New boating regulations are here

New regulations regulating pleasure and commercial vessels are due to come into effect on 1 August but several issues have arisen that the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) are looking into. These include that safety officers are apparently charging exorbitant prices for boat piloting licence courses and that pleasure boat owners will have to spend more than R10 000 to ensure that both themselves and their boats comply with the new regulations.

This problem may have arisen due to the fact that no maximum fees were published as part of the regulations. Another issue is the fact that SAMSA and the South African Police Service (SAPS) will not be able to enforce the new regulations on their own due to the scope of SAMSA’s own responsibilities and manpower shortages within the SAPS.The new regulations were signed into law by the Minister of Transport as part of the Merchant Shipping Act last year. The aim of the regulations are to assist in making inland waterways safer for all users. The new regulations compel boat-owners to acquire a competency certificate for themselves, submit their boats for inspection and acquire a certificate of fitness, certifying that the boat adheres to safety standards. Apart from addressing competency of boat pilots and safety standards for boats, the new regulations also set standards for safety equipment that should be on board the different vessels. SAMSA will be enforcing the new regulations and have already started delegating their authority to localised authorities such as forums or municipalities and to authorised agencies which could be boat clubs or boat businesses. According to the new regulations the authorised agencies will be able to issue the competency certificates and the certificates of fitness. Certain areas of the inland waterways will also be set aside where people will be allowed to waterski, jetski and paddle. Mr. Peace Mooketsi, Registrar of Seafarers at SAMSA, told Kormorant that the fees charged for competency certificates for both the pilots and boats and the costs being charged to foam the boats to comply with the buoyancy regulation, are not being regulated. The general regulations, however, have been signed and will come into effect on 1 August. He explained that although SAMSA cannot change the regulations they will look at the fees charged and intend to make a proposal to the industry as to what the authority deem to be reasonable and this will then be discussed. “We are enforcing the law on the people and therefor do not want to penalise them. The regulations were meant to make the inland water safer and not as a business opportunity for some,” Mooketsi said. According to him they would be able to enforce the agreed upon fees through the accreditation of safety officers that will be issuing the certificates. Mooketsi said that as part of the accreditation they send out SAMSA Surveyors or Examiners to the applicants to ensure that they comply to and maintain certain standards. He said that the surveyor or examiner would then recommend that an accreditation certificate be issued. As far as the enforcement of the regulations on the water is concerned, Mooketsi said they have considered various possibilities. “We had a workshop with the roleplayers, including the SAPS and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, as it will not be possible for SAMSA and the SAPS to be visible everywhere. We hope to compile a working agreement with both government agencies and private entities to ensure that the regulations are enforced,” Mooketsi said. He emphasised that the implementation of the regulations will go ahead as planned.