Search and Rescue
Marine Search and Rescue (SAR) work varies widely: from towing in broken down runabouts, pumping out capsized or swamped vessels, rescuing stranded boaties from remote beaches or islands, to long distance air and water searches for stricken vessels or survivors, sometimes many miles out to sea, with gruelling hours night and day.
Marine Search and Rescue capabilities of the Eastern Region: these are provided by the Coastguard Units and their Volunteers. At present, Eastern Region Coastguard boasts more than 750 dedicated active volunteers across the 17 units that comprise the Eastern Region.
If you get into trouble on the water, it is a crew drawn from these volunteers who will assist you. To call for assistance, see the radio channels and frequencies 
monitored by coastguard units of Eastern Region.
We have 12 dedicated search and rescue vessels in our fleet and access to aeroclub aircraft in main centres of the Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay. These are augmented by Rescue Helicopters in several cities of the region.
You will see that these are kept busy throughout the year as shown in the Incident Reports filed by many of the Coastguard Units
Although most Coastguard crew members on board our rescue vessels and air patrol craft are passionate volunteers, they undergo continuous and rigourous training, ensuring they are highly competent "professional" volunteers, so you can be safe in the knowledge that when you call Coastguard for help, you'll be in expert hands.
