SOUTHWEST HARBOR (AP) – The Coast Guard is moving its operations center to a consolidated center in South Portland, officials said.

Twenty-two of the 100 staff positions will be moved, and emergency radio and telephone communication will be routed through South Portland, said Coast Guard Capt. Stephen Garrity, the northern New England commander, based in South Portland.

But the bulk of operations in Southwest Harbor will remain intact. Those include search and rescue, ice breaking and aids to navigation teams.

“The same level of services will always be intact,” Garrity said. “A lot of the local knowledge is remaining right here.”

The restructuring is part of a nationwide effort to streamline and consolidate the Coast Guard, officials say.

“You really need the operational unity when you have one person with all the titles and all the equipment,” Garrity said. “Under the new construct, I’ll be able to … marshal the exact right resources to patrol an event or control it.”

Reporting to Garrity in South Portland will be commanding officers at Coast Guard stations in Eastport, Jonesport, Rockland, Boothbay Harbor, Portsmouth, N.H., and Burlington, Vt., in addition to Southwest Harbor.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who heads the Commerce Committee’s subcommittee that oversees the Coast Guard, said she has received assurances that there will be no degradation of services and no cuts in the overall number of Coast Guard staffers.

“I will continue to closely monitor Coast Guard operations in Southwest Harbor to ensure that it maintains its high level of performance,” she said.

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-02-16-06 1737EST