Navigation Safety Bylaw 2024

Proposed Navigation Safety Bylaw 2024

Bylaw approved

We approved the new Tasman District Council Navigation Safety Bylaw 2024 at the Council meeting on 24 October 2024. The bylaw comes into force on 1 December and is pursuant to the Maritime Transport Act 1994.

Download a copy of the bylaw.

The bylaw helps ensure that the many inland and coastal water environments across Tasman can be safely used and shared by everyone.

Some of the new requirements in the bylaw include:

Clear rules for wearing a life jacket.
Easily identifying a vessel, and its owner or skipper.
The visibility of small, lone watercraft, such as kayaks.
Communication requirements for all vessels.

Earlier this year, we sought feedback from the community around the key provisions of the draft bylaw. We were pleased to receive and consider 256 submissions, which provided a great launching pad for discussion during the hearings and deliberations in September.

We are excited to have the bylaw in place in time for summer – this allows us to keep everyone safe and mindful of their responsibilities in and around our waters.

We’ll provide further information on the main aspects of the bylaw across our channels in the coming weeks.

Our Harbourmaster team will also be a visible presence in our bays and lakes – with more staff on deck and an additional vessel covering the coastline. Look out for them at one of the many shows and events on shore too.

Copies of the new bylaw will be available to view at all our service centres in the next few weeks.

Consultation closed on Sunday 1 September. Thanks for your feedback.

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 proposed bylaw is now open for submissions.

Our Navigation Safety Bylaw has been developed to ensure navigation safety for water users in Tasman and applies to all waters, including our lakes and rivers.

The bylaw covers all water activities and boating and sets out the local rules, complementing national rules to enhance water safety and ensure that people safely use and share our waterways.

What we are seeking feedback on

The Statement of Proposal sets out the main water safety issues that we’ve identified in Tasman and how we propose to address them in the bylaw. In summary, these are:

We are seeking your thoughts, views or suggestions regarding these topics, or others, relating to navigational safety on our waterways or coastlines.

The Council values your input and looks forward to your feedback.

Submissions closed on Sunday 1 September 2024.

Please refer to the following documents:

Navigation Safety Bylaws are created in accordance with the Maritime Transport Act 1994 and the Local Government Act 2002. They are reviewed every five years and allow for input and feedback from the public.

Timeline

Timeline item 1 - complete

Early engagement

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

Preparing a draft bylaw

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

Gathering your feedback

We sought your views on the draft bylaw until 1 September 2024.
Timeline item 4 - complete

Hearings

Those who want to speak in support of their submission can do so on 18 September 2024.
Timeline item 5 - complete

Deliberations

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

Finalising the bylaw

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

Adopt the bylaw

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

During June we presented to a range of key stakeholders, seeking their views, thoughts and concerns on navigation safety issues in Tasman and how they might be addressed in the new bylaw.

We received around 30 submissions from individuals and organisations and their feedback will help us to draft the bylaw.

The presentation and a summary of the engagement and feedback can be accessed below:

Navigation Safety Bylaw presentation

Summary of early engagement

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.

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.