New Zealand oil spill response strategy - Maritime New Zealand

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Appendix 6 – International Agreements Status In relation to marine oil pollution, the Maritime Transport Act covers prevention and control of oil pollution, pollution from shipping casualties, civil liability for pollution damage, and compensation and funding. The Maritime Transport Act contains provisions that presently give effect to the following international conventions: • International Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Casualties 1969 (Intervention); • The 1992 Protocol to the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1969 (CLC); • Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region and related protocols (South Pacific Regional Environment Programme - SPREP 1986); • International Convention on Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973 and its 1978 Protocol (MARPOL); • The 1992 Protocol to the International Convention on Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1971 (Fund) • International Convention on Oil Spill Preparedness, Response and Co-operation 1990 (OPRC 90). Other International Arrangements Reciprocal arrangements are in place with governments of other nations, for access to equipment and personnel in the event of a major oil spill. Maritime New Zealand has a memorandum of understanding for mutual assistance with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. Through this, Maritime NZ gains access to the equipment, personnel and expertise of both government and private sector (oil industry) response capability throughout Australia. There are also obligations to nations or regions with administrative ties to New Zealand, including Tokelau and Niue, and an arrangement is currently being negotiated with government agencies in New Caledonia. Antarctica New Zealand is party to the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty, which sets out the nation’s obligations for oil spill contingency planning in section 12 and establishes levels of liability in the recently adopted Liability Annex. The Protocol has been enacted in New Zealand law by means of the Antarctica (Environmental Protection) Act 1994, which allows for the Governor-General to extend provisions of the Maritime Transport Act into the Antarctic region under section 54. Generally, the nation’s Antarctic responsibilities are administered by both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Antarctica New Zealand. Maritime New Zealand has been and will continue to be active in assisting Antarctica New Zealand with appropriate technical advice in developing a regional contingency plan. Voluntary Industry Agreements • Equipment arrangements with the Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre (AMOSC) and East Asia Response Ltd (EARL); • Equipment arrangements with Oil Spill Response Ltd (OSRL) in the United Kingdom. 32
Appendix 7 – Jurisdictions and Responsibilities Under the Local Government Act 1974 or navigation bylaws, a Harbourmaster may issue instruction in the interests of navigation safety within their jurisdiction. This power may be relevant in the event of a marine oil spill. Amongst other things, the Harbourmaster can regulate the movement of any ship and how it takes on or discharges cargo. The Harbourmaster can also require the owner to remove a ship or a wreck where it is a hazard to navigation. It is not explicitly clear from the provisions of the Act whether instructions given by an OSC prevail over a Harbourmaster’s directions. However, it can be inferred from the wide scope of powers given to an OSC, that an OSC’s powers take precedence of those of a Harbourmaster. The OSC may not issue instructions that conflict with those given by the Director, who has extensive powers in a marine oil spill response in relation to hazardous ships, structures and operations. These powers, which are set out in sections 248 and 249 of the Act, allow the Director to take a wide range of measures if they are considered necessary to avoid, reduce, or remedy pollution, or a significant risk of pollution. The Director’s instructions will prevail over any conflicting instructions given by a Harbourmaster. The Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 (CDEM Act) authorises the Mayor of a relevant local authority to declare a state of local emergency, and requires the Civil Defence Emergency Management Group (CDEM Group) to appoint at least one other person to be authorised to make such a declaration. The Minister of Civil Defence may also declare that a state of national emergency exists over the whole of New Zealand or any areas or districts if an emergency appears to be outside the response capabilities of the CDEM Group. It appears from the broad definition of ‘emergency’ in the CDEM Act that a state of emergency could be declared in the event of a major actual or potential oil spill. When a state of emergency is in force in the area the CDEM Group may, among other things, “carry out or require the removing or disposing of, or securing or otherwise making safe, dangerous structures and materials wherever they may be”, or “prohibit or regulate water traffic to the extent necessary to conduct civil defence management”. Sections 254 and 312 of the Act prohibit an OSC and the Director from issuing instructions that conflict with the exercise of a power by a person acting under the authority of the CDEM Act. Notwithstanding the above, section 5A(d) of the Act clearly identifies that the Minister of Transport has responsibility for marine oil spill preparedness and response. Any problems arising from potentially overlapping authorities would be mitigated through the Coordinated Incident Management System (CIMS) detailed in section 5.7. This provides for different agencies to carry out their statutory functions simultaneously under a common command structure during a response. In the event of a marine oil spill in waters around an island beyond the jurisdiction of a regional authority (such as the sub-Antartic or Kermadec groups) any response is automatically treated as a Tier 3. On these islands, the Minister for Conservation assumes some functions of a regional council under the RMA and is responsible for coastal planning. However, oil spill contingency planning and response falls directly to Maritime New Zealand. The Minister for Conservation may become involved in consultation if a spill threatens a significant area, but overall authority remains with the NOSC under the Act. The Minister for Conservation does retain authority over certain elements of wildlife response, and these statutory functions are detailed in Appendix 5. An effective partnership between Maritime New Zealand and the Department of Conservation is therefore crucial to the successful application of the Strategy to offshore islands. Salvage The salvor must comply with the hierarchy of directions possible under New Zealand legislation as outlined throughout the Strategy. In addition to this, the salvor also has duties and responsibilities to the owner under international law, as set out in the Salvage Convention 1989, to carry out the salvage operation with due care and to minimise damage to the environment. The Salvage Convention is incorporated into New Zealand law in schedule 6 of the Act. Article 11 requires a State Party, whenever regulating or deciding upon matters relating to salvage operations such as admittance to ports of vessels in distress or the provisions of facilities to salvors, to take into account the need for co-operation between salvors, other interested parties and public authorities. This obligation is in order to ensure the efficient and successful performance of salvage 33
Page 1: JULY 2006
Page 4 and 5: FOREWORD The New Zealand Marine Oil
Page 6 and 7: THE NEW ZEALAND MARINE OIL SPILL RE
Page 8 and 9: Risk Assessment National marine oil
Page 10 and 11: Spill Consequences A framework for
Page 12 and 13: The Oil Pollution Advisory Committe
Page 14 and 15: All vessels that meet the criteria
Page 16 and 17: (MOSRRG) reviews Tier 1 & 2 inciden
Page 18 and 19: de-escalated. This is to ensure con
Page 20 and 21: All New Zealand marine waters are d
Page 22 and 23: Training Maritime New Zealand is re
Page 24 and 25: In all cases, the OSC must keep str
Page 26 and 27: In addition, Maritime New Zealand w
Page 28 and 29: Appendix 2 - Key Functions and Resp
Page 30 and 31: Appendix 4 - Key Functions and Resp
Page 32 and 33: Ministry for the Environment • To
Page 36 and 37: operations for the purpose of savin
Page 38 and 39: ACRONYMS AMOSC Australian Marine Oi
Page 40 and 41: Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) All m
Page 42 and 43: On-scene commander (OSC) The person

New Zealand oil spill response strategy - Maritime New Zealand

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