The public have been promised there will be no reduction in frontline rescue resources when Forth Coastguard closes at midnight tonight.
The Marine Coastguard Agency (MCA) confirmed Aberdeen Marine Rescue Coordination Centre will assume responsibility for the east coast despite a last-ditch appeal from Scotland’s transport minister Keith Brown to keep the Fife Ness centre open.
An MCA spokesman said: ”The Coastguard Rescue Service will continue to provide coastal search and rescue, the search and rescue helicopters and RNLI lifeboats will also continue to be available for maritime search and rescue operations.
”In November 2011 the Government announced the new structure for the nationally networked Coastguard Service which will become fully operational in early 2015. When Forth MRCC closes this week, Aberdeen MRCC will assume responsibility for this part of the coastline and sea.”
Sir Alan Massey, chief executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, added: ”Safety is our top priority and I am confident that HM Coastguard will maintain the same high-quality search and rescue service as they always have done.
”We will deliver a more resilient search and rescue coordination service for the UK, taking full advantage of modern communications technology and enabling any centre to support others across the network during busy periods, thus sharing the workload.”
Two weeks ago Scotland’s transport minister said the closures of the Forth and Clyde stations and the planned loss of an emergency towing vessel put Scotland at the centre of a ”potentially dangerous experiment”.