Steering assist system for a marine vessel and a method for steering a marine vessel

A computer-implemented method for steering a marine vessel comprising

• receiving, by a processing circuitry of a computer system configured to store sea-chart data indicating one or more hazardous location areas, minimum requirements of at least one of the marine vessel or the operator, for one or more of depth of water below the hull of the marine vessel or any components or equipment extending below the hull of the marine vessel, clearance to underwater obstacles below the marine vessel, measurements or trends established by a depth sounder on the marine vessel, obstacles or hazards received or identified via broadcasts or free height above water/air draft,
• receiving, by the processing circuitry, the location of the marine vessel,
• determining, by the processing circuitry, whether a hazard criterion is satisfied upon determination by the processing circuitry that the marine vessel will enter a hazardous location area in response to extrapolation into future locations of the marine vessel based on one or more of the operator steering command, the location of the marine vessel, the speed of the marine vessel or the course of the marine vessel, and,
• triggering, by the processing circuitry, in accordance with a determination that the hazard criterion is satisfied, a control signal to be transmitted to a steering control unit.