YARMOUTH, N.S. — Fishing boat owners and operators who haven’t yet registered their EPIRBs - emergency position-indicating radio beacons – are being asked to do so.
It could save lives.
A big issue for the Canadian Coast Guard is that vessels with unregistered EPIRBs can delay a response if they get into trouble, says Marc Ouellette, Canadian Coast Guard regional supervisor for Maritime Search and Rescue at the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax.
Ouellette and others in his organization are urging fishermen with an unregistered beacon aboard their vessel to get it registered as soon as possible.
“We have some of the highest registration results in the world but it’s so critical to keep that high level because it protects everybody,” said Ouellette.
“It means that we’re not needlessly activating the SAR system.”
Major Mark Norris, JRCC Halifax Commanding Officer, adds information that many fishermen may not realize.
“A lot of people don’t realize that when you’re selling your boat or transferring it, that’s a point where you absolutely have to re-register your beacon to the new owner,” he said.
Before search and rescue organizations switched over to the 406 MHz system, whenever they received activation of an alert, it only indicated the location.
“Now there is information encoded with the beacon going off. We know who it belongs to and we can do some very quick investigation as to where the owner is.
“Are they doing maintenance on their boat? What are the circumstances surrounding this activation? Most of the time it’s an accidental activation and that allows us to close that (incident) off and we know right away if there’s distress or not. Doing that helps us to keep our resources ready for when there’s actually people in need,” said Norris.
Other factors where registration details need to be updated include: if you move, if you want to update emergency contact information, if your phone number changes, or if any of the important information in the registry changes such as colour of vessel.
Click here to register your EPIRB.
You can add or update your emergency beacon information online, by faxing or emailing a completed registration form, or by speaking with a representative.
