SAR Region (SRR)

The defined sea or land area, delimited by inter-state agreement and registered through the IMO, within which a designated state accepts responsibility for coordinating search and rescue. The SAR Convention (Hamburg, 1979) requires coastal states to agree SRR boundaries with their neighbors so the world’s oceans are partitioned without overlap or gap. An SRR is a service-responsibility boundary only; it does not follow territorial-sea or EEZ limits and confers no sovereignty. The responsible state runs the response through its rescue coordination center for any person in distress, whatever their nationality or flag.