This marine notice aims to raise awareness of the risks involved with getting on and off vessels.

Our regulatory program is prepared annually and contains details of planned and completed changes to our regulatory instruments.

You must be a specific distance from the nearest land before a discharge at sea can be made.

All domestic commercial vessels under the national law are required to meet design, construction, stability and equipment standards.

The 277th meeting of the Board was held on Wednesday, 4 March 2026, in Hobart, Tasmania.

The 2019-20 Australian Vessel Traffic Services Award was awarded to Warren Bath, VTS Operator at Hay Point, Queensland, for his coordination of an incident involving a bulk carrier.

This marine notice aims to raise awareness of the importance of the safe operation and maintenance of hatch covers and related equipment on board vessels.

An unexpected wind-shift during parasailing operations caused 2 airborne passengers to contact the water at speed. They were recovered by the vessel and returned to shore. Both passengers later informed the operator that they had sustained injuries during the event. The owner then failed to report this as a marine incident to us.

You need full ownership history to register a vessel. If you don’t have this information, you must submit a notice of intention to register a vessel to AMSA.

This marine notice informs shipowners, operators, masters and bridge watchkeepers of the availability of a Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) in the Australia and New Zealand region.

A Class 1 passenger vessel’s port engine caught fire whilst northeast of Fraser Island with 82 passengers and crew onboard. The investigation found that regular planned engine maintenance, in accordance with manufacturer’s specifications, was not in place at the time of the incident. The crew’s response to the incident was immediate and effective. The transfer of the 77 passengers to a nearby vessel, which attended the distress call within 10 minutes, was undertaken quickly and effectively by the master and crew.

The cargo ship Pacific Adventurer lost upwards of 270 tonnes of heavy fuel oil when holed on its port side while en route to Brisbane from Newcastle.

On Monday 26 July 1999, the crude oil tanker the MV Torungen (25 tonnes), was secured in the offshore Varanus Island Marine loading terminal, located approximately 4.2 kilometres north-east of Varanus Island, Western Australia.

The 275th meeting of the Board was held on Wednesday, 24 September 2025, in Canberra, ACT.

From 1 July 2018, new survey requirements for domestic commercial vessels apply. This includes changes to marine order 503 to apply the new periodic survey requirements to all vessels required to be in survey—existing, transitional and new vessels.

AMSA’s invoicing process is changing. From 1 March 2022, all invoices for AMSA must be emailed as a PDF attachment to our new centralised email address (invoices@amsa.gov.au) for automated processing. This will ensure invoices are processed more quickly for payment.

On 22 March 2023, AMSA launched new artwork on the Cairns-based Challenger aircraft, designed by Torres Strait artist Michael Nona.

A charter fishing vessel proceeding to a fishing spot began experiencing progressively worsening weather conditions and water ingress. Despite the owner’s warning prior to departure and passenger complaints, the master continued to the fishing destination. Strong winds and waves hampered anchoring, with water accumulating on deck through the transom door to the point of flooding. The vessel’s EPIRB was deployed, and a rescue helicopter attended, winching the master and passengers to safety.