This paper deals with the Croatian Regulations on places of refuge and their influence on the protection of marine environment. The Republic of Croatia is among a few countries that adopted special Regulations on places of refuge which prescribe in detail the process of selection and approval of places of refuge for ships in need of assistance, the competent authorities and the person responsible for the selection and approval of such a shelter, conditions that have to be taken about the shelters and their use, as well as a compulsory insurance or other financial guarantee for damages and costs that are the result of receiving a ship in a place of refuge. The Regulations on places of refuge also define the obligation of timely adoption and maintenance of the Plan for ships in distress as the basic executive document that, in accordance with the Guidelines IMO A949(23) contains all needed information to determine a place of refuge. Place of refuge is a place where it is possible to temporary place a vessel to assist or eliminate potential threats to people, ship or the environment. Those places are conceived as certain geographic areas among the coast where it would be possible to repair damage and perform emergency repair on the ship and overload the cargo. In the Regulations on places of refuge there are no listed ports or places of refuge, such a place is determined depending on the situation. Application of GIS (Geographical Information System) is computerized decision support, which includes possible places of refuge and associated information. Maritime assistance service (MAS) provides assistance for ships at sea as defined by the IMO Resolutions A.950 (23) performed by the National Search and Rescue Agency.