Maritime Domain Awareness

Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) is the effective understanding of anything associated with the maritime domain that could impact security, safety, the economy or the marine environment.

There are three key components to MDA:

a. Maritime Situational Awareness – Based on the gathering of static and dynamic data to generate a picture of the current situation within the maritime domain.

This picture forms the foundation on which MDA is built;

b. Maritime Threat Awareness - Requires the identification of the potential threat vectors that could be active within the area of interest; and

c. Maritime Response Awareness - Covers the mapping and real-time tracking of available response resources to ensure that they can rapidly be deployed to counter threats. 

IMO offers both three-day introductory and intermediate modules on MDA. 

The introductory module covers: defining MDA; how MDA underpins a Whole of Government Approach to Maritime Security; components of an MDA organisation; MDA Aims and Functions; information sources; involved Agencies; and building a National Maritime Information Sharing Centre (NMISC). 

The intermediate module covers: establishing a supported NMISC; information collection and correlation; information formats/standards/accuracy; building a national maritime information sharing capability; and MDA capability assessment. 

Further information on the IMO introductory and intermediate MDA modules can be requested from the Maritime Security Section: marsec@imo.org