Bismarck Sea

IHO sea area 66 · 142° to 153° E, -6° to -1° N

in force
1
last 12 months
13
archive messages
568
categories
9

What the archive shows

568 messages are recorded since 1997-06-02 for the Bismarck Sea. The selection uses the IHO sea area; a message may describe an exercise, equipment outage or continuing operation as well as a hazard report.

Quakes accounts for 309 of 568 recorded messages (54%), the largest category group in this selection.

The NGA historical archive froze in 2024-05; live collection began 2026-08-17. Counts around that gap are incomplete, and changes in reporting volume do not establish changes in incident frequency.

In force now · 1

  1. NAVAREA X 99/26 · Wrecks2026-09-06
    Motor vessel Limco Logger is reported stranded and suspected aground on a reef northeast of Cape Gloucester, West New Britain Province; ships should navigate with caution.

Longest in force

  1. NAVAREA X 99/26 · Wrecks2026-09-06
    Motor vessel Limco Logger is reported stranded and suspected aground on a reef northeast of Cape Gloucester, West New Britain Province; ships should navigate with caution.

By year

97
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

By month (all years)

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D

By category · available archive

Quakes30954%
Incidents23141%
Derelicts71%
Other71%
Cable ops51%
Nav aids31%
Wrecks31%
Debris20%
Piracy10%

Ports on this sea · 6

Busiest first by annual vessel calls (IMF PortWatch); each port page shows the warnings within 60 nm, its World Port Index profile and monthly port calls.

Archive · 567 cancelled

  1. USGS-US6000TXTC · Quakes2026-09-26 → 2026-09-29
    An earthquake of magnitude 5.6 strikes 72 kilometres east-southeast of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea, at depth 70 kilometres on 26 September at 1408 UTC.
  2. USGS-US7000TIQC · Quakes2026-09-20 → 2026-09-23
    A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes 49 kilometers north-northeast of Kainantu, Papua New Guinea, at 0917 UTC on September 20.
  3. HYDROPAC 2557/26 · Derelicts2026-09-06 → 2026-09-08
    Derelict vessel M/V Limco Logger is aground at 05-21.39S 148-54.14E in the Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea; vessels should keep a sharp lookout.
  4. USGS-USD0015E7P · Quakes2026-08-16 → 2026-08-19
    118 km ese of madang, papua new guinea
  5. USGS-US7000SZZY · Quakes2026-07-13 → 2026-07-16
    196 km se of lorengau, papua new guinea
  6. USGS-US6000SZGB · Quakes2026-05-22 → 2026-05-25
    115 km sse of lorengau, papua new guinea
  7. USGS-US6000SW6Y · Quakes2026-05-08 → 2026-05-11
    109 km sse of lorengau, papua new guinea
  8. USGS-US7000SH8R · Quakes2026-04-30 → 2026-05-03
    230 km se of lorengau, papua new guinea
  9. USGS-US6000SAKS · Quakes2026-02-21 → 2026-02-24
    14 km sse of madang, papua new guinea
  10. USGS-US7000RQRT · Quakes2026-01-20 → 2026-01-23
    24 km ese of madang, papua new guinea
  11. USGS-US6000RWGH · Quakes2025-12-22 → 2025-12-25
    45 km nne of goroka, papua new guinea
  12. USGS-US6000RFYE · Quakes2025-10-10 → 2025-10-13
    139 km se of lorengau, papua new guinea
  13. USGS-US6000QUN0 · Quakes2025-07-24 → 2025-07-27
    38 km wsw of angoram, papua new guinea
  14. USGS-US6000QTXH · Quakes2025-07-21 → 2025-07-24
    94 km ene of kainantu, papua new guinea
  15. USGS-US7000Q0BM · Quakes2025-05-20 → 2025-05-23
    89 km ene of angoram, papua new guinea
  16. USGS-US7000PU7Q · Quakes2025-04-22 → 2025-04-25
    135 km n of lae, papua new guinea
  17. USGS-US6000PM5Y · Quakes2025-01-24 → 2025-01-27
    150 km s of kavieng, papua new guinea
  18. USGS-US6000PLEL · Quakes2025-01-21 → 2025-01-24
    83 km nw of rabaul, papua new guinea
  19. USGS-US7000NNZ9 · Quakes2024-10-30 → 2024-11-02
    126 km n of kimbe, papua new guinea
  20. USGS-US6000NT0L · Quakes2024-09-19 → 2024-09-22
    117 km nnw of finschhafen, papua new guinea

Sea boundaries: Flanders Marine Institute (2018), IHO Sea Areas v3, marineregions.org (CC BY 4.0). Not for navigation — follow official NAVAREA / coastal broadcasts.