*Latvian define wants to give coast guard power to remove captions in necessary* 25/02/2025, 𝓼𝓮𝓪𝓯𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓻'𝓼 𝓾𝓹𝓭𝓪𝓽𝓮 The Latvian Coast Guard Service, under the authority of the Ministry of Defence, has national responsibility for dealing with spills of oil in Latvian marine waters. The State Environmental Service under the Ministry of Environment is the coordinating authority for implementation of the National Oil and HNS Contingency Plan. The Latvian Coast Guard Service has response stations in the 3 largest Latvian ports – Riga, Liepaja and Ventspils. MRCC Riga, under the Latvian Coast Guard Service, maintains a 24 hour command centre. Operational command for smaller oil spills is initially taken by the MRCC Riga Duty officer and afterwards by the Response Commander. For larger spills the MRCC Committee is convened and the head of the MRCC Committee would take over operational command. The State Fire Fighting and Rescue Service, under the Ministry of Interior in co-operation with local municipalities.