Search and Rescue Region (SRR)

A search and rescue region (SRR) is the geographic area of defined dimensions associated with a rescue coordination center within which SAR services are provided, under the SAR Convention (Hamburg, 1979). SRRs partition the world’s oceans by agreement among neighboring states, registered through the IMO, so coverage has no gaps and the responsible RCC coordinates response to any distress within its region. The SRR is purely a service-responsibility boundary, not a claim of sovereignty or maritime jurisdiction; an SRR may extend well beyond a state’s EEZ. Operationally the response follows the three-volume IAMSAR Manual.