WOODS HOLE, Mass. – Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England will conduct a two-day, search and rescue exercise Feb. 23-24.
On Wednesday morning Coast Guard Sector Southeastern will simulate receiving a report of an overdue fishing vessel on a trip from an area east of Nantucket, Mass., headed toward Provincetown, Mass.
During the drill, the Coast Guard will communicate on VHF-FM channel 23A and all transmissions will include the phrase, “This is a drill, this is a drill.” Urgent marine information broadcasts and any call outs for the overdue vessel will be simulated, and no transmissions related to the drill will be made on VHF-FM Channel 16, the channel used to report maritime distress.
The exercise will last eight hours each day and occur during daylight hours only. While actual search efforts would not suspend after sunset, for drill purposes, the exercise will be suspended at night to prevent exceeding crew fatigue limitations.
Exercise participants will include: Coast Guard Stations Chatham and Provincetown, Air Station Cape Cod, and Coast Guard Cutters Escanaba and Tybee, which will work with the First Coast Guard District Command Center in Boston.
The intent of the drill is to prepare Coast Guard members for large scale search and rescue operations.
Anyone with any concerns or questions related to the drill should contact Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England at (508) 457- 3211.
