Search and Rescue at Sea and on the Coast

The Objective of the Channel Navigation Information Service (CNIS) is to contribute to the safety of navigation in the Dover Strait by encouraging vessels to comply with international Maritime Organization (IMO) procedures for vessels navigating within a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) and the provision of the latest information to shipping on activities, conditions and navigational irregularities which may affect safe navigation.

HM Coastguard SAR - Contacts

HM Coastguard SAR - Helicopters

The Safety at Sea - Northern Periphery project seeks to enhance maritime safety in the Northern Periphery, an area truly on the edge of Europe, with a climate that is frequently harsh, a sparse population and complicated topography. In this sense, the project is supporting key industries operating in this area, as well as developing measures that will help protect its rich natural environment.

If you are at sea and get into difficulty and you are unable to raise assistance, is there anyone ashore who knows what to do if you fail to return at your estimated time? Would a friend or relative know who to contact? Would they have sufficient detail about your vessel and your likely whereabouts to be able to assist the Coastguard to locate you? Would it not be a comfort to know that when you set out, the Coastguard has the details of your vessel on a database that is accessible to all Coastguard Co-ordination Centres throughout the UK so that they have the information they need to mount a search and rescue operation should you get into difficulty?

Time Expired Pyrotechnics Disposal Advice

SOLAS Regulation V/7.3 requires passenger ships to carry plans for co-operation with search and rescue (SAR) services. Copies of the plans are held by all relevant SAR services or, for passenger ships which trade through many SAR regions, by a SAR data provider. Please see the MSC Circular Guidelines for preparing plans for co-operation between SAR services and passenger ships for further details.

All modern VHF and MF radios are equipped with Digital Selective Calling (DSC). All DSC equipment is programmed with a unique nine-digit identification number, known as a Maritime Mobile Service Identity or MMSI.

Today's Officers of Her Majesty's Coastguard are benefitting from nearly two centuries of maritime experience of their predecessors. Many changes have taken place over the years and Coastguard co-ordination centres of the 21st century have been transformed by new technology. HM Coastguard's role is now clearly focussed on search and rescue at sea and the prevention of maritime incidents through education and the promotion of safety.

While we strive in all we do to prevent emergencies occurring at sea, we know that they can never be eradicated entirely. We can learn lessons from past emergencies that will help prevent their repetition – but we can also learn lessons from the way past emergencies were dealt with, which will help us and others deal better with such events in the future.

Her Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is responsible in the UK for the broadcast of Maritime Safety Information (MSI) on VHF, MF and NAVTEX and for the provision of Radio Medical Link Calls (MEDILINK) Service - PDF (16Kb)

UK 406MHz EPIRB Registration

This work plan has been developed in order to facilitate the work of the COMSAR intersessional correspondence group established by COMSAR 9 to consider the passenger ship safety review tasks allocated to COMSAR by MSC 79.

Her Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is responsible in the UK for the broadcast of Maritime Safety Information (MSI) on VHF, MF and NAVTEX and for the provision of Radio Medical Link Calls (MEDILINK) Service.

Updated December 2007