mandatory boating equipment. Since these hoaxes seem to be centred around St.

George's Harbour, we would suspect that this is a sick joke being perpetrated by someone at the East End.

There are two connected issues here. One is public safety and the other is unnecessary effort for Harbour Radio and the Marine Police.

Most Bermudians will understand that the people who do these things endanger themselves and their family and friends just as much as they endanger other boat users. It is human nature for people who quite correctly report flare sightings and for the people who respond to these sightings to decrease their efforts in the face of false reports. You can "cry wolf'' once too often.

The first response to a flare sighting is a quick response to save human life.

Time can be very important and a thorough search can be equally important.

However repeated hoax situations will inevitably dull the enthusiasm to respond to the alarm and lead to less thorough searches as human nature causes people to think, "Not to bother, it's just another hoax''. But that time the distress may be real.

The reality is that this kind of hoax endangers lives, the lives of those people who might genuinely need rescuing and the lives of those people who rush out in the reefs in response to a hoax. It is not funny and it is not just a prank. It is a danger to all those who use boats.

Secondly, some warped minds may think it amusing to watch the Marine Police jump to it and respond to a danger signal as they must, but while responding to the hoax they could well be taken away from a real emergency.

Harbour Radio, which clearly functions remarkably well simply because it is so often praised and so little complained about, has a very important function to fulfill and it too does not need the distraction, never mind the wasted effort, of responding to a hoax.

Both the Marine Police and Harbour Radio are here to help us and to protect us. They are not puppets to be yanked about in some crazy game. Anyone who thinks that they are "having a little fun'' by setting off flares has no idea of the dangers created.

There must be people who know who the perpetrators are. Those people have a public duty to stop this folly. If good advice to the hoaxers is not taken then they should report them before we have a totally unnecessary tragedy.