The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is a UK executive agency working to prevent the loss of lives at sea and it is responsible for implimenting maritime safety policy. This involves coordinating search and rescue(SAR) at sea through Her Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG), ensuring that ships meet international and UK safety standards and monitoring and preventing coastal water pollution.

The MCA has three distinct "outward facing" elements - provision of SAR and prevention activity through HMCG, port and flag state control of shipping through a network of Marine Offices and the development of international standards and policy for shipping through the International Maritime Organisation.

The MCA has now established an Automatic Identification System (AIS) network around the UK coast, for real-time tracking and monitoring of shipping movements from the shore.

Its motto is "Safer Lives, Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas".

See also

• Royal National Lifeboat Institution
• Holbrook Coastguard

External link

• Maritime and Coastguard Agency official site

Coast guards | Water transport in the United Kingdom | Executive agencies of the United Kingdom government