Almost four years after a British toddler was struck and killed by a speedboat while his family was vacationing on a Paradise Island beach, the government has brought proposed legislation to parliament aimed at regulating the water sports industry.
While not pointing to the Paul Gallagher tragedy, Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin, who led debate on the Commercial Recreational Watercraft Bill, noted that over the years there have been numerous tragedies associated with commercial watercraft.
"The legislation has been long in coming," Minister Hanna-Martin said in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, while noting that commercial water sports has become "an extremely lucrative feature of the tourism product".
"I believe it represents a first effort to regulate in avery specific way the water sports industry in this country."
The bill seeks to regulate and control the activities of owners and operators of various craft and any person who makes use of the various craft. All operators and craft would have to be licensed.
The minister pointed out that another important provision of the bill would mandate that all persons in the industry who own craft obtain liability insurance coverage with requirements to be prescribed under regulations.
She said this has proven to be a sticky area particularly as it related to obtaining insurance coverage for jet skis.
"This has been for many years a vexing issue for the industry," Minister Hanna-Martin said.
"I am pleased to say that after lengthy and intense discussions by my ministry with the Registrar General's Department and the insurance industry, insurance coverage to the limit of $2.5 million in respect of any one claim has been agreed with at least one registered broker, and I am advised that the Port Department has communicated with the relevant stakeholders in the industry or their representatives regarding the provision of coverage and the premiums available."
The bill would also provide for "authorized officers" who could be a police officer, a Defence Force officer or an officer of the New Providence Port Authority or Port Department or a Family Island officer authorized to act as agent in the administration of the act.
An authorized officer would be empowered to detain any craft suspected of being operated by an operator who is in violation of the act.
An authorized officer would also have the power to question any persons suspected of being involved in any crime.
Where a craft is delivered to the custody of a police officer the craft shall be detained in the custody of the commissioner of police until it is forfeited or released, the minister said.
The bill would create a number of offences, noted Minister Hanna-Martin. It would prohibit the operation or driving of a craft within 200 feet of the shoreline in the designated area prescribed by the regulations except when the craft is approaching or exiting the area designated by the port controller.
In this instance, the craft shall not proceed at a speed exceeding three knots.
The bill would also make it an offence to operate or dive a craft in "willful or reckless disregard for the safety of any person or property without due circumspection or at a speed or in a manner likely to endanger life or limb or to damage property."
Additionally, it would be illegal for anyone under 18 to operate a commercial watercraft.
Violations of the various offences could mean a fine of $5,000 or two years imprisonment or both.
As a means of controlling the number of craft that is registered or licensed at any given time, Minister Hanna-Marin said the minister will have discretion to determine from time to time the number of craft of any type or class that may be registered at any one time in the country.
"I believe this legislation represents a major milestone in our cultural development as it relates to this specific area," she said.
"It governs an important aspect of our tourism product and to a large extent says to the world what and who we are. A continuing area of challenge and a test of the efficacy of this new regime will be the adequacy of enforcement."
Minister Hanna-Martin informed that in recent months tourism police officers have been recruited and trained to patrol beaches in conjunction with other law enforcement authorities.
"But the greatest feat will be the creation of a new culture of safety engendered in the hearts and minds of those who are at the vanguard of this industry, the operators and owners themselves," she said.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
