The SNSM is a non-profit association, recognised as a public utility  and Major national cause in 2017.

It provides public service mission in metropolitan and overseas France.
The SNSM is the only organisation of its kind to have all the skills and qualifications needed to intervene both on the beach and offshore.

Sauveteurs en Mer provide four types of operational response:

Rescue at seaThis is carried out by the 206 stations and on the alert of the regional operational surveillance and rescue centres,

Coastal rescueby training, qualifying and monitoring the lifeguards who patrol the beaches in summer under the responsibility of the mayors,

Civil protection missionsThese are filled out by volunteer lifeguards from SNSM training and response centres, as part of public events on water or land,

Prevention and safety awareness for the general publicthrough conferences, demonstrations, introductions and workshops,

It is based on 11,000 volunteers who work from 206 rescue stations throughout France, 32 training and intervention centres and 229 emergency stations on the beaches.

It is part of an international network of sea rescue societies, the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF), which brings together sea rescue societies from all over the world.