Personal watercraft to close to swimmers
St. Catharines is posting signs at Sunset Beach warning Jet Ski operators to stay away from the shoreline after some dangerously close calls with swimmers this summer.
The city is also exploring the possibility of installing buoy lines to delineate spaces and keep personal watercraft operators away from other people at its beaches.
“While we want to make sure that our beaches are inclusive and can be enjoyed by everyone, we still have to make sure that it’s safe for everybody,” said Phil Cristi, director of parks, recreation and culture services.
“We want to establish a safer area for swimmers and for those on the sand itself and restrict personal watercraft to certain distance.”
The move comes after two Sea-Doos collided near swimmers on Canada Day at Sunset Beach and amidst safety concerns raised by Grantham Couns. Sandie Bellows and Bill Phillips with the city and police.
Niagara Regional Police marine unit Sgt. Bill Wiley said personal watercraft complaints are an ongoing issue at every beach in the region. Every year there are incidents of collisions or fatalities. Police laid 13 charges at Sunset Beach alone since July 1 related to unsafe operations of personal watercraft.
The speed limit for powerdriven vessels is a maximum 10 km when they are within 30 metres of any shoreline in Ontario. Operators caught speeding face a $200 fine plus court fees.
Wiley said the problem at Sunset Beach, and many other beaches in the region, is that personal watercraft operate in the same area as swimmers and power boats and they don’t mix.
“It’s hard to understand because in Niagara we have such vast areas of wide open water and the personal watercraft always tend to operate near shore and gravitate to where people are,” he said.
“Part of that is, ‘Hey, everybody, look at me, I’m on my machine.’ They tend to want to show off their driving skills doing donuts or buzzing other boats, that kind of thing. It will always remain a problem.”
The NRP does beach patrol
enforcement daily and nightly by car, foot and boat and also uses police personal watercraft, which Wiley said allows officers to get closer to where the problems are. Patrols rotate through beaches in the region as well as target problem sites.
Police also go to various launch ramps to speak directly with operators of boats and other devices before they go in the water to give friendly reminders of what’s expected of them.
“In this case it’s a proactive educational process we do on a
daily basis and that’s working out really well,” Wiley said, explaining it’s popular with boaters because it gives them the opportunity to get what they need and avoid problems later.
Cristi said city staff are researching what other shoreline municipalities are doing to keep personal watercraft and swimmers separated. He said some municipalities put out buoy lines attached to cement blocks in the water to discourage personal watercraft users from crossing a line.
He said St. Catharines needs to figure out what the best method is because it hasn’t done any depth analysis and doesn’t want
people to think a marked area is safe to swim in if they don’t know what’s there. St. Catharines doesn’t have shoreline staff or open-water lifeguards.
Any addition of cement blocks with buoys would require consultation with the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans.
In the meantime, signs have been ordered for Sunset Beach and will be installed by the boat launch warning operators of personal watercraft that they need to stay 100 metres away from the beach area.
Cristi said whatever is implemented at Sunset Beach will likely be implemented at Lakeside Beach as well. The city has
problems at Lakeside with boats being anchored close to shore and Jet Skis coming right up on the beach. The question is where to put the signs because there is no boat launch at Lakeside and the message needs to be directed to watercraft operators.
Wiley said if the city does create swimming markers for personal watercraft not to cross it would be welcome.
“That would certainly make our life easier and it would make it safer for everyone because there’s an obviously distinction.”