Central American Region Maritime Organization and their Role in the occurrence of maritime casualties

Since many years ago and in spite of the existence of national regulations and international conventions ratified by the countries that are conformed the Central American Region (CAR), the seagoing maritime sector of this Region, has developed its activity without any type of safety measures. Therefore, a large number of people are known to die, disappear and suffer from serious injuries each year. These maritime casualties devastate the families affected by these events, and severely impact the local social and economic well-being. While all these accidents occurred in this Region, non government or any other official records are available recording these casualties Due to the lack of any historical written reports about maritime casualties occurred in this Region, the compilation of this type of accidents information and data was carried out directly by the researchers in the field. Also, all the information about the CAR Maritime Organization Components was too compiled by the authors from the respective National Maritimes Authorities. From the compiled information was elaborated the CAR maritime casualties data base and from the analysis of the above data base were determined the main causes of the maritime accidents occurred in the CAR. The lack of safety measures onboard and the ignorance of the presence and influence of atmospheric phenomena were among main factors that had been caused the maritime casualties in this Region. By other hand, from the analysis of the CAR maritime organization components, the existence of one level of organization very similar among them was determinate. The objective of this research was to analyze the role of the CAR maritime organization in the prevention of the occurrence of maritime casualties. The results of this study provides general understanding of the causes of this type of accidents in the CAR and basis for support in improving safety navigation system and measures so that the number of fatalities and maritime accidents may be reduced in the future.