Fewer than half of councils have enough staff trained to respond to marine oil spills.

The police yesterday called off the search for Taulagi Afamasaga.

The search for the man still missing after the Francie capsized in the Kaipara Harbour is continuing.

A fellow boatie said he had laid complaints about skipper Bill McNatty's competence.

Judges orders boss to pay $12,000 to worker seriously injured when fuel tank exploded.

A New Zealand-owned fishing trawler called Endurance has run aground at the Boulder Bank in Nelson this morning.

A man who died while docking a container ship at Lyttelton last year was not wearing a life jacket and was harnessed to a faulty wire, a report has found.

The man who is missing and presumed dead after falling overboard from a Kiwi yacht foiled a robbery earlier this year.

Police said they arrested an Invercargill man in relation to the fatal shooting of Samuel Phillip Long on March 23.

The young Invercargill man shot dead on Stewart Island had helped build a hunters' hut on the island with his father and been on the local deerstalkers association's executive.

Police have released the name of a young hunter shot dead on Stewart Island yesterday.

An investigation into a Shotover Jet crash which left two people hospitalised has found the crash was down to driver error.

Four commissioners have been appointed to decide whether a resource consent should be granted allowing part of the Rena wreck to remain on Astrolabe Reef.

Two launches collided in Whangarei Harbour last night, leaving them both significantly damaged.

As thousands of holidaymakers get set to hit the beach and boaties prepare to launch, warnings are being issued about staying safe.

New Zealand's maritime authority is investigating how shipping around our coasts can be made safer, after a high-level report into the Rena grounding.

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.

Senior students went to the rescue of a year 9 rowing team when their skiff was hit by a powerboat driven by a coach in Otago Harbour this morning.

A Nelson man has died after being struck by a wire on a commercial fishing vessel on the Pacific Ocean.

Today we take a look at 10 of the most disastrous maritime catastrophes in history.

To three rescued yachties he's an absolute hero. But Navy Lieutenant Simon Wasley feels 'fairly uncomfortable' about the label, despite his dive into treacherous seas.

Two Kaikoura men who drowned while collecting crayfish pots last December were not wearing working lifejackets, a coroner has determined.

An Indonesian man has been killed on a fishing vessel in New Zealand territorial waters.

Three German nationals believed to be aboard the yacht Munetra, missing near Bluff, have been identified by Invercargill police.

The family of one of the three people missing on a yacht for nearly a fortnight may still be in the dark over their disappearance.