On Friday, 31 October 2025 there was a large collaboration amongst the Barbados Port Inc., Barbados Coast Guard, Marine Police, The Black Fin Fleet, the Barbados National Union of Fisherfolk Organisations (BARNUFO), the University of the West Indies Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (UWI-CERMES), and the Barbados Fisheries Division (BFD) to conduct BLUE HAVEN – the Hurricane Maritime Evacuation and Casualty Response Simulation.
This follows the recent Disaster Response Tabletop Exercise, turning theory into practice, with the objectives of: (i) testing vessel evacuation coordination in a time-sensitive scenario, (ii) practicing communication between the Port Authority, vessel captains, Incident Command Center (ICC), and medical responders, (iii) assessing response to onboard medical emergencies during transit, and (iv) evaluating safety protocols during hurricane preparedness operations.
In this scenario, Category 4 hurricane (Hurricane Gibbs) was forecasted to make landfall within 72 hours. All non-essential vessels were ordered to evacuate from the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex and proceed to a designated harbor area (Shallow Draught). During the movement, a fisherman was injured onboard one of the vessels, triggering a coordinated medical response.
Five volunteer boats took part in the exercise, these being NATALIE, DEEP IMPACT II, COUNT THE COST, LUCKY MOUSE, and DANCING DEACON.
Following the exercise was a debrief, where the response was analyzed. Overall, results were pleasing, with boats being hauled out and placed into storage on land in a smooth and timely manner.
Upon reflection, the exercise showed that early coordination and verification of documentation reduced administrative delays, integrating transit times improved the accuracy of the operational schedule, testing communication systems prior to execution enhanced situational awareness and safety, and proper pre-exercise equipment checks by vessel owners were essential for efficiency.
A larger exercise, in collaboration with the Government of Japan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will take place early next year. These exercises help all relevant parties to prepare for the worst, seeing as climate change will continue to increase the frequency and intensity of hurricanes in the coming years.
Snapshots of the debrief after the exercise.