A voluntary organisation keeping a visual watch along UK shores

Hours Crewed


National Coastwatch (NCI) is a Declared Facility, also referred to as an Asset, of HMCG. Declared Facility Status (DFS) is the standard to be reached by all NCI Stations, once they have been operational for at least two years, and against which they will be re-assessed annually thereafter. The standards for the DFS process are set out in a Memorandum of Understanding (Section 15) between His Majesty’s Coastguard (HMCG) and NCI.

During 2020 all NCI stations closed for two months at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. On re-opening most stations were single-crewed for the rest of the year.

2013

No. of Stations
50
No. of DFS
46
Percentage DFS
92
Total watchkeeper hours
219,116

2012

No. of Stations
48
No. of DFS
43
Percentage DFS
90
Total watchkeeper hours
221,636

2011

No. of Stations
45
No. of DFS
36
Percentage DFS
80
Total watchkeeper hours
190,039

2010

No. of Stations
44
No. of DFS
32
Percentage DFS
73
Total watchkeeper hours
190,210

2009

No. of Stations
41
No. of DFS
31
Percentage DFS
76
Total watchkeeper hours
172,456

2008

No. of Stations
38
No. of DFS
25
Percentage DFS
66
Total watchkeeper hours
180,000
DFS means that a station has Declared Facility Status as agreed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.