A New Zealand Defence Force spokesperson says increased use of emergency locator beacons in the Pacific would help prevent requests for help with regional search and rescues.
Air Commodore Andrew Clark was involved in the search for two Kiribati fishermen who were found on Tuesday after a week adrift without a locator device.
He said Maritime New Zealand was being quite proactive in promoting the use of emergency locator beacons with Pacific neighbours.
However he said a continued two-pronged focus on prevention and response was needed.
Air Commodore Clark said along with promoting prevention, New Zealand has an obligation in terms of response.
"New Zealand's search and rescue region that we are responsible for under our international agreement literally stretches from the South Pole to the Equator and the area that we respond into, including at the request of Fiji who has its own search and rescue region, but if you look at that, that's about 11 percent of the surface of the planet."