Port Authority will enforce stricter water safety rules
New rules for boaters are bound to make major waves in Belizean waters. This week the Belize Port Authority embarked on an intensive public information campaign to highlight the tighter regulations. According to Port Authority officials, amendments to the Harbour and Merchant Shipping Act will provide for improved maritime safety, but veteran mariners may find the new conditions an unnecessary burden. One of the most dramatic alterations in the law is that all owners and operators of vessels bigger than a paddling dory must have a captain’s license and seaworthiness certificate from the Port Authority. Violators can be charged as much as one thousand dollars for those offences, but as we found out today, those fines are only the beginning.
Natalie Tucker, Prosecutor, Belize Port Authority
“There has been an increase in the total number of vessels that have been registered and licensed and this enhances our knowledge of how many vessels we have out there and the classes of vessels. Also, it is to ensure that when casualties happen, meaning boating accidents, what we do is at this time every master or owner should report all accidents to the Harbour Master. If they fail to do this then on summary conviction they are liable to a fine of fifteen thousand dollars.”
“Any master who by negligence, want of skill or any other reason who causes damage to the environment or loss of use of the environment shall be liable upon summary conviction to a fine of twenty-five thousand dollars or three times the assessed damage. Also, any master who by negligence or want of skill causes loss of life is also under summary conviction liable to a fine of twenty-five thousand dollars up to fifty thousand dollars.”
Earl Valerio, Operations Manager, Belize Port Authority
“I want them to understand that we are serious about this and to all the mariners out there and all the boat captains and owners who have not yet re-registered and or re-licensed their boats to do so as early as possible and also to those captains who are out there navigating the waters without a valid masters or captain license to do so as soon as possible.”
Janelle Chanona
“Is there any provision for people who have been on the water forty, fifty years who maybe never gotten a license before?”
Earl Valerio
“We have actually come across that before because part of my job is to upgrade people from one class of vessel to the other. Just recently I was with Mr. Alamilla I think from San Pedro and he told me he’s been a captain long before I was born, but I told him Mr. Alamilla, sorry this is a necessity we have to do this. So there is no provision as such.”
Janelle Chanona
“So they have to take the test…”
Earl Valerio
“Yes, they have to take the test and do everything that everybody else does. It’s just that maybe they’ll be able to get their license faster because when it comes to the practical part, they know exactly what they are doing.”
All seaworthiness certificates and captain licenses expire on December thirty-first of each year. The new rules will also apply to foreign vessels that are granted permission to travel in Belizean waters. According to Port Authority officials, following the information campaign, enforcement of the new rules will begin countrywide. Mariners without a captain’s license can visit the Authority’s office at the corner of North Front and Pickstock Streets for testing on Wednesdays and Thursdays. For more information please call 223-0714 or 223-0716.
