According to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, on 4 September it logged its 10,000th registration in 2009 – more than a quarter of the total of nearly 38,000 listed since registration records began in 1987.
By contrast, 3390 units were registered over the same period last year.
The beacons come in the form of Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs) and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs).
EPIRBs are designed for maritime use. They release and activate automatically if a vessel sinks. PLBs are for carriage by individuals at sea and, since 2005, in light aircraft. They need to be activated manually.
While EPIRBs have been registered for 22 years, PLBs have been registered only since 2000. They account for a total of 9368 registrations, of which 6420 have been for maritime use.
Some PLBs can be taken diving by being carried in a waterproof container which can withstand water pressure at depth. They should still be waterproof at the surface, so that they can be taken from the container and used by a lost diver.
There is no record of the number of PLBs sold specifically for diving use, but an MCA spokesman told Divernet that, as a “guesstimate”, he thought that probably “around 100 owners use PLBs for diving expeditions, often abroad”.
EPIRBs and PLBs operate on the 406 MHz distress frequency, part of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System. They send a digital signal via satellite to the Coastguard, which identifies the vessel or person in distress.
A 121.5 MHz local homer is also incorporated, for accurate location once a rescuing vessel or aircraft has reached the area in which the beacon has been activated.
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