Maritime incident response
Search and rescue
We operate a search and rescue response service in one of the largest search and rescue areas in the world. It is 30 million square kilometres.
Our organisation, the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ), coordinates:
- major maritime and aviation search and rescue missions in New Zealand’s search and rescue region
- land-based search and rescue missions arising from someone activating an emergency locator beacon.
The Police coordinate all other New Zealand search and rescue missions.
Oil spill response
As the lead oil spill response agency for New Zealand, our Marine Pollution Response Service (MPRS) is responsible for maintaining and developing the country’s readiness to respond to marine oil spills.
We manage responses to large oil spill incidents and provide support to regional councils and oil industry representatives, who deal with smaller incidents.
We also manage the national response plan, maintain and supply response equipment, train response staff and run practice exercises.
Oil spill response aims to:
- reduce the impact of oil pollution on New Zealand’s marine environment as much as possible
- reduce the recovery time for the oiled environment, by removing as much oil as possible, without causing further environmental damage.
Incident Response Capability
The Maritime Incident Readiness and Response Team (MIRR) focuses on the non-oil aspects of a maritime incident, recognising that any response to such an incident must be operationalised in a complementary and cohesive manner with any concurrent search and rescue and/or oil spill response.
Readiness for, and response to large-scale, complex maritime incidents requires contributions from within Maritime NZ as well as cooperation from partnerships with domestic parties - national, regional and local government partners, communities, iwi and industry; as well as international partners - agencies, other coastal states, international maritime industry as well as specialist technical entities.