Navigation Safety Bylaw 2024

Proposed Navigation Safety Bylaw 2024

Tasman is a great place to live, play, work and explore!

We are lucky to have an extensive 812km coastline and many rivers, lakes and beaches, are often in remote areas. Our great climate and environment mean we have a significant increase in recreational water users over summer undertaking a variety of water activities, boating and sports.

There are 67 boat access locations along our coast and we have high levels of commercial passenger traffic. The Tasman District has two ports, located at Motueka and Tarakohe.

What is Council’s role?

Tasman District Council has responsibilities for making our waters a safe and enjoyable place for everyone and this role extends out to the 12 nautical mile territorial sea limit.

The Maritime Transport Act 1994 enables a regional council to make navigation bylaws, in consultation with the Director of Maritime New Zealand, for the purpose of ensuring maritime safety in its region.

Our Navigation Safety Bylaw

The Council is developing a new bylaw to keep people safe on the water around the Tasman District. There are a wide variety of recreational and cultural activities on our waterways happening all year round, alongside our commercial users.

The bylaw will consider all these users and cover all water activities and boating. It will set out the local rules, complementing national rules to enhance water safety and ensure that people safely use and share our waterways.

Water safety issues in Tasman

Some of the water safety issues we’ve identified and are looking to address in the bylaw include:

Requirements or exemptions for wearing a lifejacket (or personal floatation device)
Easily identifying a vessel, and its owner or skipper
Long term anchoring
Risks from large vessel activity
Visibility of small, lone watercraft
Identifying and improving the regulation of personal watercraft (PWC)
Communication requirements for all vessels
High traffic density – commercial vessel tracking

During the early engagement period, we invited your views, concerns and thoughts on how you might like to see these issues addressed by the bylaw. Thank you to everyone who took the time to provide feedback.

We will seek your views on a draft bylaw in August, when you can make a formal submission during the consultation period.

If you have any questions or would like to be notified when consultation begins, please email the Harbourmaster team at Harbourmaster.Admin@tasman.govt.nz

Timeline

Timeline item 1 - complete

Early engagement

Getting input in June to help guide our draft.
Timeline item 2 - active

Preparing a draft bylaw

Based on what we already know and the feedback we gather.
Timeline item 3 - incomplete

Gathering your feedback

We will be seeking your views on the draft bylaw in August 2024.
Timeline item 4 - incomplete

Hearings

Those who want to speak in support of their submission can do so on 11 September 2024.
Timeline item 5 - incomplete

Deliberations

Council will consider and deliberate on feedback.
Timeline item 6 - incomplete

Finalising the bylaw

We’ll make changes based on what we hear from the community.
Timeline item 7 - incomplete

Adopt the bylaw

The Navigation Safety Bylaw will be adopted by Council in October 2024.

Why do we need a navigation safety bylaw?

A local bylaw will set out the rules and regulations for people using the lakes, rivers and seas in Tasman district for all water activities and boating.

The bylaw will help the Council to manage actual and potential water safety issues, mitigate risk associated with vessels on the water, and complements the national rules – all this provides enhanced water safety in our district.

Adopting a bylaw also enables the Council to set out infringement offences and access enforcement powers.

Interpretation

The Maritime Rules Part 91: Navigation Safety Rules apply everywhere in New Zealand waters and include the following definitions:

Vessel means every boat or craft used in navigation, whether or not it has any means of propulsion.
Pleasure craft means a vessel that is used exclusively for the owner's pleasure or as the owner's residence, and is not offered or used for hire or reward (some exclusions).
Paddle craft means powered only by a craft’s occupant(s) using a single or double bladed paddle.
Recreation craft means a vessel that is a pleasure craft, or solely powered manually or by sail.

Personal watercraft (PWC) means a power-driven ship with a fully enclosed hull that doesn’t take on water if capsized and is operated by a person standing, sitting astride, or kneeling on it, but not seated within it. A PWC is commonly referred to as a jetski.