U. S. Coast Guard Facts

Did you know…

Each day, the men and women of the 35,000 plus active duty Coast Guard, 8,000 Reservists, and 32,000 Auxiliarists provide services over 3.4 million square miles of Exclusive Economic Zones.

On an average day, the Coast Guard:

• Conducts 109 Search and Rescue Cases.
• Saves 10 lives
• Assists 192 people in distress.
• Protects $2,791,841 in property.
• Seizes 169 pounds of marijuana and 306 pounds of cocaine worth $9,589,000.00.
• Processes 238 Seaman licenses and documents.
• Investigates 6 vessel casualties involving collisions, allisions, or groundings.

What else happens during an average day?

• Small boats are underway for 396 sorties/missions.
• Aircraft fly 164 missions, logging 324 hours, of which 19 hours are flown off patrolling cutters.
• Law enforcement teams board 144 vessels.
• Cutter and small boat crews interdict and rescue 14 illegal immigrants.
• Marine Safety personnel open 8 new cases for marine violation of federal statutes.
• Marine Inspectors board 100 large vessels for port safety checks.
• Vessel examiners conduct 20 commercial fishing vessel safety exams and issue 11 fishing vessel compliance decals.
• Pollution investigators respond to 20 oil or hazardous chemical spills totaling 2,800 gallons.
• Buoy tenders and Aids to Navigational Teams service 135 aids to navigation.
• Vessel Traffic Service controllers assist 2,509 commercial ships entering & leaving U.S. ports.
• Auxiliarists conduct 377 vessel safety checks and teach boating safety courses to 550 boaters.

Tell me more!

• The U.S. Coast Guard seizes 1 drug smuggling vessel every five days.
• Icebreakers and buoy tenders assist 196,938 tons of shipping daily during the Great Lakes ice season.
• International Ice Patrol sorties provide ice safety information to facilitate the 163,238 tons of shipping during the North Atlantic ice season.
• The Coast Guard is smaller than the New York City Police Department.
• The number of Coast Guard personnel for 2001 is the same as it was in 1967.