The Mariners' Alerting and Reporting Scheme (MARS) is primarily a confidential reporting system run by The Nautical Institute to allow full reporting of accidents (and near misses) without fear of identification or litigation. MARS is a free service to the industry (supported by Nautical Affiliates). Captain Drouin FNI talks about the value of incident reporting, how best to use it, and why it is better to learn from others than to make mistakes yourself! Captain Paul Drouin is a Fellow of The Nautical Institute and was appointed as Editor of MARS in May 2013, a job he fulfils on a part time basis from his home or from his various sea postings worldwide.