Maritime Services Association calls for stricter jet ski laws

The Mar­itime Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go yes­ter­day called for the in­tro­duc­tion of stricter leg­is­la­tion and tougher penal­ties for breach­es of jet ski op­er­a­tion pro­to­cols, 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 on Wednes­day 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 as­so­ci­a­tion 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.

It said it has been work­ing along­side the Mar­itime Ser­vices Di­vi­sion, the T&T Coast Guard and the T&T 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 T&T. 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 as­so­ci­a­tion urged op­er­a­tors to reg­is­ter and com­ply with the sys­tem and 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.

Ad­dress­ing the is­sue at yes­ter­days post-Cab­i­net me­dia brief­ing, Min­is­ter in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter, Nicholas Mor­ris, con­firmed that spe­cif­ic reg­u­la­tions for seacraft have yet to be tabled at the Cab­i­net lev­el. De­spite the leg­isla­tive gap, Mor­ris in­sist­ed that mar­itime se­cu­ri­ty re­mains a state pri­or­i­ty.

“It (Pi­geon Point in­ci­dent)was not dis­cussed at Cab­i­net but I know Min­is­ter (Wayne) Sturge and all the col­leagues are in dis­cus­sions on im­prov­ing beach safe­ty,” Mor­ris stat­ed.

He main­tained that the ad­min­is­tra­tion’s fo­cus on the is­sue pre­dates the cur­rent cri­sis, cit­ing the Car­ni­val Fri­day ex­pan­sion of life­guard ser­vices as proof that Gov­ern­ment is treat­ing over­all beach safe­ty with the re­quired ur­gency.