Marine Rescue NSW Volunteers Start New Year With More than 700 Missions

Volunteers from Marine Rescue NSW’s 46 units across the state completed 703 search and rescue missions in January, safely returning 1,788 people to shore.

The busiest region, with 285 missions was Greater Sydney, with Lake Macquarie’s Marine Rescue unit the most in-demand, completing 106 search and rescue missions.

A quarter of last month’s missions were emergency responses and Marine Rescue NSW Commissioner Alex Barrell pleaded with boaters not to become a statistic with the boating season continuing until ANZAC Day.

“Summer is by far from over at the moment, our message to boaters is to make sure that they don’t get complacent, that they keep safety front of mind and they make the right decisions before they go boating on the state’s waterways,” Commissioner Barrell said.

Capsized or grounded vessels, which could quickly become life-threatening emergencies, accounted for 10 per cent of incidents in January.

Commissioner Barrell encouraged boaters to always check equipment and conditions.

“WAterways are great places to be but it is important that you check the conditions and your equipment, not once but twice, make sure that you have everything you need and that you keep safety front of mind,” he said.

“What we’ve seen over recent weeks and months is unstable weather conditions.

“It may be good at one point int he day, but it suddenly changes, that is why it is important that you check the conditions.

“Whether you’re boating, rock fishing, anytime you are around that coastal environment, it is really important that you continually check the weather.”

Marine Rescue NSW radio operators managed 26,047 radio calls last month, including 18 MAYDAYs and 11 PAN PANs while the service’s volunteers kept watch over 32,256 people on board vessels that Logged On with Marine Rescue NSW either via the free Marine Rescue app or VHF channel 16.

Commissioner Barrell said that many Marine Rescue NSW units were currently recruiting members for radio operations and vessel crew.

“We are fortunate to have so many wonderful volunteers as part of Marine Rescue NSW,” he said.

“Our volunteers are professionally trained to the highest standard and are regularly assessed so when that phone rings we have got professional personnel to go out and undertake our rescue work.”

• Topics:

• Emergency Services