The Boating Industry Association (BIA) has expressed its disappointment with an announcement by the New South Wales Government to ban powered vessels from areas of Port Stephens this summer.
BIA said that the NSW State Government announced trial bans last year with no consultation with key stakeholders such as BIA, the Australian Fishing Trade Association, the Newcastle and Port Stephens Game Fish Club or the Boat Owners Association of NSW and provided no data on incidents, hospitalisations or alternatives to exclusion zones.
BIA spokesperson Neil Patchett said exclusion and bans are blunt tools that typically on their own do not solve problem behaviour, rather it moves the problem, usually caused by a minority, to other areas whilst punishing the majority.
"There are substantial precedents of better solutions to such problems by combining education, compliance, enforcement and behaviour change campaigns," said Patchett. "The best boating safety outcomes in NSW over the past 30 years were achieved by NSW Government delivering sustained and funded education programs, and working with industry."
"BIA finds it troubling that the NSW Government is imposing ‘spot bans’ on a relatively safe activity enjoyed by millions of people in NSW, where almost one to five households have a boat or some form of watercraft.
"Instead of bans and exclusion, the industry calls on the state government to enforce the many existing rules for safe and responsible boating, and to adopt a five-point plan for education, compliance, enforcement and behaviour change, where there is robust evidence of anti-social and or unsafe boating."
BIA has proposed a five-point plan to be deployed by Transport for NSW in consultation with industry. The plan calls for: adoption of road safety infringement-issuing compliance cameras to waterway "hot spots"; adoption of an effective mechanism to suspend or cancel a licence, and seize vessels for the most serious offences; an appropriate, sustained and funded behaviour change campaign aimed at responsible boating starting with personal watercraft and evolving to other boating categories as appropriate; a PWC rider behaviour change campaign, sustained and funded by 20 per cent of the additional revenue received from the fee increases on PWC in 2024; and adopting Transport for NSW Hoon legislation for roads for NSW waters; and adopting the points demerit system for motor vehicle licences to the waterways.
More information is available on the BIA website.