Maritime Services Association calls for stricter jet ski laws

The Mar­itime Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go is call­ing for the in­tro­duc­tion of stricter leg­is­la­tion and tougher penal­ties for breach­es, say­ing de­ci­sive ac­tion is need­ed to de­ter reck­less be­hav­iour and pre­vent fur­ther loss of life.

The as­so­ci­a­tion ex­pressed deep sad­ness over a trag­ic jet ski in­ci­dent yes­ter­day that claimed the life of sev­en-year-old An­gel­i­ca Jo­gie. It ex­tend­ed con­do­lences to the fam­i­ly and loved ones af­fect­ed, say­ing the loss has caused pro­found grief with­in the mar­itime com­mu­ni­ty.

The Mar­itime Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go said the in­ci­dent high­lights the ur­gent need for stronger en­force­ment and reg­u­la­tion of jet ski and oth­er recre­ation­al wa­ter­craft op­er­a­tions in Trinidad and To­ba­go’s wa­ters. It warned that un­reg­u­lat­ed ac­tiv­i­ty con­tin­ues to pose se­ri­ous risks to pub­lic safe­ty.

The as­so­ci­a­tion said it has been work­ing along­side the Mar­itime Ser­vices Di­vi­sion, the Trinidad and To­ba­go Coast Guard, and the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice Coastal and Air Sup­port Unit to ad­dress on­go­ing safe­ty con­cerns. It said these ef­forts have in­clud­ed con­sul­ta­tions, pro­pos­als for stricter li­cens­ing re­quire­ments, and ad­vo­ca­cy for en­hanced mon­i­tor­ing of op­er­a­tors.

It al­so said that, as a re­sult of on­go­ing ad­vo­ca­cy, the Mar­itime Ser­vices Di­vi­sion is rolling out a Small Boats Pol­i­cy re­quir­ing all jet ski and small boat op­er­a­tors and own­ers to be reg­is­tered with Mar­itime Ser­vices. The as­so­ci­a­tion said the pol­i­cy is in­tend­ed to im­prove ac­count­abil­i­ty and pro­mote safer prac­tices on the wa­ter.

The as­so­ci­a­tion al­so point­ed to the in­tro­duc­tion of MO­TAP, a web based plat­form de­signed to sim­pli­fy li­cens­ing for small boats and per­son­al wa­ter­craft in Trinidad and To­ba­go. Through the plat­form, users can ap­ply for li­cences, com­plete train­ing, take ex­ams, make pay­ments, and down­load e li­cences. Op­er­a­tors can cur­rent­ly ob­tain a Small Boat Op­er­a­tor Li­cence and a Jet Ski Short Term Li­cence at https://mo­tap.mowt.gov.tt

The Mar­itime Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go urged op­er­a­tors to reg­is­ter and com­ply with the sys­tem.

The as­so­ci­a­tion reaf­firmed its com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing au­thor­i­ties in their in­ves­ti­ga­tion and in ad­vanc­ing mea­sures to pre­vent sim­i­lar tragedies. It said the in­ci­dent must serve as a call to ac­tion to en­sure the na­tion’s wa­ters re­main safe for recre­ation, liveli­hood, and en­joy­ment.