Marine notices
Transport for NSW issues marine notices for vessel operators. These notices give safety advice about potential hazards, special events, and closures.
Check notices before you go boating
Transport for NSW issues marine notices with safety advice for vessel operators.
Check notices before you go boating to see if there are potential hazards or special events on the waterway.
The notice types we publish include navigation warnings, and aquatic event licence or special event ‘exclusive use’ conditions.
Transport for NSW publishes notices online and most also appear in the NSW Government Gazette. They're also distributed to organisations such as Marine Rescue and print media.
Penalties for breaching notices
Notices are required under the Marine Safety Act 1998.
Once a notice is published, it's an offence to breach it. You can be fined for failing to leave an area set aside for an exclusive use/special event.
Navigation warnings
Navigation warnings alert people to hazardous conditions on NSW waterways.
For example, if a vessel sinks in shallow water and becomes an obstruction, or if a coastal bar shifts and changes shape.
Transport make every effort to warn vessel operators of dangerous changed circumstances, or potential hazards.
Transport for NSW issues warnings in an advisory capacity as the safety regulator for waterways and boating. They also form part of our risk management approach to safe navigation. The warnings have no legal status.
Aquatic event licences and special events
A special event marine notice must be published when a special event is declared.
The notice advises the public of areas closed to recreational navigation.
They're issued when a body is given ‘exclusive use’ of waters. This may be to conduct an activity under an aquatic licence, or another event affecting navigation safety.
The notices may describe the parameters of the 'exclusive use' area, the time and date, and how the area is marked off.
The notices warn the public of events, so they don't, for example, accidentally move into the middle of a race, a dangerous set of construction works, or a fireworks barge.