Marine officers are aghast a 294-metre iron-sands export ship will be allowed to berth close to the rugged Waikato west coast tomorrow - without a licensed pilot.

Activists say they shut the Wellington offices of an oil company this morning to protest deep sea oil exploration.

The problem-riddled Interislander ferry Arahura will be retired from service and replaced next year, it has been announced.

A fisherman's body was found in the waters of Auckland's Hauraki Gulf last night by a passing cruise ship.

The body of missing fisherman Maxium Efremychev has been found off Omaha Beach.

The partner of a fisherman missing since he fell from an inflatable boat is still hopeful he will be found alive, despite it being four days since he was last seen.

The skipper of the yacht with two Kiwi sailors on board that ran aground on a remote reef yesterday says the boat took a "massive pounding."

A search has resumed this morning for a missing fisherman who has not been seen since his boat capsized in an estuary north of Auckland on Saturday.

An exhausted Kiwi among the crew of a round-the-world racing yacht wrecked on a remote reef has told his family it was a miracle no one was hurt.

New Zealand's wealthiest man, Graeme Hart, has just finalised plans for another superyacht to add to his collection.

The police national dive squad will today search for a snorkeler who went missing from a Hawkes Bay beach.

New Zealand's Chinese community is outraged at a "lack of respect" shown to the wreck of a ship which sank more than 100 years ago with 499 Chinese bodies on board.

Two whales, which lived more than 20 million years ago, have been identified by Otago University researchers.

Boat builder Alloy Yachts, who confirmed they would be cutting a number of jobs last week, have just launched their latest superyacht.

The deaths of two New Zealand sea lions inside fishing nets designed to help them escape has prompted calls for better protection of the critically endangered species.

The Interislander ferry Arahura is stranded in Wellington Harbour with 61 passengers aboard after losing power this morning.

A body has been found near an area where police were searching for missing fisherman Nick Stubbs.

The South Island's Waitaki Valley is big country: a wide-open world of bare brown hills and huge rocks. Despite this inland setting, Otago University palaeontologist Ewan Fordyce likes to think of himself as snorkelling when he visits.

A sonar early warning system is being developed to stop swarms of jellyfish shutting down Britain’s nuclear power plants.

A new company will ferry passengers to Waiheke, Rangitoto and Motutapu Islands from today.

Labour Weekend marks the enforcement of a new bylaw making it compulsory to wear a lifejacket when on board a vessel 6m or under in length, unless the skipper of that vessel gives you permission not to.

Shell Todd Oil has drilled two wells off the coast of Taranaki without marine consent, the Green Party says.

A reader writes: Where does the name of the bay on the southeastern side of Kawau Island known as Bostaquet Bay come from?