cooperation. The IORIS platform is often used as the main communication tool during the exercises in conjunction with other tools.
• Tailor-made training packages designed to meet the specific needs of different countries. These trainings address Maritime Domain Awareness, including maritime search and rescue, the fight against marine oil pollution, piracy, and illegal unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU).
• SHARE.IT: This initiative aims at developing a common technological solution in order to be able to link existing information-exchange systems (such as IORIS) in a digital and secure way. This interoperability framework is established in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Indo-Pacific information fusion centres to develop maritime situational awareness. A community of stakeholders is set up to identify the most appropriate technological solution.