Emergencies - offshore rescue

As an island nation, 97% of the UK’s trade by weight is by sea, and there can be no doubt that shipping is vital to the UK economy. Our fishermen and fishing communities also rely on the sea for their livelihood, and many of us use beaches and the coast for leisure and sport. We have 10,500 miles of outstandingly beautiful coastline.

This Agency is responsible throughout the UK for implementing the Government’s maritime safety policy. That includes co-ordinating search and rescue at sea through Her Majesty’s Coastguard, and checking that ships meet UK and international safety rules. We work to prevent the loss of lives at the coast and at sea, to ensure that ships are safe, and to prevent coastal pollution Safer Lives, Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas.

We are putting increasing effort into prevention work and a measure of our success is when accidents do not happen, or where we intervene to minimise their impact.

For more information please visit the coast guards website.