Crisis management
Oil spill response strategy
The New Zealand Marine Oil Spill Response Strategy sets the overarching framework for how Maritime New Zealand and our partners will respond to a marine oil spill incident.
You can read more about the New Zealand Marine Oil Spill Response Strategy:
The aim of a spill response will be to minimise damage to the marine environment and reduce the time for recovery of affected resources.
MNZ is responsible for making sure New Zealand is ready for an oil spill of any size. If the scale of an incident is beyond New Zealand’s local and national capability, MNZ has a network of international organisations and companies it can call upon to assist with resources and expertise. This relationship is reciprocal - New Zealand is expected to assist our neighbours if requested.
Oil spill response funding
The Government’s oil spill response capability is funded by an industry levy - the Oil Pollution Levy - which is paid by those sectors whose activities raise the risk of a marine oil spill. In the event of an oil spill, the polluter is liable for all costs associated with the response.
You can read more about the Oil Pollution Levy: