Coast guard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A coast guard is a national organization responsible for various services at sea. However the term implies widely different responsibilities in different countries.

A CH-149 Cormorant training with a Canadian Coast Guard cutter.

Among the responsibilities that may be entrusted to a coast guard service are enforcement of maritime law, maintenance of seamarks, border control, and other services. During wartime coast guards might be responsible for harbour defense, port security, naval counterintelligence and coastal patrols.

In some countries it is part of the military. In a few countries it is a civilian or even private sector organization. Most coast guards operate ships and aircraft including helicopters and seaplanes for this purpose.

In some countries (such as Ireland) the coast guard has no law enforcement role. It is the coordinating agency for maritime rescue - the maritime rescue assets may come from other organisations. In these cases, lifeboats may be provided by civilian voluntary organisations, such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, whilst aircraft may be provided by the countries armed forces, in addition to coastguard owned assets. In the United States, the Coast Guard has both law enforcement and military roles.

1 Types and roles
2 Links and information about specific coast guards
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Types and roles

The following lists a select number of Coast guards around the world, illustrating the varied roles they play in the respective countries they operate in:

[edit] Military units

Image:CoastGuardRescue.JPG

An Indian Coast Guard helicopter carrying out rescue mission during the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

In India, the Indian Coast Guard is a military unit. It secures the country's coast, carries out rescues, and aids shipping. Over in Italy, the Guardia Costiera is part of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, but is a military organization.

In the United States, the United States Coast Guard is a military service under the United States Department of Homeland Security in peacetime. In wartime the Coast Guard may, at the direction of the president, report to the Secretary of the Navy but does not become part of the United States Navy; however, its boats and cutters are integrated into U.S. military operations (see 14 U.S.C. § 3 & 14 U.S.C. § 4). The U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Officer Candidate School are located in New London, Connecticut. The U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers Academy is located in Petaluma, California. United States Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, New Jersey is the US Coast Guard's only Recruit Training Center. Many other countries' Navies are comparable to the US Coast Guard. The US Coast Guard enables the US Navy to concentrate on its main mission — power projection — while the Coast Guard manages maritime security, port security, and coastal patrols.

The U.S. Coast Guard also has an extensive aviation division consisting of HH-65 Dolphin and HH-60 Jayhawk helicopters. Fixed wing aircraft include C-130 Hercules and the HU-25 Guardian. The helicopters are equipped with hoists to rescue survivors and also play a major role in law enforcement. The helicopters are able to land and take-off from Coast Guard cutters making them an indispensable tool in fighting illegal drug traffic and the influx of illegal migrants. The fixed wing aircraft are used for long range search and rescue and law enforcement patrols. When they spot survivors or suspicious vessels the helicopters are called out.

[edit] Law enforcement agencies

A third generation Patrol Craft of the Police Coast Guard conducting a sea-rescue demonstration off the southeastern coast of Singapore.

In Malaysia, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) or Malaysian Coast Guard is part of the Malaysian Civil Service and is placed under the Prime Minister's Department. The Agency is headed by a Director General who is appointed by the Yang Di Pertuan Agong (King) on the advice of the Prime Minister while other personnel are appointed by the Public Service Commission. It is tasked with enforcing national and international laws, coordinates search and rescue operations and other matters incidental to maritime enforcement in the Malaysian Maritime Zone and on the high seas. In times of war, special crisis or emergency, the Agency may be placed under the command of the Malaysian Armed Forces by order of the Minister.

In Singapore, the Police Coast Guard (PCG) is an operational department of the Singapore Police Force. Functions of the coast guard were transferred from the Republic of Singapore Navy to what was then the Marine Police in February 1993 [1]. The Marine Police was thus restructured and renamed as the Police Coast Guard, one of the few law enforcement organisations in the world to combine water policing and coast guard duties while remaining as a policing unit.

[edit] Civil organisations

In Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard is a civilian service under the Department of Fisheries and Oceans responsible for patrolling the world's longest coastline of 243,042 km. The Canadian Coast Guard College is located near Sydney, Nova Scotia.

In the United Kingdom, Her Majesty's Coastguard is purely concerned with search and rescue. It has no role in the maintenance of seamarks which is instead the responsibility of Trinity House and (in Scotland and Northern Ireland) the Northern Lighthouse Board. Neither has it any concern with customs enforcement, which is the responsibility of the waterguard. HM Coastguard does not possess all weather lifeboats - although it often wet leases commercial helicopters - mainly Sikorsky S-61s - and tugs to provide search and rescue cover in certain areas - it does however maintain a number of search, cliff and mud rescue teams as well as some inshore rescue boats and is a coordinating body and public face for the maritime search and rescue services. It is part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.