Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Acts(1) Subject to this section, neither the owner nor the master of a vessel may send or take the vessel to sea or permit the vessel to remain at sea with a lesser number of certificated and uncertificated persons on board than that required by the Regulations, being persons having the designation, class or grade so required.
Penalty: 100 penalty units.
(2) The owner or the master of a vessel may send or take a vessel to sea from a place, with the written approval of a shipping officer or surveyor, notwithstanding that it carries fewer certificated or uncertificated persons than the number prescribed in respect of that vessel.
(3) A shipping officer or surveyor shall not grant an approval referred to in subsection (2) unless he is satisfied that:
(a) the safety of the vessel and the person on board the vessel will not be endangered by reason of its carrying fewer persons than the prescribed number;
(b) the number of certificated persons required to make up that prescribed in respect of the vessel is not available for employment at the place at which the vessel is; and
(c) it would be unreasonable to require the owner to make up the prescribed number with certificated persons employed from another place.