They have rescued more than 240 people and responded to more than 100 calls for assistance in the past year, and now Southern Coastguard volunteers are putting out their own call.
The annual Coastguard MayDay two-week appeal starts on May 1 to raise money for the organisation's volunteer programme - "Train one, save many".
Each volunteer requires $34.30 per week to cover training, both on the water and in the air, to ensure they can respond to calls for help with speed and accuracy.
The Southern Coastguard region has 301 volunteers, who have invested 36,025 hours in the past year, responded to 109 calls for assistance and rescued 242 people.
Nationally, there are 2406 volunteers, who gave 243,556 hours of their time, responded to 3337 calls for assistance and rescued 6996 people last year.
Southern regional manager Cheryl Moffatt said volunteers were the "life force" of the organisation and offered "much of their personal time every week".
"We hope that with New Zealand's support, this year's MayDay appeal will help raise the necessary funds to give them the essential training and support they need to do their job safely while out on the water," she said.
