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Maritime Transport Act 1994

Duties in relation to maritime activity - Duties in relation to accidents, incidents, etc

32: Duty to assist persons in danger and to respond to distress calls

You could also call this:

"Helping people in trouble at sea is a must for ship masters"

If you are the master of a New Zealand ship or a foreign ship in New Zealand waters, you must help people in danger at sea. You have to assist people who are lost at sea, or who have been in a collision. You also have to tell the other ship's master your ship's name and where it is going after a collision.

When you get a distress signal from a ship, aircraft, or survival craft, you must go to help as fast as you can. You should tell the people in distress that you are coming to help them. If the master of the ship in distress asks you to keep coming to help, you must do so.

You do not have to go to help if you think it is unreasonable or unnecessary, or if other ships are already on their way. If the people in distress tell you they no longer need help, you do not have to go either.

If you are the master of a New Zealand ship that has to keep a logbook, you must write down every distress signal you get and why you did not go to help if that is the case. If you do not follow these rules, you can get in trouble with the law. You might even go to prison for up to 12 months or get a fine of up to $100,000, or both.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM335681.

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Part 3Duties in relation to maritime activity
Duties in relation to accidents, incidents, etc

32Duty to assist persons in danger and to respond to distress calls

  1. The master of a New Zealand ship and the master of a foreign ship in New Zealand waters shall, so far as the master can do so without serious danger to the ship and persons on board,—

  2. render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being lost:
    1. after a collision, render assistance to the other ship, its crew, and its passengers:
      1. after a collision, inform the master of the other ship of the name of his or her own ship, its port of registry, and the nearest port at which it will call.

        1. On receiving a signal that a ship, aircraft, or survival craft is in distress, the master of a ship referred to in subsection (1) shall—

        2. proceed with all speed to the assistance of the persons in distress and, if possible, inform them of that fact; and
          1. comply with any requisition to the master’s ship by the master of the ship in distress by continuing to proceed with all speed to the assistance of persons in distress.

            1. Subsection (2)(a) does not apply if—

            2. the master is unable, or, in the special circumstances of the case, considers it unreasonable or unnecessary, to proceed to the assistance of the persons in distress; or
              1. the master is informed that 1 or more ships have been requisitioned and are complying with the requisition.

                1. Neither paragraph (a) of subsection (2) nor, if the ship has been requisitioned, paragraph (b) of that subsection, shall apply if the master is informed by the persons in distress or by the master of another ship which has reached the persons that assistance is no longer necessary.

                2. The master of a New Zealand ship that is required to carry a logbook shall enter in the logbook a record of every distress signal received and any reason for failing to go to the assistance of persons in distress in accordance with subsection (3)(a).

                3. Every person commits an offence who fails to comply with this section and is liable on conviction to—

                4. imprisonment to a term not exceeding 12 months; or
                  1. a fine not exceeding $100,000; or
                    1. both.

                      Compare
                      • 1952 No 49 ss 289(1)(a), (c), 297
                      • 1987 No 184 s 14
                      Notes
                      • Section 32(6): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).