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For more information, you speak to Coast Guard Commander Bill Armstrong. He tells you that in all of last year, 16 hoaxes were recorded on the coast from Canada to New Jersey, and the Coast Guard responded to most of those calls. This year, there have already been 11 known hoaxes.

"We have limited resources, and every time we respond to a hoax, those resources aren't there for someone who may need them," he says.

Armstrong tells you that four years ago, a man was sentenced to a year in prison after he broadcast a bogus distress signal that triggered a massive sea-and-air search. The bogus call claimed a yacht with 10 people aboard was sinking.

Armstrong says emergency responses are often hampered by the constant chatter on marine radios, much of it by inexperienced boaters. The problem is so bad in the Boston area that beginning next year, the Coast Guard and the Federal Communications Commission will experiment with an additional distress frequency.

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