Waikato regional councillors have today backed a recommendation to consult with the public on proposed changes to the
Navigation Safety Bylaw.
The council’s strategy and policy committee last week heard that the bylaw has rules to make all navigable waterways in
the Waikato – except Lake Taupō, which is managed by the Department of Internal Affairs – safe for water users.
Strategy and policy committee chair Pamela Storey said the region’s freshwater and marine areas were popular playgrounds
for hundreds of thousands of people, with many of them travelling from outside the region each year.
“That’s why these rules are so important – they help to protect everybody, from boaties to jet skiers, kayakers to waka
ama paddlers, and other users of Waikato’s waterways,” Cr Storey said.
The revised draft bylaw deals with navigation safety, including the use or management of ships and requirements for life
jackets and jet ski registration.
The rules are enforced by the council’s harbourmasters, who are responsible for the maintenance of moorings and
navigation aids under the bylaw, as well as patrolling known hotspots each year to ensure compliance with the rules and
responding to reports from the public.
Richard Barnett, Waikato Regional Council’s maritime services team leader, said: “We have received some useful feedback
and suggestions on the existing bylaw since it came into force in 2013, and some of these have been incorporated into
the changes we’re proposing.
“The changes this time are smaller in scope than previous years, but will still have impacts on specific areas, so it’s
important to us that key communities are on board with the proposed rules,” he said.
As well as making changes to align with the Maritime Transport Act 1994, a moorings management section has been added to
reflect moorings licences which are in place at Kāwhia. The proposed moorings management section represents the
conditions of the mooring licence agreements and does not impose any new restriction or rules against the mooring owner
that are not already agreed to in the licence.
There are also changes to local schedules to better represent current actual usage, like the addition of swim zones,
removal of unnecessary 5 knot zones, an unsafe towing access lane, and shifting some zones after physical changes to the
reserves where the zones are located.
The consultation opens on Wednesday, 1 July, and everyone wanting to have their say on the proposed changes to the bylaw
must lodge their submission by 5pm on Wednesday, 29 July. Visit waikatoregion.govt.nz/have-your-say for more information.