Maritime NZ Announces Safer Boating Funding

Maritime NZ has announced recipients of the annual Fuel Excise Duty (FED) funding for safer boating initiatives to help reduce fatalities and injuries.

In total, 25 projects and initiatives around the country will share $863,000 worth of funding.

Too many people die each year while participating in recreational boating, says Maritime NZ Director Kirstie Hewlett.

Maritime NZ research shows that 98 people died in various incidents between 2015 and 2020.

Ms Hewlett says the fund will help various national and regional campaigns and initiatives to turn that number around.

"We want to ensure all boaties enjoy the water and come home safe," she says.

"We want to help boaties know, understand and follow the rules each and every time they head out on the water."

Initiatives which have received funding include Coastguard’s Old4New lifejacket upgrade programme and the Bar Safety Video Series, which received $125,000; Northland Regional Council’s Nobody’s Stronger Than Tangaroa campaign, which received $70,000; and $60,000 for Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s Kia Maruatau ki te wai and Safety is Our Wai scheme.

Many of this year’s grants focus on communities most in need of support, says Ms Hewlett.

"The funding is specifically targeted at on-water compliance activities for people and areas that don’t currently have it, such as ethnic minority groups, low socio-economic and hard-to-reach areas," she says.

These include Northland, Bay of Plenty and the West Coast.

Pasifika, Asian and Māori communities are the targets of a number of programmes.

These include Coastguard’s Folau Malu campaign, Drowning Prevention Auckland’s Wai Wise initiative and the NZ Underwater Association’s Dive Pacific Māori programme.

A key purpose of the fund is to support campaigns and collaboration of New Zealand’s Safer Boating Forum, a group of organisations dedicated to improving safety in the recreational boating sector.

Forum members include Coastguard, Jet Boating NZ, NZ Search and Rescue Council, Surf Lifesaving NZ, and a number of regional councils.

Ms Hewlett says that collaboration and the allocation of FED funding is essential to saving lives.

"More than two million New Zealanders take part in recreational boating every year and this funding allocation will hopefully ensure their lives are safer as a result," she says.

Note to editors

All of Maritime New Zealand’s recreational boating work is funded through fuel excise duty on petrol (about $5.4 million). This is from contributions to the tax take boaties make when refuelling their boats. That is redirected to support recreational boating safety.

Successful recipients

Council / Organisation Programme Funding Recommendation 13 participants: Queenstown Lakes District Council Northland Regional Council Environment Southland Bay of Plenty Regional Council Environment Canterbury Nelson City Council Tasman District Council Waikato Regional Council Greater Wellington Regional Council Hawke's Bay Regional Council Taranaki Regional Council Otago Regional Council Auckland Council / Auckland Transport ‘No Excuses’ on water campaign On-water campaign targeting high-risk factors in recreational boating fatalities, in particular lifejacket wearing and safe speed $65,000 Kiwi Association of Sea Kayakers (KASK) Ian McKenzie mckian@xtra.co.nz KayakSafe NZ Continuation of Meet the Paddlers/People programme to educate kayakers to be safe skippers of their own boat. $6,000 Royal New Zealand Coastguard Boating Education Ltd Marilyn Brady marilyn.brady@boatingeducation.org.nz Folau Malu - (Journey Safely) Pasifika Boating Education Continuation of an existing programme to educate Pasifika boaties to be more knowledgeable and safer skippers. $70,000 Northland Regional Council Peter Thomas Laura Biddle petert@nrc.govt.nz laurab@nrc.govt.nz Nobody's stronger then Tangaroa Continuation of existing programme. The campaign aims to address the lack of skipper knowledge and responsibility with an iwi based approach. $70,000 Hawke's Bay Regional Council Martin Moore harbourmaster@hbrc.govt.nz Safe Boating Education Continuation of Safer boating education in local schools (for up to 12 years old) and education to boaties at boat ramps. $18,000 Marlborough District Council Jake Oliver jake.oliver@marlborough.govt.nz Boating safety workshops Continuation of an existing program run in the past to run safer boating workshops with a focus on the local area. $15,000 Environment Southland Lyndon Cleaver Lyndon.Cleaver@es.govt.nz Environment Southland Boating Safety Programme Continuation of on-water and boat ramp checks targeting skippers' safe boating knowledge and responsibility, carriage of communication and safety equipment, wearing lifejackets, checking marine weather forecasts and education around alcohol on the water. $15,525 Bay of Plenty Regional Council Jon Jon Peters Julie Taylor JonJon.Peters@boprc.govt.nz Julie.Taylor@boprc.govt.nz Kia marutau ki te wai and Safety Is Our Wai Continuation of education program of delivering Safer Boating Education to local iwi and program of delivering Safer Boating Education in the region, which will be heavily focused on Safety and Harm Prevention. $60,000 New Zealand Stand Up Paddling Inc. (NZSUP) Bill Dawes paddlecompany@gmail.com SUP SAFE Continuation of campaign targeted at stand up paddle boarders to increase safety behaviours. $30,000 Waikato Regional Council Kelly Thomson Kelly.thomson@waikatoregion.govt.nz Operation Neptune 2022/23 Continuation of on-water education and enforcement in high risk / high volume boating areas. $15,000 Watersafe Auckland Inc. Nicola Keen-Biggelaar nicola@dpanz.org.nz WaiWise for the Pacific & Asian communities Continuation of programme will provide specific drowning prevention education to the Pasifika and now also the New Settler/ Asian background community with an emphasis on safer boating within the at-risk communities in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. $25,854.90 Jet Boating New Zealand Inc. Stephen Woodside info@jbnz.co.nz Jet Smart - Safer Jet Boating New campaign to produce a series of Jet Smart - Safer Jet Boating videos that contain many safety messages that are common to all boaters. $35,150 Greater Wellington Regional Council Grant Nalder harbours@gw.govt.nz Respect our local conditions Continuation of Reinforcing basic safety messages, importance of communication and promotion of further training and education via in-person engagement with boaties on and off the water. $50,000 Watersafe Auckland Inc. Nicola Keen-Biggelaar nicola@dpanz.org.nz Lifejacket Hubs for drowning prevention education Continuation of Drowning Prevention Auckland, in partnership with local boat clubs, surf club, community church and Marae community groups to provide hubs where people can access lifejackets. Looking to expand these lifejacket hubs with a further two locations (Northland and Waikato) outside of Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. $24,967 Waka Ama NZ Lara Collins admin@wakaama.co.nz Waka Ama Safety Campaign - Kia hoetahi tātou! Continuation of delivery of the CBE Waka Ama Safety Course to all waka ama paddlers around Aotearoa. In addition the CBE Waka Ama Safety Workbook and assessment will be updated and a social media campaign on social media platforms will be used to actively promote key Waka Safety Messages. This is centred on the concept of "hoetahi" which means to paddle together as one. $40,000 Nelson City Council Mandy Bishop mandy.bishop@ncc.govt.nz Maritime Safety Internship Continuation of an existing New programme to provide assistance for greater watch of activities on the activities on the water and more coverage of regional waters, to provide ability for higher levels of compliance checks for lifejackets, communication and other safety equipment and skipper knowledge of local weather and sea conditions. $19,842 Nelson City Council Mandy Bishop mandy.bishop@ncc.govt.nz Sup on water educational programme New programme to educate SUP users, aligning with the SUP Safety Guide on safety and help develop skills about informed decision making in dynamic environments. $4,800 Yachting New Zealand Raynor Haagh raynor@yachtingnz.org.nz Yachting New Zealand’s sailing experience RŪNĀ A campaign introducing a new school engagement framework RŪNĀ to encourage a broader and diverse cross-section of students aged 8-14 to engage with sailing both in and out of the classroom made up of three curriculum-based elements utilising their network of member clubs to deliver localised RŪNĀ sailing experiences throughout the country. $25,000 Tasman District Council Dan Cairney Harbourmaster@tasman.govt.nz TDC Harbourmaster maritime staff, full time summer education and enforcement officer A continuation of previous safer boating campaign to educate and enforce in collaboration with Nelson City Council in their respective summer boating campaigns. $10,000 New Zealand Underwater Association Andrea Macfarlane andrea@nzua.org.nz The Dive Pacific Māori and Pacific Island community safety content engagement campaign A new campaign to provide new content for Dive Pacific online - the only dedicated diving media from some of the Māori and Pacific Island communities. $20,850 Coastguard New Zealand Tautiaki Moana Aotearoa Carole French Nātia Tucker Carole.french@coastguard.nz natia.tucker@coastguard.nz Old4New Lifejacket Upgrade Programme including Second-Life Lifejackets and Bar Safety Video Series Continuation of the Old4New Lifejacket Upgrade campaign offering heavily discounted lifejackets and PFD’s to those who upgrade their old or damaged lifejackets across NZ and education for Pasifika boat users on Coastguard NZ Day Skipper course, in-water survival course and Maritime VHF radio operator certificate and bar safety seminar. $125,000 Gisborne District Council Peter Buell harbourmaster@gdc.govt.nz Tairāwhiti Haumaru Moana A new campaign to focus on promoting safer boating throughout the region by education, particularly reaching out to the remote communities around the East Cape. $48,000 Environment Canterbury Gordon McKay Gordon.mckay@ecan.govt.nz Canterbury Safe Boating Programme Continuation of programme to educate safer boating using media including radio and social media, face to face promotions at boat ramps or camping areas near boat ramps. Collaborating with Jet Boating New Zealand to provide another Enforcement Officer to specialise in educating the jet boat sector at boat ramps, events, and boating safety days. $45,000 Taranaki Regional Council Tony Parr Tony.Parr@trc.govt.nz Know Before You Go Continuation of an existing programme of education and enforcement with the recreational boating public over the summer period. Programme includes distribution of a local ‘quick reference guide’ (‘Know Before You Go’) for recreational boats and watercraft in the region. $24,000 $862,988.90

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