The Global Search and Rescue (SAR) System
By Matthew Mitchell, Founder and CEO, International Association of Search and Rescue Coordinators (IASARC)
What exactly is the Global SAR System? In a single sentence, it is a network of organizations and resources that collaborate to support individuals in distress. But it is so much more than that.
To offer our readers and the global SAR community a better and more profound understanding of the world’s critical lifesaving system, I turn to a dear friend and colleague, Mr. Rick Button, who is the Chief, Coordination Division, Office of Search and Rescue, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, D.C., and the Secretary, U.S. National Search and Rescue Committee.
Mr. Button conducts outreach and engagement for the Coast Guard and the U.S. on national and international search and rescue-related matters; Coast Guard, United States, and international mass rescue response preparedness, coordination, and outreach; and is the program manager for the AMVER search and rescue ship reporting system. With forty-five years of Coast Guard service, Mr. Button has served nineteen years in his current position, and there is perhaps no one better to provide an Overview of the Global SAR System.
With his permission, we present this extract of his paper entitled, International Law and Search and Rescue, originally published by the Naval War College Review.
OVERVIEW: GLOBAL SEARCH-AND-RESCUE SYSTEM
The thing I constantly think about—we were so, so very lucky. The difference between our ship and the Titanic is we weren’t caught in the middle of the ocean............ If we had been caught in the middle of the ocean, most of these people wouldn’t have survived.
MIKE KAJIAN, PASSENGER ON BOARD COSTA CONCORDIA
The world’s oceans constitute a dangerous environment that covers approximately 70 percent of the Earth’s surface.[4] The centuries-old duty of the mariner transiting the world’s oceans to render assistance to those in distress at sea was implemented formally through several international conventions.[5] However, large-scale disasters at sea in the early twentieth century, many involving significant loss of life, continued to plague the shipping community. The continued loss of life made it apparent that, alone, this duty to render assistance was insufficient; an international SAR system for organizing, coordinating, and conducting rescues at sea was required.
Before the adoption of the SAR Convention, there was no overarching international plan for coordinating the conduct of maritime lifesaving operations. Some maritime regions did have coastal states that implemented robust, effective, national SAR systems. In contrast, others had very limited or no SAR resources or coordinating structures to render assistance to persons in distress. There was no internationally recognized system to coordinate and conduct SAR operations, because there was no governing international regime to standardize SAR processes and procedures.
The adoption of the SAR Convention filled this gap by instituting a framework under which coastal states could implement their respective national SAR systems,[6] including the establishment of rescue coordination centers (RCCs) and rescue sub-centers (RSCs) to coordinate operations within a coastal state’s SAR region.[7]
Soon after the IMO’s SAR Convention came into force in 1985, it became apparent that additional guidance was required. To assist states in meeting their SAR obligations under the SAR Convention, as well as the comparable requirements the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) mandated in the Convention on International Civil Aviation (“Chicago Convention”),[8] both organizations jointly developed the three-volume International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Manual (IAMSAR manual).[9] This reference provides guidelines and procedures to assist states in developing and harmonizing their respective aeronautical and maritime SAR organizations, planning, and operations, as well as providing the basis for coordinating and conducting SAR operations among states.
Developed for the SAR manager, the IAMSAR manual, volume 1 (Organization and Management), “attempts to ensure that managers understand the basic concepts and principles involved in SAR, and to provide practical information and guidance to help managers establish and support SAR services.”[10] Volume 2 (Mission Coordination) provides guidance and information to personnel who plan and coordinate SAR operations.[11] Volume 3 (Mobile Facilities) was developed for carriage on board vessels and aircraft that may be called upon to assist in a SAR operation.
Volume 1 explains the IMO and ICAO’s purpose for developing the IAMSAR manual:
ICAO and IMO jointly developed this Manual to foster cooperation between them- selves, between neighbouring States, and between aeronautical and maritime authori- ties. The goal of the Manual is to assist State authorities to economically establish effective SAR services, to promote harmonization of aeronautical and maritime SAR services, and to ensure that persons in distress will be assisted without regard to their locations, nationality, or circumstances. State authorities are encouraged to promote, where possible[,] harmonization of aeronautical and maritime SAR services.[12]
Within the global SAR system, roles and responsibilities have also been developed to provide for the efficient organization and implementation of a coastal state’s national SAR system. There are three primary levels of coordination: (1) the SAR coordinator (SC) is that person or agency with the responsibility for the management and oversight of a coastal state’s SAR organization;[13] (2) the SAR mission coordinator (SMC) is the official temporarily assigned to coordinate, direct, and supervise a SAR operation;[14] and (3) an on-scene coordinator (OSC) may be assigned by the SMC to coordinate SAR operations on scene when multiple resources are working together within a specified area.[15] Additionally, an aircraft coordinator (ACO) can be assigned by the SMC or OSC in a SAR operation if the response involves multiple aircraft. The ACO would be responsible for flight safety and for ensuring effective use of the aircraft in the conduct of the operation.[16]
Search-and-Rescue Regions
Implementation of the international SAR framework mandated by the SAR Convention necessitated the division of the world’s oceans into a patchwork quilt of maritime SAR regions in which each coastal state assumed responsibility for coordinating and conducting SAR operations.[17] It is commonly assumed that coastal states establish their SAR regions unilaterally. However, SAR region lines of delimitation are only provisional; the SAR Convention mandates that coastal states with adjacent SAR regions enter into cooperative agreements to establish their respective SAR regions formally.[18] These SAR agreements not only delimit the SAR regions but ideally serve as the basis for cooperation and coordination between coastal states in the conduct of SAR operations.[19]
One practical benefit in developing a global SAR system is that with the worldwide assignment of maritime SAR regions, states are not required to provide SAR services for their citizens wherever they travel. Coastal states provide SAR services to anyone in distress within a SAR region, without regard to the person’s nationality, status, or circumstances.[20]
Two other important factors need to be understood regarding coastal states’ implementation of SAR services within their maritime SAR regions.[21] First, a maritime SAR region is not an extension of a coastal state’s national “boundaries” but rather a geographic area in which the coastal state accepts responsibility to coordinate SAR operations.[22] This is a fundamental concept to understand, since a coastal state may extend a significant portion of its maritime SAR region into the high seas.[23] Second, the SAR Convention does not mandate that a coastal state must have all the SAR resources necessary to respond to a distress within its entire maritime SAR region.
As previously stated, SAR regions only define a geographic area in which a coastal state is responsible for “coordinating” SAR operations.[24] The requirements of the SAR Convention build on the time-honored tradition of shared responsibility for coordinating and conducting lifesaving operations at sea. All available resources should be used to save lives: local, regional, national, and international; volunteer; commercial and shipping; aircraft; etc.[25] The circumstances of a particular distress incident should dictate what available resources can and should be used most effectively.
Rescue Coordination Center / Rescue Sub-center
The coastal state’s RCCs and RSCs are the backbone of the global SAR system. They are responsible for organizing SAR services and coordinating and conducting SAR operations within maritime SAR regions.[26] The annex to the SAR Convention requires the assignment of one RCC or RSC to each maritime SAR region.[27] The RCC should be located where it can perform its coordination function most effectively, have twenty-four-hour availability, be staffed with trained personnel, have the ability to receive distress alerts, and maintain plans of operation for different types of distress scenarios.[28]
In situations in which an RCC may not be able to coordinate SAR services effectively over a specific geographic area within its SAR region, a coastal state’s SAR authority can establish an RSC to exercise responsibility for coordinating SAR operations within a designated search-and-rescue subregion (SRS).[29] The RSC, which can be just as capable as an RCC, may be delegated authority to coordinate SAR operations independently within its SRS. However, an RSC generally has fewer responsibilities than its associated RCC.[30]
The global SAR system, while not perfect, continues to improve every year as nations work together to save lives at sea. SAR authorities worldwide understand their responsibilities under the SAR Convention. Lessons learned from SAR cases are developed and shared among international SAR authorities and organizations. Coastal states in many regions of the world are realizing that effective SAR services cannot be provided independently. In these regions, coastal states are working together to develop regional SAR plans and cooperative arrangements to implement regional SAR systems based on the framework mandated in the SAR Convention. There is still plenty of work to be accomplished, but through the IMO and ICAO, positive improvements to the global SAR system continue to be made.
Rick Button and Matthew Mitchell while attending the International Search and Rescue Conference in Malaysia.
