page_title: Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue / History
caption_attribution_description: English: RCM SAR Unit 14
context_page_description: Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue is a volunteer marine rescue service that saves lives and promotes public recreational boating safety throughout the coastal and some inland waters of the province of British Columbia and is associated with the national organization of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary.
context_section_description: In 1978, the Canadian Coast Guard (at the time under the federal Minister of the Department of Transport) established the Canadian Marine Rescue Auxiliary (CMRA) across Canada in order to involve volunteers in a structured way to provide marine rescue assistance and rescue prevention education.  This national auxiliary program provided funding for volunteer operations, such as reimbursement of fuel costs and insurance coverage, when volunteer boats and crews were formally tasked to respond to marine incidents by the Victoria (Joint) Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) of the Department of National Defence (DND).  Guidance in volunteer training and provision of some specialized rescue and life saving equipment were also provided under this program.  The CMRA underwent a name change to Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary.  In the Pacific Region of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, under which the Canadian Coast Guard (Special Operating) Agency now falls, the CCGA-Pacific underwent a rebranding doing business under the name Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue or RCMSAR, effective May 2012. The Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Inc., became the legal name of the organization in 2017.  
  Volunteers have been an integral part of marine rescue response services along the British Columbia coast for more than 100 years, initially as part of the Canadian Life Saving Service (CLSS).  The Canadian Coast Guard was formally established in 1962 and shortly thereafter engaged volunteers called Volunteer Search Masters (who operated suitable boats equipped with VHF radio communication) and Volunteer Marine Rescue Agents (who were local coastal contacts for Coast Guard Rescue Officers and who established "posts" in coastal communities for providing information and communications related to search and rescue incidents in the nearby waters).
caption: RCMSAR Unit 14 patrolling British Columbia pacific waters
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