Getting hooked-up is one of the most dangerous situations you can experience on a trawler. Be prepared. Knowing what you and your crew need to do can save lives.

The global maritime distress and safety system (GMDSS) connects you to coast stations and vessels via satellite and radio communications when you're out at sea.

The National Plan uses a risk based approach to reduce the impact of maritime environment emergencies.

The 278th meeting of the Board was held virtually via MS Teams on Wednesday, 22 April 2026.

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.

If you are no longer carrying out commercial operations outside the Australian exclusive economic zone, you can switch to being a domestic commercial vessel by surrendering your regulated Australian vessel (RAV) Certificate of survey , Maritime Labour Certificate, and load line certificate. You can then apply for domestic commercial vessel certification.

Follow these steps if your RAV is no longer carrying out commercial operations outside the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) or it's being brought to Australia to operate as a DCV.

How to get a National Law certificate if you have a perpetual certificate, or if your certificate expired more than 5 years ago.

A Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) is now available in the Australia and New Zealand region.

We provide a range of geographic information as digital maps and spatial data sets. This visual geographic data is used to support search and rescue, pollution response, vessel tracking, and navigation in Australian waters. Some data access may require you to pay a fee.

Seafarers often spend many months working away from family and friends with this situation being made worse if the vessel they are engaged on is involved in a maritime accident

Carry the type of lifejacket required for your vessel's highest service category. You can choose self-inflating, manual inflating or foam buoyancy lifejackets.

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

In this edition we talk about Lightship declarations and the law, new surveyor accreditation guidance manual part 2 now available and electrical issues able to be identified by non-electrical periodic surveyors.

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.

We inspect domestic commercial vessels to ensure crew, vessel, and operational safety.

On 6 February 1988 the Hong Kong registered bulk carrier Sir Alexander Glen lost approximately 450 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the waters off Port Walcott, Western Australia when a bunker tank was holed by the ship's anchor.

Operators of Regulated Australian Vessels (RAV) and Foreign Vessels, as well as the shippers of livestock, have obligations when loading and transporting livestock from Australia.