Fisheries and Oceans Canada says it was the old system, not a new one, that went down on B.C.'s central coast yesterday, blacking out the ability to monitor for marine distress calls.
Real Thibault, the national director for marine communication and traffic services consolidation, says the new system has yet to be installed in B.C.
But in the western arctic, where the new system is being installed, mariners have been told it is unreliable.
"The Canadian Coast Guard up there and personnel in Iqaluit are maintaining continuous safety watch on all of the distress and the calling frequencies for safety radio to ensure that we are providing services, providing continuous service out there. It is a standard practice for us to issue a notice to mariners, and that took place on the 23rd of March to alert mariners that we are still putting a new system up there."
The outage affecting an area from Port Hardy to Kitimat lasted 21 hours.