the seventh annual North Atlantic Marine Rescue Coordination Centre conference kicked off at the Princess Hotel.

Dominating the conference's agenda will be the implementation and status of a Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), billed as "the biggest improvement to marine safety'' since regulations were first put in place following the sinking of the Titanic .

The system provides a satellite communication link between Rescue Coordination Centres spanning the North Atlantic.

Bermuda -- wired into the picture through Harbour Radio -- is hosting the conference for the first time.

"We are honoured to be hosts for this meeting,'' said conference chairman Richard Parkes, Chief Radio Officer at RCC Bermuda, (Harbour Radio). "This demonstrates Bermuda's involvement in international collaboration to promote and improve all aspects of safety of life at sea.'' Following brief opening remarks from Government Senate Leader Gary Pitman, delegates spent a busy first day reviewing a variety of international search and rescue programmes, hearing from the US Coast Guard on mass evacuation exercises on cruise ships, Spanish search and rescue services in the Straits of Gibraltar, and Danish progress in implementing the western European arm of GMDSS.

They are also due to discuss distress and safety telecommunications procedures, search and rescue infrastructure, and recent developments in technology that improve safety at sea.

Officials from Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, Greenland, France, the Faeroe Islands, Norway, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, the UK and the US are attending the Princess Hotel conference.

Observers from Netherlands and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution are also on hand.