Warm weather leads to busy year for Jersey Coastguard

Vessel equipment failure was the biggest call-out in 2023, with 23% of all incidents, Ports of Jersey said

In 2023, Jersey Coastguard responded to 205 incidents, a report has revealed.

The total was one fewer than in 2022 - the busiest year on record for the island coastguard team.

Vessel equipment failure was the biggest call-out in 2023, with 23% of all incidents, Ports of Jersey said.

Dan Downey, from Jersey Coastguard, said "long spells of warm weather" saw islanders and visitors visit the coast "resulting in the high numbers of incidents".

Jersey had its joint second hottest year on record in 2023, according to data from Jersey Met.

'Vast network'

Mr Downey said: "Drawing insights from trends we saw in 2022, we executed a year-long campaign aimed at highlighting sea safety messages.

"The impact of this campaign was tangible, for example, incidents of being cut off by tides decreased from 23 in 2022 to 13 in 2023."

Mr Downey added the service was "fortunate" to have access to a "vast network of search and rescue resources" from neighbouring territories.

He said in 2023, there were large-scale multi-agency search and rescue incidents, enabling the coastguard to share expertise and resources with search and rescue partners in Jersey and France.

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