operated by various squadrons and units including No. 2 (Maritime) Operational Training Unit, No. 107 Rescue Unit, 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron, 420 Air Reserve Squadron, 880 Maritime Reconnaissance Squadron (Royal Canadian Navy), 31 Support Air Group (Royal Canadian Navy), and 415 Maritime Patrol Squadron. On 1 February 1968, the merger of the three service branches into the unified Canadian Forces saw RCAF Station Summerside change its name to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Summerside. In 1977, the Government of Canada formally ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which mandated the creation of an Exclusive Economic Zone extending off all coasts. This created a requirement for military enforcement of sovereignty to protect natural resources within the EEZ, such as oil and gas reserves, and fisheries. CFB Summerside's primary mission evolved during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s into providing support for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the government department responsible for managing Canada's ocean resources. CP-121 Trackers were used to patrol Georges Bank and the Grand Banks of Newfoundland to monitor foreign fishing fleets. Search and rescue (SAR) was a secondary role which was no less important to the civilian population of the Maritime Provinces which, relied on SAR aircraft for urgent medevac to large tertiary-care hospitals in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick, as well as for mariners and air crew who frequently found themselves in distress, requiring rescue. The 1989 federal budget cuts to the Department of National Defence identified CFB Summerside as a candidate for base closure. At the time, the base employed some 1,200, and contributed about C$50 million to the island's economy each year. Local concern groups were formed to protest the closure. On 14 May 1989, about 10,000 people (more than the population of Summerside at the time) marched in protest. City streets were festooned in yellow ribbons, a symbol of opposition to the closure. About 400 Prince Edward Islanders travelled to Ottawa in June 1989 to protest at Parliament Hill. In response to this opposition, then-minister of national defence, Bill McKnight, told the House of Commons, "there is no military operational reason to maintain that base". In 1991 the base was closed and the majority of military units were transferred to CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia. Past scheduled passenger airline service The airfield was served by Eastern Provincial Airways during the 1960s and early 1970s which