The Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) is a
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...
system managed and used by the
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
(USCG). The MISLE is used to store data on marine accidental and deliberate pollution and other shipping and port accidents in US
territorial waters
The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potenti ...
. It accounts for vessels and other facilities, like port terminals and shipyards. The system has now been operational for a few years. It was introduced in December 2001 to replace the previous
Marine Safety Information System (MSIS).
The public may access portions of the data contained on the MISLE system through the Port State Information eXchange (PSIX). Originally, the PSIX system was designed to provide other countries with
Port State
Port state control (PSC) is an inspection regime for countries to inspect foreign-registered ships in port other than those of the flag state and take action against ships that are not in compliance. Inspectors for PSC are called PSC officers (PS ...
Intervention data on foreign-flagged vessels. Currently, it contains information on over 650,000 U.S. and
foreign flagged vessels (including those used for recreational purposes). The PSIX system contains vessel specific information derived from the United States Coast Guard's Marine Information Safety and Law Enforcement System (MISLE). The information contained in PSIX represents a weekly snapshot of
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request:
* Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act
* ...
(FOIA) data on U.S. flag vessels, foreign vessels operating in U.S. waters, and Coast Guard contacts with those vessels. Information on unclosed cases or cases pending further action is considered privileged information and is precluded from the PSIX system.
References
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External links
Reportby the US
General Accounting Office
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal govern ...
on the partially completed system as of 2001.
United States Coast Guard