Buoy Moorings

Buoy Moorings

Buoy Moorings: The Secure and Environmentally Friendly Alternative

Buoy moorings are an alternative solution for vessels that need secure storage without the hassle of anchoring. These moorings are attached to the seabed with a system of ropes, cables or chains, and feature a float or buoy on the water’s surface to mark the location of the vessel.

As the population and vessel registrations on the Gold Coast continue to grow, the Gold Coast Waterways Authority (GCWA) plays a vital role in responsibly managing our buoy mooring areas. We are committed to exploring new technology to reduce the impact of buoy moorings on the marine environment and to provide safer moorings that are less prone to dragging in bad weather.

If you would like to establish a buoy mooring for your recreational or commercial vessel, you’ll need a buoy mooring approval. A buoy mooring approval is a type of authority issued under the Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Regulation 2016. GCWA considers applications for buoy moorings with special attention to:

  • water depth
  • nature of the seabed
  • vessel length, beam and draft
  • proximity to other moored vessels, navigation channels, public marine facilities, private pontoons and jetties
  • locations within the Moreton Bay Marine Park.

Generally, we would consider vessels from 6 to 15 metres as suitable for using buoy moorings.

All buoy mooring approvals issued by GCWA include conditions for the use of the buoy mooring. The holder of the buoy mooring approval must comply with all conditions of the authority. Failing to comply with conditions of an approval is grounds to cancel the approval.

To guide GCWA’s approach to policy, information, operations, and consultation, we’ve produced the Buoy Mooring Management Strategy. Approved by the GCWA Board in August 2017, this strategy provides the guiding framework for buoy moorings and is the next stage in a long-term consultation process that examines the way buoy moorings are established, used, and managed on the Gold Coast.

Click here to read the latest on the Buoy Mooring Strategy and find out more about Environmentally Friendly Moorings.

For more information, check out these additional resources:

There are 3 types of buoy mooring areas:

  • Category 1 areas: Managed and controlled by mooring managers via agreements with GCWA. Southern Broadwater mooring area, near Sundale Bridge, is a defined Category 1 area.
  • Category 2 areas: Considered higher risk for marine safety, environmental or navigational reasons. Currently, there are no defined Category 2 areas in Gold Coast waterways.
  • Category 3 areas: All other mooring areas in Gold Coast waterways.

There are 13 buoy mooring areas across Gold Coast waters:

  • 6 buoy mooring areas within the Moreton Bay Marine Park
  • 7 buoy mooring areas outside of the marine park.

For further information on each area, please refer to “Buoy mooring maps”

The Marine Parks (Moreton Bay) Zoning Plan 2008 provides for environmentally friendly mooring activity through the use of EFMs. An EFM is a mooring that fully complies with the following requirements:

  • Less than 1 square metre of the substrate is disturbed by any device used for the mooring activity that is attached to or sits on the substrate.
  • The activity does not involve dredging.
  • For a mooring activity that is constructing a mooring, the design and placement of the mooring in the area ensures that a vessel using the mooring does not touch the substrate.
  • Any cables, chains, ropes or other things attached to a device mentioned in the first bullet point above do not touch the substrate.

To ensure consistent administration and regulation of buoy moorings in Gold Coast waters, GCWA defines an EFM as a mooring that meets all of the above requirements.

Careful consideration must be given to the vessel that will use the mooring to ensure the choice of EFM is capable of holding the vessel fast and secure in all conditions (including severe weather), as well as satisfying the requirements for an EFM mentioned above.

A Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ) is an engineer who has been registered in Queensland with recognised engineering qualifications and competence. A statement by a RPEQ certifying that the EFM is “Fit for Purpose” must be provided to GCWA with every new application; any time the vessel changes; or where the EFM device is replaced or changed from the original technical specifications (this does not include a direct replacement of “like-for-like” components as part of the EFM’s annual maintenance).

In 2016, the GCWA Board made the decision to transition all buoy moorings in Gold Coast waters to environmentally friendly moorings (EFMs).

From mid-2024, GCWA will start the work to transition buoy moorings in Gold Coast waters, both within and outside of the Moreton Bay Marine Park, from traditional block and tackle mooring to new EFMs.

All current buoy mooring authority holders, as well as those on the Buoy Mooring Waiting List, have been notified by the GCWA of the transition to EFMs .

Moreton Bay Marine Park

The buoy mooring areas within the Moreton Bay Marine Park are:

All new buoy moorings established within the Moreton Bay Marine Park must be Environmentally Friendly Moorings (EFMs), consistent with the requirements of marine parks legislation.

Please remember the establishment of buoy moorings within the Moreton Bay Marine Park is strictly monitored and controlled. Buoy moorings must only be established within Designated Mooring Areas (DMAs) approved by the Department of Environment and Science.

Please contact GCWA if you are considering a buoy mooring within the Moreton Bay Marine Park.

Outside of Moreton Bay Marine Park

The buoy mooring areas outside of the Moreton Bay Marine Park are:

All new buoy moorings in Gold Coast waters outside of the Moreton Bay Marine Park must now be EFMs. For this, GCWA will condition all new buoy mooring authorities for the establishment of an EFM. A failure to comply with this condition will be a ground for cancellation of the authority. For further information please refer to “What is an Environmentally Friendly Mooring (EFM)?”

There are 2 types of buoy mooring authorities for Category 2 & 3 buoy mooring areas:

  • Buoy moorings are restricted for use by a single vessel greater than 6 metres in length that is either registered or owned by the authority holder (referred to as the “stated ship”). This type of buoy mooring is designed for use by a specific vessel only.
  • Buoy moorings are unrestricted for use by government agencies, the marine industry, commercial fleet operations, or by those who own more than one commercial vessel, provided the use is for genuine commercial purposes. Only one vessel may use the buoy mooring at any given time.

The holder of a buoy mooring authority must not carry on a business activity from the approved buoy mooring. The buoy mooring must only be used for the storage of the vessel.

For all buoy mooring enquiries, please contact the Gold Coast Waterways Authority on 07 5539 7350.

Buoy moorings for restricted use are designated for the authority holder’s specified vessel as stated in the corresponding authorization. Shipping inspectors may issue on-the-spot fines for unauthorised use of these moorings.

Unfortunately, no. The buoy mooring approval is an authority issued to you under the Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Regulation 2016, (similar to a licence) to act as the master of a vessel. You cannot lease, sell or transfer a buoy mooring approval because this would violate the authority’s conditions, which could result in its cancellation.

GCWA will send all renewal reminders at least four weeks before the buoy mooring approval expires. It is the approval holder’s personal responsibility to ensure they renew their buoy mooring before the expired date. GCWA will only send one courtesy reminder for the renewal of the buoy mooring approval. 

If the expiry date has passed, you cannot lawfully make an application for renewal.

If you have any questions, contact us by phone on 5539 7350 or by email at mail@gcwa.qld.gov.au.

 To renew your buoy mooring approval, you must do all of the following:

  1. Inspect the buoy mooring to ensure all equipment is in good condition and fit for purpose (i.e. to hold your vessel fast and secure) for the term of the approval (that is, up to its date of expiry).
    • If you have a traditional buoy mooring, you must either engage the services of a competent person who can produce a Mooring Inspection Report about the condition of the buoy mooring; or if you can inspect the buoy mooring yourself, you must properly declare before a Justice of the Peace or a Commissioner for Declarations the Mooring Inspection Report Statutory Declaration that covers all the information about the condition of the buoy mooring that we require to make a decision about your renewal.
    • If you have an Environmentally Friendly Mooring (EFM), you must engage the services of the manufacturer, or a competent person approved by the manufacturer, to provide a Mooring Inspection Report about the condition of the EFM.
  2. Take a current photo of the stated vessel using the buoy mooring.
  3. Complete and sign the application for renewal that we send to you, making any necessary changes to your contact details.
  4. Send a scanned copy of the Mooring Inspection Report, signed application form, and photo to mail@gcwa.qld.gov.au. Alternatively, you can post to us or hand in a hard copy at our office counter in Main Beach.
  5. Make payment of the fee by bank transfer (contact us for details) or cash or credit card in person.

 Further, if any amendments are needed to the approval, GCWA will require a request in writing setting out in full all details of the change, together with reasons for the change.

If you need to replace the mooring block of your traditional buoy mooring (not an EFM), whether a concrete block or some other kind of device, then following from the decision of the GCWA Board, you will need to replace the block or device with an EFM. This applies to all Gold Coast waters.

Please let us know if you establish an EFM because this will help to inform our planning for the future transition to EFMs.

In the Moreton Bay Marine Park, you must not replace the block and tackle of a traditional buoy mooring with similar block and tackle. Not only would this be a contravention of conditions of the buoy mooring approval, which would be grounds to cancel the authority, but it would also be an offence against marine parks legislation, which carries severe penalties.

You can find out more details about EFMs by following this link: https://hlw.org.au/project/environmentally-friendly-moorings/

General information about the Moreton Bay Marine Park can be found at: https://www.des.qld.gov.au/contactus/

Alternatively, you can contact Department of Environment and Science by email at: info@des.qld.gov.au or phone on 13 74 68 (13 QGOV).

It’s important that you contact GCWA before purchasing a replacement vessel.

If you sell or otherwise dispose of your vessel using the approved buoy mooring, you may either:

  1. apply for an amendment to the approval, identifying a suitable replacement vessel* for that buoy mooring within 30 days of the date of disposal of the original vessel (you must provide a bill of sale or proof of vessel registration in your name as the holder of the buoy mooring approval); or
  2. you may surrender the buoy mooring approval.

If you opt to surrender the buoy mooring approval, GCWA can potentially offer the buoy mooring location to the next person on the waiting list after an evaluation process. It’s essential to note that as a buoy mooring approval holder, you do not “own” the seabed location for the buoy mooring and the authority holds no monetary value. It is merely an approval from GCWA as the approving entity for you to establish a buoy mooring.

Generally, a suitable replacement vessel, could be a vessel from 6 metres to 15 metres in length. Vessels up to 6 metres may be transported by trailer, while vessels over 15 metres should be berthed in a marina.

A suitable replacement vessel, according to GCWA, is a vessel greater than 6 metres that cannot be transported by trailer and would be appropriate to use the buoy mooring.

To change the vessel using the buoy mooring, the buoy mooring authority holder must request an amendment to the authority from GCWA. The holder must provide all details of the replacement vessel to enable an informed assessment of space necessities (depth and swing) for the buoy mooring location.

If the new ship is larger than the specified vessel identified in the buoy mooring authority, a new report from an RPEQ certifying that the buoy mooring is “fit for purpose” is likely necessary.

For further buoy mooring information, please contact GCWA on 07 5539 7350.

When mooring your vessel using a buoy, it is important to remember that you must exhibit an all-round white anchor light at night. This light must be of the prescribed intensity as described by the Collision Regulations. It is important to note that the anchor light is a mandatory condition set by all buoy mooring authorities, and failure to comply with this condition can result in penalties.

By doing so, you can avoid any potential hazards and ensure a safe and enjoyable boating experience.

Any damaged or missing aids to navigation such as beacons, buoys, markers or signs, should be reported as soon as possible on
07 5539 7350

For community engagement, communications or media enquiries please contact mail@gcwa.qld.gov.au

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Gold Coast Waterways Authority acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional custodians, the Yugambeh peoples of South East Queensland, including the Kombumerri, Mununjali, Wangerriburra, Bullongin and other clans, and their Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise their unique and ongoing spiritual and cultural connection with the land and waters of the Gold Coast area.

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