Welcome to the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary

First District Northern Region

Division 6 ~ Buzzards Bay

Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (twelve kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since 1914, Buzzards Bay has been connected to Cape Cod Bay by the Cape Cod Canal. In 1987, Buzzards Bay was designated an Estuary of National Significance.

Division 6 is comprised of 3 Flotillas in Southeastern Massachusetts

Marion - FL 6-3, New Bedford - FL 6-5, & Westport - FL 6-18

Our Mission

The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is the uniformed civilian component of the Coast Guard established by Congress in 1939 to assist in promoting boating safety. It boasts nearly 30,000 members from all walks of life who receive special training so that they may be an integral part of Team Coast Guard. Auxiliarists assist the Coast Guard in non-law enforcement programs such as public education, vessel safety checks, safety patrols, search and rescue, and marine environmental protection programs. Auxiliarists donate more than 2 million hours annually to benefit the recreational boating community. In an average year the Coast Guard Auxiliary provides 4,500,00 volunteer hours to the U.S. Coast Guard, saves 800 lives, assists 13,000 people in distress, protects $92,000,000 in property, conducts 132,000 vessel safety checks, conducts 2,000 commercial fishing vessel examinations, conducts over 86,000 marine dealer visits, provides 4,000 vessel facilities to the Coast Guard, provides 240 air facilities to the Coast Guard, conducts 16,600 public education sessions and teaches 2,800 boating safety courses.

The Coast Guard is an armed maritime service with military, law enforcement, marine environmental protection, preventative safety and search-and-rescue (SAR) missions. On an average day, the Coast Guard conducts 109 SAR cases, saves 15 lives, assists 192 people in distress, enforces129 security zones, boards 192 vessels of law enforcement interest, boards 4 high interest vessels, conducts 317 vessel safety checks and teaches 63 boating safety courses, protects $2.8 million in property, conducts 396 small boat patrols and 164 aircraft flights, conducts 19 commercial fishing safety exams, boards 144 vessels and seizes 71 pounds of marijuana and 662 pounds of cocaine with a street value of$21.1 million, interdict 15 illegal immigrants, processes 280 merchant mariner licenses and documents, boards 122 large vessels for port safety checks, responds to 11 oil or hazardous chemical spills totaling 2,800 gallons, services 140 buoys and other aids to navigation, safely conducts 2,557 vessels in and out of major ports, investigates 20 vessel casualties involving collisions, allisions and groundings and its icebreakers assist 197,000 tons of shipping. Yet, interestingly enough, the Coast Guard maintains the same personnel levels as it did in 1967 and is smaller than the New York City police department.

Formed as the Revenue Cutter Service in 1790 by Alexander Hamilton to collect taxes and deter piracy, the Coast Guard is the oldest armed, uniformed service in continual operation since 1790. (The Army, Navy and Marines were disbanded after the War for Independence and only later formed again; the Air Force was created in 1947.) In 1915, the federal lighthouse and lifesaving services were merged with the Revenue Cutter Service and renamed the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard was nominally under the administration of the Department of the Treasury (except during times of war, when it was under the Navy Department) until the 1960s, when it was transferred to the authority of the Department of Transportation. In March, 2003, the Coast Guard was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.