IAMSAR Manual

Product Overview

IAMSAR Manual – jointly published by IMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), each IAMSAR Manual volume can be used as a standalone document or, in conjunction with the other two volumes, as a means to attain a full view of the SAR system.

The IAMSAR manual is divided into three volumes:

• IAMSAR Volume I, Organization and Management, discusses the global SAR system concept, establishment and improvement of national and regional SAR systems and co-operation with neighbouring States to provide effective and economical SAR services.
• IAMSAR Volume II, Mission Co-ordination, assists personnel who plan and co- ordinate SAR operations and exercises.
• IAMSAR Volume III, Mobile Facilities, is intended to be carried aboard rescue units, aircraft and vessels to help with performance of a search, rescue or on-scene co-ordinator function, and with aspects of SAR that pertain to their own emergencies.

Amendments to the IAMSAR Manual are prepared by the ICAO/IMO Joint Working Group on Harmonization of Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue and endorsed by the Sub-Committee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue (NCSR). The amendments are approved at three-year intervals by the Maritime Safety Committee, of the International Maritime Organization along with the adoption process in place at the ICAO. The 2022 edition was approved at IMO’s 103rd session in May 2021 by means of MSC.1/Circ.1640.

IAMSAR is available in e-reader format in English. The Volumes can be purchased separately or as a package.

IAMSAR is part of the IMO Vega suite of publications.

• More Info

  Amendments to the IAMSAR Manual are prepared by the ICAO/IMO Joint Working Group on Harmonization of Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue and being endorsed by the Sub-Committee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue (NCSR), and finally adopted at three-year intervals, in principle, by the Maritime Safety Committee, along with the adoption process in place at the ICAO.