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This guidance notice is for:
The purpose of this guidance notice is to highlight and explain the responsibilities of fishing vessel owners and skippers to:
Figure 1 Extract from maritime chart NZ45 covering Maui A and B off the coast of Taranaki
Any person onboard a ship who has responsibilities for navigation or watchkeeping should be fully aware of charted safety zones in the area where their ship is operating. These safety zones are clearly marked on nautical charts and supported with notes (generally located within the chart’s title block).
Safety zones are usually set to protect offshore installations. In New Zealand, safety zones are set by regulations issued under the Continental Shelf Act 1964 which include financial penalties for breaches. In addition to severely compromising safety onboard both the ship, and the offshore installation, the owner of any ship found to be breaching the regulations runs the risk of penalties of up to $1000. Navigational safety is also an important issue under the Maritime Transport Act 1994,which is enforced by Maritime New Zealand.
All unauthorised vessel must keep well clear of these zones.
Examples of a safety zones can be seen on the extract from chart NZ45 above. Notes are also provided, to more fully explain the detail on the chart, as shown below:
The function of protected areas and restricted areas are essentially quite similar. The intent of setting and publicising these areas on nautical charts is to prevent ships from anchoring or fishing there. These areas usually have subsea installations or subsea pipelines or cables and any snagging of this type of equipment by anchors, fishing lines, trawls or nets can have serious consequences for both safety and pollution.
On charts, these areas are often supported by small symbols indicating
that no anchoring is permitted 
and no fishing is permitted. 
The areas are set by orders of council under the Submarine Cables and Pipelines Protection Actand are enforced through the same Act.
Again, if the chart details these zones, a note is always provided. The notes should always be read to determine what restrictions are being applied in that area. Breaches of the restrictions can result in penalties.
The following notes are examples also from maritime chart NZ45:
Precautionary areas are normally wider areas that are marked on a chart to indicate that specific hazards are present. Again the note on the chart should always be read to check what the hazards are.
The following note is an example from maritime chart NZ45:
If the charts on your ship are out of date, you may not be aware of the hazards for that area because you do not have them marked on your chart or supported by the notes on the chart. This is a significant hazard for the ship, other vessels, the offshore installations and the important assets around and between them.
All chart corrections must be made in accordance with updates via the fortnightly Notice to Mariners, issued by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). These can be found on the Notice to Mariners webpage: www.linz.govt.nz/hydro/ntms
You should also record when these updates have been made to the chart so that skipper and crew know everything is up to date.
All nautical charts used on commercial fishing vessels must comply with Maritime Rule Part 25:
http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/Rules/Rule-documents/Part25-maritime-rule.pdf
At all times when the vessel is at sea, a continuous radio watch must be maintained. When within precautionary areas and near any of the areas and zones described above, it is very important that the radio watch is maintained to ensure that any events, alarms or warnings communicated within that area are heard and, if necessary, acknowledged and responded to.
For further information please contact our Wellington office:
Phone: 0508 22 55 22 or (04) 473 0111
Fax: (04) 494 8901
Email: enquiries@maritimenz.govt.nz
