THE head of Marine Rescue NSW visited the command centre at Point Danger today to meet some of the volunteers and inspect operations.

Commissioner Stacey Tannos took the post in July and was on his maiden tour of Marine Rescue stations along the northern coast starting at Point Danger.

"These visit are critical," Mr Tannos said.

"It's important that I get out meeting the troops. The volunteer numbers are growing and that is a positive sign because it's going against the trend.

"We're conscious that we have to back up that support."

Mr Tannos said Marine Rescue had about 3200 volunteers across NSW, up 1000 in the past year.

"I think the only other organisation that had rises in the number of volunteers was the rural fire brigade," he said.

"I want to understand why that is so we can maintain the numbers."

Marine Rescue Point Danger commander Bernie Gabriel said he planned to raise issues about financing with the commissioner.

"It's always about financing," Mr Gabriel said.

"We have 154 members at Point Danger and serve a very active boating community.

"Our radio operators log on more than 2800 vessels each month and in the past year we've responded to 120 rescue calls. That's an average of over two a week."

The crew's last major rescue was of three people who were stranded after abandoning a burning yacht 18 nautical miles off Point Danger.