The Auckland Marine Rescue Centre is the control centre for the Coastguard Northern Region and Surf Lifesaving Northern Region, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 (responsible for the region from Paihia

Paihia

Paihia is the main tourist town in the Bay of Islands in the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located close to the historic towns of Russell, and Kerikeri, 60 kilometres north of Whangarei. The origin of the name Paihia is obscure. One, possibily apocryphal, attribution is to...

 to Thames

Thames, New Zealand

Thames is a town at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It is located on the Firth of Thames close to the mouth of the Waihou River. The town is the seat of the Thames-Coromandel District Council....

, including the Hauraki Gulf

Hauraki Gulf

The Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island...

). It also houses other marine services such as the Harbourmaster

Harbourmaster

A harbourmaster is an official responsible for enforcing the regulations of a particular harbour or port, in order to ensure the safety of navigation, the security of the harbour and the correct operation of the port facilities.-Responsibilities:Harbourmasters are normally responsible for issuing...

 and the Maritime Police

Water police

Water police, also called harbour patrols, port police, marine/maritime police, nautical patrols, bay constables or river police, are police officers, usually a department of a larger police organisation, who patrol in water craft...

. It is located in Mechanics Bay

Mechanics Bay

Mechanics Bay is the name of a former bay on the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland City, New Zealand. It is also the name used to describe the area of the former bay that is now mainly occupied by commercial and port facilities...

/Parnell

Parnell

Parnell may refer to:People* Bobby Parnell, a baseball pitcher for the New York Mets* Charles Stewart Parnell , Irish politician* Chris Parnell, actor and comedian* Lee Roy Parnell, country & western singer...

, Auckland City

Auckland City

Auckland City was the city and local authority covering the Auckland isthmus and most of the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, in the North Island of New Zealand. On 1 November 2010 it was amalgamated into the wider Auckland Region under the authority of the new Auckland Council...

, at the eastern end of the Ports of Auckland

Ports of Auckland

Ports of Auckland Limited , the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities...

 container terminal.

Funding

The facilities of the Auckland Marine Rescue Centre were built with a donation by the Auckland Harbour Board (now having become the commercial entity managing the Port of Auckland) and were first brought into operation in 1991. The operation of the centre is paid for by donations of its 11,000 volunteer members paying an annual NZ$95 subscription fee.

Facilities

The circular centre building centre houses a marine communications centre, operational 24/7/365 and fields over 100,000 calls per year, from trip reports to emergency calls (dealing with around 1,600 actual incidents a year). These calls are mainly via VHF marine radio

Marine VHF radio

Marine VHF radio is installed on all large ships and most seagoing small craft. It is used for a wide variety of purposes, including summoning rescue services and communicating with harbours, locks, bridges and marinas, and operates in the VHF frequency range, between 156 to 174 MHz...

 or cell phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

. The radio room as well as the emergency craft of the Coastguard are largely manned by volunteers.

A heliport is also located directly next to the centre, with a hangar housing the Westpac Rescue Helicopter

Westpac Rescue Helicopter (New Zealand)

The Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter is a New Zealand accident and emergency rescue and transport service operated by the Auckland Regional Rescue Helicopter Trust. The Trust operates two BK117-850 D2 helicopters on behalf of the helicopter owners - the greater Auckland community...

. Directly attached to the north of the centre is a small artificial harbour sheltering the craft of the rescue, police, harbourmaster

Harbourmaster

A harbourmaster is an official responsible for enforcing the regulations of a particular harbour or port, in order to ensure the safety of navigation, the security of the harbour and the correct operation of the port facilities.-Responsibilities:Harbourmasters are normally responsible for issuing...

and customs services. Several meeting rooms for events and functions are also available, and often cater for education services such as water safety.