Icelandic Coast Guard

The Icelandic Coast Guard (ICG) was founded in 1926 and is a law enforcement agency that is responsible for search and rescue, maritime safety and security surveillance, and law enforcement in the seas surrounding Iceland. 

The ICG's duties include protection against illegal activities such as illegal migration and illegal drug tracking, fisheries control and enforcement, pollution surveillance and response, natural resource and ecology protection, and salvage and rescue diving. The ICG operates the NATO Iceland Air Defense System and CRC Keflavík and also provides emergency medical transport, assistance to law enforcement on land, and civil protection. The search and rescue area around Iceland is enormous, 1,8 million square kilometer and the Icelandic Coast Guard (ICG) is responsible for SAR operations within the area.  

The Icelandic Coast Guard is a founding member of the Arctic Coast Guard Forum and will have chairmanship in the forum from April 2019 until spring of 2021. In Nuuk in May 2011, the Ministers of the Arctic Council member states signed “the Agreement on Cooperation in Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) in the Arctic", as the first legally binding agreement negotiated under the auspices of the Arctic Council.  

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