When you are in charge of responding to a marine oil spill, your main goal is to prevent more pollution from the spill. You want to stop the spill from getting worse and clean up the oil. You do this by following a plan, either a regional or national plan, to contain and clean up the spill. You must do this in a way that does not put people's lives in danger or cause them serious harm. This means you have to be careful and think about the safety of everyone involved when you are responding to a marine oil spill.

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This page was last updated on 25 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM337687.

302: National On-Scene Commander to take precedence, or

"Who's in charge when there's an oil spill at sea?"

304: Termination of marine oil spill response, or

"When someone in charge can stop cleaning up an oil spill in the sea"

Part 23Plans and responses to protect marine environment from marine oil spills
Marine oil spill responses

303Objective of on-scene commanders

If a regional on-scene commander or the National On-Scene Commander decides that it is appropriate for a regional council or the Authority, as the case may be, to take action in respect of a marine oil spill, the principal objective of that on-scene commander shall be to—
prevent further pollution from the marine oil spill; and
contain and clean up the oil spill in accordance with the relevant regional marine oil spill contingency plan or the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan, as the case may be,—