Busted Fines on the water
A year into strict new rules, not wearing a lifejacket is still by far the most common infringement for boaties busted on the water.
Figures released under the Official Information Act show Waikato Regional Council’s harbourmaster issued 73 infringements between 2015 and
2018 – 40 of them for not wearing or not carrying personal flotation devices (PFDs).
There were 16 fines for towing without an observer and 10 fines for speeding in inland waters.
Boaties on the more compressed Waikato region’s lakes and the Waikato River – where activity tends to be higher risk – netted 49 of those infringements while 24 infringement notices were handed out in coastal waters.
With summer luring thousands to the water, the harbourmaster – responsible for
1143km of Waikato coastline, lake edge and riverbank – is watching.
Waikato Regional Council’s team leader of maritime services, Richard Barnett, said he’s looking out for three things, this summer – life jacket compliance, towing with an observer, and divers displaying a dive flag.
‘‘Those are our bottom lines,’’ Barnett said.
‘‘Sometimes those higher risk activities are towing – like water skiing, wake boarding, biscuiting – and quite a few jet skis too,’’ he said.
‘‘On the coastal environment, people are generally fishing. People tend to be launching and gone out. You can have 400 trailers at Waikawau on the Thames Coast on a good day but those people are spread out on the Firth of Thames.’’
Five fulltime and one parttime staff operate the Waikato harbourmaster’s fleet of vessels. In summer, an extra seven staff, all regional council employees with maritime training, help out from Boxing Day to January 6.
Last summer, the harbourmaster began strict compliance on wearing of life jackets, Barnett said.
The Lake Taupo¯ Harbourmaster issued 81 fines between 2015 and 2018.
‘‘When you look at statistics on the fatalities we’ve had over the past couple of decades on the water, you see the vast majority could have been saved if they were wearing lifejackets,’’ Taupo¯ harbourmaster, Heath Cairns, said.
‘‘It’s like seatbelts: there’s no point trying to put it on after an accident, or just before one.’’
Cairns said parents needed to walk the talk – not just kit out their children, though.
‘‘We’re finding that boats will have their children’s lifejackets, which is great, but we need to get the dads wearing them too,’’ he said.
‘‘Regardless of your
confidence – or perceived confidence – when you get that cold water shock and gasp, people panic. People underestimate their lack of buoyancy in the lake as well.
‘‘It’s much harder to stay afloat than the ocean, and much colder.’’
Cairns said two fines had been issued in the first three days of 2019 for not carrying lifejackets on board. One was for a vessel 4.5 metres long and another was jet ski.’’
‘‘Lifejackets on jet skis have been mandatory for many years, so there’s no excuse.’’
Maritime rules require boaties to have PFDs on board that must be worn in times of heightened risk. In 2014, council implemented another rule stating life jackets must be worn, in pleasure craft 6m or less, while underway.
‘‘We’ve got a higher standard and last summer was the first year that we actually did compliance work around that rule,’’ Barnett said. ‘‘We spent the first three or four years educating people about the rule. Then to get to that last few per cent you actually have to take a bit of a stick at times simply because wearing a life jacket is the single most important safety measure you can do on the water.’’
Towing must be done with an on board observer so the skipper can navigate the vessel safely and divers must display flags.
‘‘New Zealand Underwater, which is the association that represents diving in New Zealand . . . they will say that up to 50 per cent of divers don’t show flags. It’s like driving at night with no lights on.’’
Know your environment, Barnett said. Some forms of communication won’t work on some water bodies.