Six nations, including the Philippines, have vowed for closer cooperation and mutual undertaking in support of the enforcement of standard maritime safety and marine environmental protection endeavors during National Conference of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary (USCGA) volunteers held in Scottsdale, Arizona last August 26.

Lieutenant Commander Armando Balilo, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman and deputy chief of staff for community relations who represented the country in the conference together with PCG Commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, said that they shared the challenges of the

RP-Coast Guard and other local maritime agencies particularly in relation with the safety of out-triggered fishing boats and activities to promote safety in the fishing communities across the archipelago.

“We have shared the usual the maritime problems the Philippines had encountered in the past particularly the problem in the local out-triggered fishing boats which we know as the vessel most prone to sea accidents. The foreign coast guard agencies also gave us some suggestions on the improvement of the maritime industry in our country,” Balilo said.

He added the foreign delegation particularly the USCGA members can somehow relate to our problems because based on their latest assessment, recreational boating deaths in United States as of last year increased by about 3.8 percent, in which most of the victims failed to wear life vests.