TEL +64 4 473 0111 FAX +64 4 494 1263
Level 11,1 Grey Street, PO Box 25620, Wellington 6140
New Zealand
8 December 2022
Marcus Pickering
Our ref: F31506
[FYI request #21214 email]
By email
Dear Marcus
Official Information Act request: data on 406MHz registered devices
I refer to your email of 24 November 2022 in which you requested under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act) the following:
“I would like to request details on how many beacons are currently registered on
the 406mhz database in total and also broken down into the following category's:
Number of beacons registered by all brands/manufacturers eg. Ocean signal,
Breitling, Jotron
Number of EPIRBs registered total
Number of PLBs registered total
Number of ELTs registered total
If possible could this be also displayed on a year by year basis over the past 10
years? Also, if possible can it be shown per region?”
The table below shows the number of beacons registered in New Zealand from 2013.
YEAR
ELT (aircraft)
EPIRB
PLB
Not yet
determined
2013
193
1926
6225
0
2014
266
2241
7092
1
2015
226
3228
7270
0
2016
170
2259
8586
0
2017
174
2072
8801
1
2018
179
2389
9868
4
2019
204
2356
9400
1
2020
181
2216
11000
1
2021
179
2501
11064
6
2022 (as at 6 212
2305
8807
16
Dec)
Your request for the brands / manufacturers of beacons and the region it is located are refused
under section 18(f) of the Act, as the request cannot be made available without substantial
collation or research. To col ate the information requires Maritime New Zealand to go through
each registration one by one and determine the brand and manufacturer of the beacon.
Because of the way our database is configured, this information cannot be extracted in a
reportable manner.
I have also considered whether charging or extending the timeframe for responding to your
request would help, as required by section 18A of the Act, however I do not consider
that it would.
More information about registering a beacon in New Zealand, and information on getting your
beacons coded in New Zealand can be found on www.beacons.org.nz. If you wish to discuss
this response, please feel free to contact Jamie Campbell at 04 577 8042 or freephone 0508
225 522.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Justin Allan
General Manager – RCCNZ and Safety Systems
Maritime New Zealand