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| Hawke's Bay Regional Council has a role to provide safe and efficient maritime management for commercial and recreational users of the region's waters. Hawke's Bay Regional Council’s Harbourmaster has the primary role of ensuring navigational safety is maintained. This is achieved through regular harbour patrols, liaison, co-ordination of uses (commercial vs recreational), regulatory control of mooring management areas and marine oil spill response. In the interests of a multi-use and environmentally sound harbour, the Harbourmaster is no longer directly linked to solely commercial operations, although Port efficiency is still an underlying component of the task. The Council complies with the NZ Port and Harbours Safety Code and associated guidelines issued by Maritime NZ. |  |
charlier@portofnapier.co.nz
Captain Charlie Rycroft has been the region’s Harbourmaster since 1998. His qualifications are Master Foreign Going with current Sea Going Licence. Relieving Harbourmaster is Captain John Paston.
Please note the Harbourmaster is based at the Port of Napier, not at the Regional Council Offices. He can be contacted at (06) 833 4525, on Mob 0274-455-592, or emailed at
In an incident (sinking, grounding, oil spill or collision) requiring the co-ordination of maritime resources, the Harbourmaster in conjunction with Maritime NZ will generally take the lead role. Various Regional Council and other agency staff are trained in oil spill response and recovery.
The Harbourmaster co-ordinates events on the water to ensure organised events don't clash and that these meet navigation safety requirements. Groups planning events on the water or in the coastal marine area, should contact the Harbourmaster early in planning to ensure requirements can be met.