This summer, Waikato Regional Council’s maritime safety team conducted its biggest and most challenging operation to date, running for three weeks from Boxing Day through to 16 January with an additional 12 staff covering recreational boating activity in the region.

Regional Harbourmaster Chris Bredenbeck last week gave the Environmental Performance Committee an overview of the council’s recent summer Operation Neptune.

“The number of people taking part in recreational boating has been growing year on year and here in the Waikato we now have some of the most congested waterways in New Zealand,” said Mr Bredenbeck.

“Our team interacted with just over 1000 vessels on the water, carrying about 2700 people.”

The Waikato region has 1138 kilometres of coastline, including several busy harbours, 415 kilometres of rivers and seven hydro lakes, offering a number of popular holiday hotspots that are easily accessible by a wide range of water users. Lake Taupō is managed by the Department of Internal Affairs.

“The increased numbers of people out on our waters causes us all sorts of challenges,” Mr Bredenbeck said.

Challenges include a lack of consistency of rules nationally, such as the wearing of lifejackets, and no national requirements for skipper licensing and training or vessel registration.

“Many of our visiting boaties come from Auckland, where the maritime rules may be different to what we have here. We also believe that COVID travel restrictions have led to more Kiwis purchasing various new watercraft, with many new skippers being inexperienced on the water.

“There are no national requirements for skipper licencing or vessel registration, as is in place with drivers and motor vehicles on the roads of New Zealand. Essentially a person can purchase and operate a vessel with no knowledge of maritime regulations or the rules of the sea.”

Operation Neptune, which has been running for five years, is the summer on-water education and compliance programme run by the council’s Maritime Safety team which has the mandate for navigation safety in the region.

The focus of the programme is on increasing a patrol presence on the water in key recreational boating areas, over the peak summer boating period, to maintain compliance with the region’s navigation safety bylaw and reduce the risk of harm on the water.

Mr Bredenbeck said having more boats on the water meant incidents were more likely occur.

Over the summer, the team helped respond to a number of incidents with other agencies such as Coastguard and the Police, including a number of bar crossing incidents (Raglan, Tairua, Whangamatā and Matarangi).

“As a result of the strong and unusual currents seen after the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai in January, many of our channel markers in the Whitianga and Tairua/Pauanui harbours shifted considerably and had to be reset.

“We also manage hazards on the water. A good example of this was removing a huge log floating in the Whitianga harbour channel. That could have done some real damage to a vessel if struck at speed.”

Mr Bredenbeck said having an increased number of people out on the waters also created logistical challenges. “We’re a small team covering a large region with many busy waterways, and we can’t be everywhere at once.”

Committee Chair Kathy White acknowledged the work of the team to make freshwater and marine areas in the Waikato region safe for water users.

“Maritime New Zealand data estimates 160,000 people are involved in recreational boating in our region every year, with many of them travelling from outside the Waikato.

“The job of helping to protect everybody from boaties to jet skiers, kayakers to waka ama paddlers, and other users of Waikato’s waterway is a big one that this council takes seriously,” Cr White said.

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