The 276th meeting of the Board was held on Thursday, 20 November 2025, in Canberra, ACT.

If you’re a seafarer or marine surveyor and want to apply for a skilled visa to live and work in Australia, you may need a migration skills assessment. Find out what you need to do and how to apply.

A charter vessel transiting between research sites at night collided with a stationary vessel. The stationary vessel’s master claimed to have an anchor light on, but the crew of the charter vessel stated they did not see any navigation lights. The master of the stationary vessel was preparing food on the vessel at the time and may have obstructed the anchor light view from the charter vessel’s crew. The master of the charter vessel was found to have been operating at high speed given the conditions (night operations). This also rendered the lookout ineffective.

An explosion occurred on a charter fishing vessel whilst berthed. The investigation identified that the ignition source was a lithium-ion battery that was not holding charge connected to a battery charger in a way that bypassed the battery management safety system. The vessel was beyond repair following the explosion.

Survey passenger vessels with offshore operations (Class 1B) are required to carry a Scale D medical cabinet and a Scale F first aid kit on board.

Survey passenger vessels with offshore operations Class 1C (with berthed passengers), 2B and 3B, are required to carry a Scale E medical cabinet and a Scale F First aid kit on board.

Survey vessels in these classes are required to carry a Scale F first aid kit on board: 1B, 1C (with unberthed passengers), 1D (with berthed passengers), 1E (with berthed passengers), 2B, 2C, 3B and 3C.

Learn how to manage your garbage on a domestic commercial vessel (DCV).

Read a summary of results from the consultation on Marine order 16 (MO16) and Marine order 19 (MO19) and download a copy of the full report.

AMSA surveyors will be using the checklist below when inspecting ships as part of our planned maintenance focused inspection campaign.

One of the most dangerous situations you can experience on a trawler is getting hooked-up. If you’re a trawler operator, knowing what you and your crew need to do can save lives.

On 6 October 2022, two crewmembers were setting cray pots on the port and starboard side of a fishing vessel. During one setting, the crewmember’s foot (on the port side) became entangled in the cray pot’s rope dragging them over the side. The second crewmember raised the alarm and the master immediately stopped the vessel and instructed the crewmember to attach the line to the pot winch. The master and crewmember, having conducted regular emergency procedure drills, quickly raised the person overboard (PoB) via the pot winch, deployed the overboard ladder, and cut the rope. The PoB sustained some water in the lungs but was otherwise unharmed.

Search for a registered ship on the Australian General and International Shipping Registers.

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.