MOSS flourishes on Chatham Islands

MOSS flourishes on Chatham Islands

5 August 2015

An intensive week-long visit by three Maritime NZ staff to the Chatham Islands has put fishing operators ahead of the game when it comes to entering the new Maritime Operator Safety System (MOSS).

Dunedin-based maritime officer Pete Dryden says more than half of the islands’ 40 operators took the chance to get one-on-one advice on developing and finalising their operator plans.

The workshop sessions were part of a trial, aimed at improving the quality of operator plans. Where plans were complete, the Maritime NZ team was also able to carry out site visits, if necessary.

“It was exceptionally busy all week – we would have spoken to at least 22 operators - it was all about getting accurate information out there,” he said

"After the formal sessions had finished for the day, we were getting people coming up to us in the evening and asking ‘what about this?’. That was really the point - being available to operators who can’t walk in and see you any day of the week.”

The one-on-one sessions, which encouraged operators to adapt a sample operator plan to the specifics of their own operations, were “priceless”, Pete says.

Operators provided the content for their plans. As part of the trial, Maritime NZ assisted by providing keyboard skills, instead of operators hand-writing plans if they did not have laptops. This reduced processing time, particularly in a remote location like the Chathams.

“You can have a group meeting and ask for questions and nobody will say a word – it’s just human nature. That’s why the one-on-one sessions, and the workshop format, worked so well,” Pete said.

“From a value-for-money point of view you couldn’t get anything better than that.

“They really appreciated us going out there because sitting down with them and explaining what they need to do has made them realise it is not as complicated as they had been led to believe.”

Fisherman Anthony Tuanui said having the Maritime NZ staff on hand was a good incentive to get his MOSS application together.

“Everybody was a bit worried about it, to be honest – there were a few rumours going around about MOSS. But the reality was quite a bit simpler than people thought,” he says.

“I’m the sort of person who would leave it and leave it – until it was the last minute. But I didn’t have any problems – it was pretty clear once you got into it.”

Anthony says using the sample operator plan gives operators the flexibility they need.

“The template has a lot of stuff that didn’t apply to me so I just took it out. It’s all about what I’m doing and that’s a good thing. It’s certainly good to have that advice and to get that done.”

Well known Chathams operator Jeff Clarke says the key was demystifying the process.

“If they’d had that originally it would have made a big difference. It just needs to be simplified a bit more – so it’s not so much paperwork.

“We had some people saying there were 100-plus pages to fill out. Fishermen are not big fans of paperwork but now it’s down to much less than that.”

Jeff says MOSS should not be a major problem for most operators.

“The industry is already safe – 90 percent of the fishermen look after their vessel and their crews,” he says.

“It’s just a small percentage, not just in the Chathams but anywhere around NZ, that will try to fight the system. They’re the ones you need to get rid of.”

With a sizeable percentage of Chathams operators now on their way into MOSS, Jeff believes the time for waiting should be over for other operators on the island.

“What they’ve done is stepped back and waited – they want it more simplified. But I’m telling them they won’t get it much more simplified than it is,” he says.

Invercargill-based MO Matt Owen-Eales says the challenge in more remote areas is ensuring accurate information is available to operators.

“Out on the Chathams, they really appreciated that Maritime NZ was there for seven days talking to people. As soon as you get the waters muddied in terms of accurate information it makes it very difficult in areas like that.

“After the sessions we had a lot of operators saying it was not as complicated as they had expected, and they were spreading the word to others,” he says.

MOSS replaces the previous Safe Ship Management (SSM) system. To date, Maritime NZ has received around 450 MOSS applications and issued more than 250 Maritime Transport Operator Certificates, from a total of approximately 1660 operators expected to enter the system by 2018.

More information on MOSS is available on the MNZ website here.

ENDS

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