The purpose of these guidelines is to provide: (1) an incident-specific decision-making process to assist U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Captains of the Port (COTPs) in deciding whether a vessel needs to be moved to a place of refuge (POR) and, if so, which place of refuge to use; and (2) a framework for pre-incident identification of potential places of refuge for inclusion in appropriate Area Contingency Plans (ACPs).

USCG personnel should also refer to Commandant Instruction M16000.14 (series), USCG Marine Environmental Response and Preparedness Manual (Chapter 4) for more information.