Solent coastguard has seen the number of hoax calls it has had to deal with rise from 31 in 2005 to 77 in 2006.

Portland coastguard has seen an increase in their hoax calls, which rose from 14 in 2005 to 32 in 2006.

Mark Clark, spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said: "There is more technology in place now to find people who are hoaxing."

Overall, Portland coastguard dealt with 1,042 incidents last year, while Solent coastguard dealt with 1,476.