The Marine Vessel Portal

The Marine Vessel Portal (MVP) helps New Zealand boat owners, marinas and councils reduce the risk of marine pest incursions. By signing up to the MVP boat owners and marina operators can be empowered to better manage their biofouling risk.

How the MVP works 

  • Information about a boat’s recent hull maintenance or cleaning can be entered into the MVP by boat owners, maintenance contractors, haul outs and dive companies.

  • The MVP also contains results from hull surveys undertaken by council marine biosecurity teams in Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Waikato, including biofouling levels and any pest species found.

  • When a vessel arrives in a new location marina staff will be able to see when a boat was cleaned, its antifoul coatings, and details of recent inspections. This, along with talking with the boat owner about where a vessel has traveled, will help them decide if a boat presents a marine biosecurity risk or not.

Make a start

  • Boat owners can claim their boat in the system by  entering some basic information about their vessel, including its name, description, usual location and their contact details.

  • Uploading a photo is also helpful.

  • Once submitted, our team will work to match it up with a boat already in the system and ask the boat owner to confirm the match - or they will set up a new entry if needed.

Benefits for boat owners  

  • With access to the MVP, owners can see details of past dive inspections of their vessel including any the level of fouling and marine pest species found (if any). 

  • They can also add their own information about their vessel’s antifouling maintenance   

  • Participating marina operators can view this information, negating the need for vessel owners to carry/email documents before arriving at a marina or in some cases, between regions. 

Security and privacy

  • The Marine Vessel Portal is an app developed and shared by Northland Regional Council, Auckland Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Waikato Regional Council. These councils are empowered to collect information about vessels by the Biosecurity Act, but participation by boat owners is optional. 

  • When a boat owner claims their boat they will need to provide permission for the identity of their vessel to be confirmed with their marina operator (if applicable) and will have an opportunity to review and accept a Privacy Agreement. A two-step authentication process will protect the integrity of vessel data.

Case studies

‘Asterix’ has cruised around Northland’s coast for several months and is now returning to a mooring in Tauranga Harbour. Council staff using MVP can see that ‘Asterix’ received a fresh coat of antifoul recently and by talking with the skipper can see that she has not visited any high risk locations since then. They can be confident that ‘Asterix’ doesn’t present a marine biosecurity risk.

‘Pauline’ is a boat berthed in a location infested with Mediterranean fanworm. She was lifted and washed two weeks before her journey. She has new owners who want to take her to a new marina in a place that doesn’t have fanworm. If the manager of the new marina uses the MVP they can check Pauline’s maintenance record and assess the risk of the boat carrying a marine pest onboard.