Consultation on designation of waters in Cocos (Keeling) Islands lagoon

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (ASMA) is inviting your feedback on the proposed Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CKI) Designation of Waters Ordinance 2018 which, once implemented, will designate the waters within the CKI lagoon as ‘partially smooth waters’ for the purposes of the Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law 2012.

Reclassifying the waters in the lagoon will have positive impacts on the community, including local tourism operators, by making it less onerous to meet vessel survey requirements and enabling smaller ‘non-survey’ vessels to access a number of AMSA's general exemptions.

Two community information sessions were conducted on this by AMSA on West Island in mid-August 2017.

In preparation for the anticipated reclassification, AMSA has already authorised the inclusion of the CKI lagoon under Exemption 38, Marine Safety (Low complexity duties) Exemption 2017. This came into effect from 1 September 2017.

The draft Ordinance PDF: 122 KB and a chart PDF: 906 KB depicting the boundary for the waters to be designated is attached. The Ordinance is expected to commence 1 July 2018.

If you would like to provide feedback on the proposed designation of waters, or require further information, please email your comments to Mr Chris Battel, AMSA Liaison Officer (Region West) at chris.battel@amsa.gov.au by Friday, 1 June 2018.

Karly Pidgeon
General Manager
Indian Ocean Territories Branch