At approximately 5.30 am WA time on Friday 21 August 2009 the Montara Wellhead mobile drilling unit, located 140 miles offshore from the north-west Australian coast, had an uncontrolled release of hydrocarbons from one of the platform wells. Consequently oil escaped to the surface and gaseous hydrocarbons escaped into the atmosphere.

Australia’s first recorded major oil spill occurred on Saturday 28 November 1903 in Port Phillip Bay.

The National Maritime Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulators Forum is a collaborative platform for discussing maritime workplace health and safety. Its main aim is to improve safety for domestic commercial vessels.

Find local suppliers of fuel oil in Victoria.

AMSA and the Bureau of Meteorology provide vessels with maritime safety information (MSI) about hazards and foreseeable dangers to safe navigation through Australia's marine environment.

Marine safety agencies deliver essential services across Australia, including local waterways management, environmental oversight, pilotage, navigation aids, ports, harbours and mooring operations, and recreational boating support.

Serious injury to pilot on class 2 vessel in poor weather conditions

This page contains a list of past changes to Marine Orders and International Maritime Organization (IMO) resolutions.

A safety management system (also referred to as an SMS) is a systematic approach to managing safety.

All regulated Australian vessels must have a minimum safe crewing determination (MSCD). Find out how to prepare your crewing arrangement, check qualifications, and submit your application or renewal.

The information you provide in your incident report plays an important part in guiding the way we improve maritime safety for everybody on the water. By reporting marine incidents to us, you are also meeting your reporting obligations under Australian laws.

Our Board is appointed by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.

Read previous AMSA update editions from 2025

We have approved these courses if you want to qualify for a certificate under international training conventions.

The information you provide in your incident report plays an important part in guiding the way we improve maritime safety for everybody on the water.

Apply for acceptance on the oil spill control agents register.