Lake Macquarie conducted the most search and rescue missions of any marine rescue unit across the state in February.
The unit completed 73 search and rescue tasks throughout the month - more than half of all responses across the Hunter and Central Coast.
There were 126 search and rescue missions across the eight units in the region, including 29 emergency responses with 217 people safely returned to shore
There were 25 search and rescues and an overturned catamaran in Port Stephens and another 15 in Central Coast.
Throughout the state, volunteers from Marine Rescue NSW's 46 units safely returned 918 people to shore in February, completing 440 search and rescue missions including 141 emergency responses.
Marine Rescue NSW Commissioner Alex Barrell said just over 60 per cent of incidents were for mechanical, fuel or battery issues while volunteers responded to 21 capsized vessels.
"If your vessel capsizes, it becomes a life-threatening situation very quickly," Commissioner Barrell said.
"It is important that you have your lifejacket on, that you stay with your vessel and if you do become separated that you stay together.
"If you can, get out a distress call. You can do this over VHF radio if you still have access to it and it is still working or you can try your mobile phone.
"It is important that you have 'logged on' with Marine Rescue NSW because if you don't return as planned and you go over your log off time, Marine Rescue will start looking for you," he said.
In February, Marine Rescue NSW volunteers kept watch over 6152 vessels that logged on with the service either via the Marine Rescue NSW app or VHF Channel 16 while radio operators managed 19,618 calls including 14 MAYDAYs and 6 PAN PANs (possible assistance needed).
"It has been an extremely busy last few months for our volunteers and I want to thank each of them for their continued dedication to making sure that we are saving lives on the water," Commissioner Barrell said.
