MARITIME TRAINING A RECREATIONAL WAKE-UP BY LOUISE DEEHAN-OWEN, SENIOR LECTURER, NZ MARITIME SCHOOL T
VNZ's Q&A programme recently raised the issue of licensing and registration for recreational vessels. On the programme, the Chief Coroner discussed whether it should be mandatory for the organisations noted in his report to respond to the recommendations he had made, and this included government organisations.
Although the topic was not specifically recreational boating, the discussion was supportive of the Bay of Plenty Coroner, Wallace Bains' call for licensing and registration of recreational craft, following his findings into the death of a 17 year old jetskier, and the earlier death of a nine year old waterskier. Weight was further given to the discussion by the recent tragic dingy accident on the Manukau Harbour.
It is easy to think that the introduction of licensing and registration would bring an improvement. However Maritime New Zealand have explored the issue and found that these measures, when employed by other foreign administrations with similar environment and populations, have failed to show an improvement in statistics. Could this just end up being another layer of legislation? At present there are Maritime Rules and Navigation Safety bylaws that apply to recreational craft. Most topical and notable is that under the current regulations, recreational craft are required to have lifejackets, a clear illustration that the current system is not being implemented.
One student recently made an association between the >
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requirement for recreational boaties to carry and wear fitting lifejackets, to manufacturers installing seatbelts in cars. With car seatbelts it took years for people to appreciate the deaths and injuries that they prevented, and to wear them. And yet still, years after it became mandatory to wear seatbelts, police stop hundreds of people a year for not wearing seatbelts. We believe that non legislated education is the most effective way to prevent loss of life, and Coast Guard Boating Education has gone a long way to reach many people. Maritime New Zealand has run many campaigns including television advertising about safety on the water. This has worked well for people who hear and heed the message, but as statistics prove, the message is not getting to everyone in the boating community. We feel the need to question how the recreational boating community has changed, and to move our message in line with this change. Are vessels on the water, that anyone, experienced or not can operate, often at high speed, viewed like automobiles? What we need to do is to step back and take a critical look as to where and how we are putting out the educational message, as it is clearly not reaching the demographic most vitally in need of it. As was demonstrated in the recent change in the advertising for the prevention of drunk driving, a change in the way the message was portrayed changed attitudes, and those attitudes changed the behaviours far more effectively than rules are able to do. Ghost Chips? – Anyone?
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Maritime New Zealand Licences Marine Engineering STCW '95 Basic Training Mate and Master Yacht Licences.
For a list of our 2012 courses or for more information, contact:
New Zealand Maritime School, Level 3, 2 Commerce St, Auckland on phone: 0800 744 722 email: maritime@manukau.ac.nz or visit: www.nzmaritime.com
July/August 2012 Professional Skipper 55
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