Recreational boating safety
Western Australia's (WA) 12,500 kilometre coastline is the most extensive and isolated in Australia. We have 93,000 registered vessels and an estimated quarter of a million people enjoying our aquatic resources. Whether you’re into fishing, sailing, diving, cruising or just having fun, boating safety awareness is essential, irrespective of the size of your boat or your experience.
- Rules and regulations
- planning your trip and safety equipment.
- emergency situations.
- buying a boat and boat maintenance.
The Department's policy is to promote safety through boating education and regulation. Informed people taking responsibility for their own safety achieve the best results. The safety and seaworthiness of a vessel is your responsibility.
Upgrade of navigation aids on the Swan River
Boat owners taking to the water on the Swan River from July, 2013, are advised work will begin in July on the final stage of a major project to upgrade navigation aids.
The work will see 40 changes to help guide skippers through the most challenging parts of Melville Water both day and night.
- Upgrade of navigation aids on the Swan River (pdf 45KB)
- Proposed navigation aid network (pdf 1.5MB)
- Swan Canning Riverpark boating guide (pdf 2.2MB)
Treatment of Western Australian school vessels
The following document contains information regarding which laws apply to WA Primary and Secondary school vessels from 1 July 2013. These changes are due to the commonwealth recently passing a new law to regulate commercial vessels.
Subscribe to the Boating Communities newsletter
View previous Boating Communities newsletters
Find out more
- Australian Builders Plate
- BoatCode / HIN
- Coast cams
- Cyclone contingency plans
- Marine Education Boatshed
- Nautical charts
- Navigation aids /reporting faults
- Recreational skippers ticket
- Report an incident / accident
- Tide predictions
Fees and charges
For all fees and charges related to recreational boating.
Forms and publications
For forms and publications related to recreational boating.
Change of address form (Marine)
Contact us
For more information please contact us.
