Coastal Security after 26/11 Attacks - Information Management and Analysis Centre
iasparliament
November 28, 2020
What is the issue?
The Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) will soon become a National Maritime Domain Awareness (NDMA) centre.
Also, 2020 marks the 12th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks; here is a look at coastal security in India after the 26/11 attacks.
How do the security mechanisms work?
The Indian Navy is responsible for overall maritime security (coastal and offshore).
It is supposed to be assisted in coastal security by the Coast Guard, State Marine Police and other agencies.
Post 26/11, the Coast Guard was additionally designated as the authority responsible for coastal security in territorial waters.
Thrust was given to enhance surveillance in territorial waters by all agencies including the Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Police, and Customs.
What was the need for IMAC?
The ten Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists who carried out the 26/11 attacks had entered Mumbai through the sea, using inflatable speedboats.
In the aftermath of the attacks, several vulnerabilities of coastal security came to the fore.
The IMAC was created so that another act like the 26/11 attacks do not take place.
What is IMAC?
To ensure that the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Police work in an integrated manner, the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) was set up in 2014.
Based in Gurgaon, IMAC is the nodal centre for maritime security information collation and dissemination.
It is jointly operated by the Navy and Coast Guard.
It is the cornerstone of the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence (NC3I) network.
The NC3I network is for monitoring maritime traffic in India’s area of interest.
IMAC’s task is to facilitate exchange of maritime security information among various national stakeholders, and generate a common operational picture.
Since threats in maritime domain have a transnational character, IMAC feeds data from international sources as well.
It is important to note that IMAC tracks only non-military or commercial ships, known as white shipping.
Military ships, or grey hull ships, are tracked by the Directorate of Naval Operations, as this is on a classified network.
What is its scope?
IMAC focuses on ships passing through the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The IOR, 5500 nautical miles wide by 7500 nm long, includes 35 countries.
It is the busiest maritime trade route, with 11,000 to 12,000 ships present in it at any given time.
Officers at its headquarters can look at all ships that transmit signals to an Automatic Identification System (AIS) when passing through IOR.
They can look at information including route, destination, nationality and ownership for each vessel.
And at any given point, IMAC can get data points such as how many Chinese vessels are in the region or how many vessels are headed to a particular port.
E.g. Sources suggest a “steady rise” of Chinese research vessels in the IOR over the last few years.
The data also show an increase in Chinese fishing vessels in the high seas in IOR, from approximately 300 four years ago to around 450 now.
IMAC can also check if a vessel has changed its identity, or if it has been involved in law-enforcement issues in other countries.
IMAC has linkages with a number of national and international organisations, from which it collates data, and analyses patterns.
It also alerts relevant authorities if anything is found suspicious.
The following are some of the sources for data for IMAC:
The Vessel and Air Traffic Management System under the Petroleum Ministry.
The National Automatic Identification System (AIS), which has 87 stations.
The Long-Range Identification and Trading Information from 174 countries, which comes from the Directorate General of Shipping.
Space-based AIS that provide information on offshore and deep sea vessels, etc.
The Indian Ports Authority, information from which has been integrated recently.
These data are then analysed with various tools that create a comprehensive picture for each vessel.
What are the shortfalls to be addressed?
When a vessel does not transmit any information about itself through the AIS, it is known as a dark ship.
There are limited options to track them.
After 26/11, it was critical for India to have a robust tracking system for all fishing vessels.
However, while some big vessels may choose to not transmit on AIS, many of India’s smaller shipping vessels have no transponders.
Of the 2.9 lakh fishing vessels in India, around 60% are smaller than 20 m, most of them without transponders.
ISRO has been trying to develop a solution for fishing vessel tracking over the last one decade.
These gaps are exploited by subversive elements.
Certainly fishermen’s boat integration with IMAC will guard coastal frontiers better.
