Maritime Search and Rescue

The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary (CCGA) is a highly-effective voluntary organization with vessels that aid in search and rescue incidents.

The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary (CCGA) has about 1000 members and 460 vessels in the Newfoundland and Labrador Region.

In an average year, the Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre (MRSC) in St. John's responds to approximately 500 incidents involving 2,900 people.  Of these, 28 per cent are classified as distress incidents in which on average 600 lives are saved and 18 lives are lost.

Search and rescue involves searching for, and providing assistance to, persons, ships or other craft that are, or are believed to be, in distress or imminent danger.  The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) is responsible for providing maritime resources in support of search and rescue in areas of federal responsibility.

In addition to three Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centres, jointly staffed by the CCG and the Canadian Forces, the CCG operates two Maritime Rescue Sub-Centres, one of which is located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.  The function of a sub-centre is to assist in the workload of the parent co-ordination centre in areas of high marine activity by providing search and rescue co-ordination services to the public, additional communications and contributing local knowledge.  These centres are staffed by highly-trained search and rescue co-ordinators and operate 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, year round.

The maritime area for which the St. John's Sub-Centre is responsible consists of more than 900,000 square kilometres of ocean and 28,956 kilometres of coastline.  Marine activity in this area includes pleasure crafts, fishing, transatlantic shipping, and oil and gas exploration and development.

The staff of the sub-centre is responsible for the planning, co-ordination, conduct and control of search and rescue operations.  Once the Coast Guard is notified that a person(s) is in danger, the search and rescue co-ordinator begins to organize the rescue.  All available information about the person(s) in danger is gathered and recorded and the positions of potential resources in the area of the incident are determined.  Search and rescue co-ordinators are trained to evaluate various situations and send the most effective resources to deal with any incident.

Canadian Coast Guard resources are augmented by the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary (CCGA), a highly-effective volunteer organization.  There are about 1000 members and 460 vessels in the Newfoundland and Labrador Coast Guard Auxiliary.  Each year, in the Newfoundland and Labrador Region, the auxiliary responds to 35 per cent of the maritime search and rescue incidents, saving over 100 lives.

In an average year, the St. John's Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre responds to approximately 500 incidents involving 2,900 people.  Of these, 28 per cent are classified as distress incidents.  The Newfoundland and Labrador Region has the highest proportion of distress incidents in Canada.

The Search and Rescue Program in Newfoundland and Labrador is also responsible for offering marine safety advice, developing specialized search and rescue equipment, supporting the international search and rescue community and working with other government departments and organizations to ensure efficient provision of search and rescue in Canada.

Maritime Search and Rescue (24-hours)
1-800-563-2444
(709) 772-5151