Coast guard

The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to being a volunteer organization tasked with search and rescue without law enforcement authority.

The predecessor of Britain's modern His Majesty's Coastguard was established in 1809 as the Waterguard, a department of the HM Customs and Excise authority, which was originally devoted to the prevention of smuggling.

At the time, due to high UK taxation on liquors such as brandy, as well as tobacco and other luxuries, smuggling of such cargos from places such as France, Belgium, and Holland was an attractive proposition for criminals.

The barrels of brandy and other contraband were landed from the ships on England's beaches at night in small boats and later sold for profit, as later depicted in the Doctor Syn series of books by Russell Thorndike.

The Coast Guard later absorbed the United States Lighthouse Service in 1939 and the functions of the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection via a two-step process in 1942 and 1946.

[3] Most coast guards operate ships and aircraft including helicopters and seaplanes that are either owned or leased by the agency in order to fulfil their respective roles.

The following lists a selected number of coast guards around the world, illustrating the varied roles they play in the respective governments and the countries they operate in: The Argentine Naval Prefecture, in Spanish Prefectura Naval Argentina or PNA, is a service of the Argentine Republic's Security Ministry charged with protecting the country's rivers, lakes and maritime territory.

Other roles include: Conducting national maritime policy, and implementing and enforcing laws and regulations with respect to the sea and inland waters.

The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) is a civilian service under the Department of Fisheries and Oceans responsible for patrolling the world's longest coastline of 243,042 km (~151,000 mi).

To accomplish these tasks, the CCG has a sizable fleet of vessels and aircraft, all serviced from various bases and smaller stations located on three coasts (Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific) and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.

The Marine and Water Bureau, which is under the Secretariat for Transport and Public Works (Macau), helps in coordinating search and rescue operations in the region.

The Croatian Navy is composed of classical naval forces structured into a flotilla and the Coast Guard that solely consists of ships with peacetime duties, e.g. protection of ecology, fishing, control of tankers, ballast waters, combat against terrorism, trafficking of people, narcotics, and similar.

Maritime surveillance radar stations are maintained at Anaklia, Poti, Supsa, Chakvi, and Gonio, providing coverage of all territorial seas.

The Border Guard Command Marine faraja sea [fa] also performs maritime duties in the north alongside the Iranian Navy.

It maintains the Isle of Man's Marine Operations Centre (control room), but it has no aircraft, and contracts air-sea rescue to the UK Coastguard.

Its main responsibilities are safety at sea, maritime security and law enforcement, search and rescue services (with partner agencies), and protection of the marine environment.

The Pakistani Coast Guard is placed under the Pakistan Army and has responsibilities for conducting riverine operations, protecting coastal areas and shores of Karachi.

It patrols the country's 36,289-kilometer coastline and hundreds of islands, and is also involved in maritime search and rescue (SAR) missions, as well as the protection of the marine environment.

In Portugal, the coast guard role is performed by several government agencies that, together, form the Maritime Authority System (Sistema de Autoridade Marítima or SAM).

The National Maritime Authority (Autoridade Marítima Nacional or AMN) is the branch of the Portuguese Navy responsible for its coast guard role.

The agency runs 20 rescue coordination centres (RCC), employs a staff of 1500 and operates a fleet of 19 vessels, 54 boats, 11 helicopters and 3 airplanes.

Salvamento Marítimo operates in the four international SAR areas assigned to Spain: Atlántico, Canarias, Estrecho and Mediterráneo, covering a combined extension of 1.5 million square kilometers.

The department's responsibilities include search and rescue, law enforcement within the country's Exclusive economic zone, conducting anti-smuggling and anti-immigration operations, suppression of terrorist activities in territorial waters of Sri Lanka.

Tasks: The Swedish Coast Guard carries out some of its surveillance by air (from its base in Skavsta near Stockholm), and some on ice and snow (from its Luleå station).

The CGA is considered a civilian law enforcement agency under the administration of the Executive Yuan, though during wartime it may be incorporated as part of the ROC military.

HM Coastguard wet leases commercial helicopters — Sikorsky S-92s and AgustaWestland AW189s — to provide aerial search and rescue cover around Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as the United Kingdom's emergency towing vessel fleet in areas not served by tug brokers.

that provide detailed information on aids to navigation with their locations and characteristic signals is currently maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard in its Light List issued each year.

Several other federal, state and local agencies operate maritime police and security units with law enforcement and search and rescue functions similar to the Coast Guard.

In 2015, there are plans for the Uruguayan Coast Guard to pass and depend entirely on the Ministry of Interior, meaning it would not be a military unit anymore.

Besides maritime search and rescue (SAR) missions, Vietnam Coast Guard missions include protection the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the waters of Vietnam; protection of natural resources; prevention of environmental pollution; detection and prevention of acts of smuggling, piracy and illegal transportation and trafficking of illegal narcotics or precursors.