Sec. 80.1109  Distress, urgency, and safety communications.

    (a) Distress traffic consists of all messages relating to the 
immediate assistance required by the ship in distress, including search 
and rescue communications and on-scene communications. Distress traffic 
must as far as possible be on the frequencies contained in Sec. 80.1077.
    (b) Urgency and safety communications include: navigational and 
meteorological warnings and urgent information; ship-to-ship safety 
navigation communications; ship reporting communications; support 
communications for search and rescue operations; other urgency and 
safety messages and communications relating to the navigation, movements 
and needs of ships and weather observation messages destined for an 
official meteorological service.
    (c) Intership navigation safety communications are those VHF 
radiotelephone communications conducted between ships for the purpose of 
contributing to the safe movement of ships. The frequency 156.650 MHz is 
used for intership navigation safety communications (see Sec. 80.1077).