Busy spell for the water police
Reminding boaties to don life jackets and warning those travelling too fast near dive flags kept maritime police busy during a two-week deployment to the Bay of Islands.
A police rigid-hulled inflatable boat from Auckland spent 15 days in the bay, crewed by skippers from Auckland police and four specially trained Northland officers.
The most serious incidents were an on-water chase, complete with lights and sirens, sparked by a catamaran speeding past dive flags at 40 knots (74km/h) on January 5, which took quite some catching.
In another incident the RHIB was put in the path of a vessel heading straight for a diver who had emerged a long way from his dive flag.
Coastal master Peter Comer from the Auckland Police Maritime Unit said the speeding catamaran had passed between two dive flags 300m apart, Northland bylaws prohibiting speeds of more than 5 knots (9km/h) within 200m of a dive flag or the shore, and 50m from any swimmer.
The speeding skipper, from Auckland, claimed he thought the required distance was 100m, adding that he was in a hurry because he was “late for wakeboarding.”
In the police boat’s last eight days on the water Mr Comer spoken to people on 60 vessels, of whom 46 needed education around the rules, mostly for about wearing life jackets, speed or behaviour around dive flags.
“As my focus was on safety and education rather than issuing tickets, I only gave out warnings,” he said.
“If you look at the compliance rate, 46 out of 60 it doesn’t look great but it needs to be put into perspective. There were hundreds of vessels out there; I just identified those who needed education.”
A Department of Conservation ranger was on board each day to make sure regulations regarding marine mammal were being observed.