VISION: "Help develop the Nation through an efficient, cost-effective & safe shipping and navaids services"

MARINE NAVIGATIONAL AIDS - List of Lights

These are issued by the Government Shipping Services and cover coastal waters out to a distance of 200 miles from the coast.

The more important coastal navigation warnings, such as the failure of landfall lights, may be repeated, and continue to be broadcast as long range navigational warnings over Fiji's entire NAVAREA XIV, until the warning is no longer required.

Coastal navigation warnings will not contain meteorological information such as forecasts of gales, storms, cyclones or tropical revolving storms. Such meteorological information is broadcast at scheduled times described in the Fiji Nautical Almanac, available from the Fiji Islands Maritime Safety Administration (FIMSA) or Carpenter's Shipping Chart Retailers (see the Fiji Meteorological Services website for a list).

Radio Navigational Warnings

These are designed to give the mariner information relating to dangers and aids to navigation. Information contained in radio navigation warnings is primarily to assist mariners in navigating up to the entrance of ports.

The type of information contained in radio navigational warnings is not limited, but the following are some examples:

1. damage to lights and buoys affecting main shipping lanes;
2. the presence of dangerous wrecks in or near main shipping lanes and, if relevant, their markings;
3. establishment of major new aids to navigation or significant changes to existing ones when such establishment or change might be misleading to shipping;
4. the presence of large, unwieldy tows in congested waters;
5. areas where search and rescue (SAR) and anti-pollution operations are being carried out;
6. the presence of newly discovered rocks, shoals, reefs and wrecks likely to constitute a danger to shipping, and, if relevant, their marking;
7. unexpected alteration or suspension of established routes;
8. cable or pipelaying activities or other underwater operations constituting potential dangers in or near shipping lanes;
9. establishment of offshore structures in or near shipping lanes;
10. significant malfunctioning of radio navigation services;
11. information concerning special operations which might affect the safety of shipping, sometimes over wide areas, e.g. naval exercises, missile firings, space missions, nuclear tests, etc;
12. derelicts, where the information is recent and sufficiently accurate.
13. drifting mines;

NAVAREA XIV Warnings (Southwest Pacific)

These are issued from the Hydrographic Office, RNZN, Auckland. The area of the Southwest Pacific is detailed in the New Zealand Annual Summary of Notices to Mariners.

Both the MSA's Coastal Navigation Warnings and Navarea XIV Warnings are broadcast from Taupo Maritime Radio (ZLM), all Maritime Radio stations, and on the Inmarsat - C Safety NET system via the Pacific Ocean Region satellite through the land earth station in Albany, Auckland.

For more information go to the Marine Radio page in the Safety section of this website

For the safety of navigation, Coast Guard Japan offers information through Notice to Mariners, Japan Navigational Warnings, NAVAREA XI Navigational Warnings, NAVTEX Navigational Warnings, etc. This home page supplies Notice to Mariners which offers information on changes of coastal line and water depth. Because Notice to Mariners is supplied on this page as soon as information is put together, you can get information significantly earlier than printed matter.