SOCIÉTÉ NATIONALE DE SAUVETAGE EN MER (SNSM)

The SNSM still deserves a big hat trick. To monitor beaches in summer, to help professionals and boaters at sea, people trained by the National Society for Sea Rescue carry out nearly 4,000 interventions each year (a quarter of them in Brittany in 2018). The association was born from the merger, in 1967, of the Société centrale de Sauvetage des Naufragés and the Société des Hospitaliers bretons. In Finistère alone (631 people rescued in 2018), the coastline is punctuated by 29 stations out of 218 along the French coast. Two training centres in Brest and Quimper provide training for beach rescuers (8-month certification training). As a reminder, the SNSM operates thanks to donations. It is mainly composed of volunteers who work in sometimes extreme conditions to rescue sea and coastal users. Note: the Brest Training and Intervention Centre (CFI) provides training in first aid, BNSSA, boat operation, etc.