Dumped beacons put lives at risk

Irresponsibly dumped distress beacons are wasting tens of thousands of dollars and risking lives, the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) says.

A spate of unnecessary SAR operations this year, sparked by signals sent from dumped beacons, has prompted RCCNZ to remind beacon owners that unwanted or obsolete beacons must be disposed of properly.

The battery needs to be disconnected and the beacon disposed of according to local regulations, as many beacons contain hazardous materials. Beacon owners should contact their local retailer or the police to arrange appropriate disposal of old or unwanted distress beacons.

More than 20 incidents of dumped beacons sparking searches have been identified since 2012 – eleven involving the use of rescue helicopters at a cost of around $3000 an hour. Already this year, dumped beacons have resulted in four searches, two involving rescue helicopters.

“Not only do these searches waste time and money – helicopters do not come cheap – but they have tied up resources that may have been required for an actual rescue or attendance at an accident site. That potentially puts lives at risk,” RCCNZ Deputy Manager Support Services Rodney Bracefield said.

A search doesn’t stop even if it appears a signal is coming from a dump site.

“We can’t take it for granted that a signal from an EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon) off a ship is a false alarm, even if the signal is coming from a position on land. It could be that the owner has taken it ashore for whatever reason and is genuinely in distress.”

“Once a signal is identified, we can’t just leave it operating or it will be picked up every time a satellite is overhead – and that could have implications if another beacon is activated in the area. It really needs to be turned off and disposed of correctly.”

By law, all distress beacons must be registered. This provides emergency contact information and allows RCCNZ to quickly ascertain if a beacon alert is genuine or inadvertent.

Beacon registration is free at the website: beacons.org.nz/registration.

–Maritime NZ/NZ Fishing News