30 Mar Merchant Shipping (Watercraft) Order 2023
Poole Harbour Commissioners welcomes new legislation aimed at deterring owners, users and operators of watercraft from dangerous and negligent use. This legislation comes into force on 31st March 2023.
Within the Order, “watercraft” means any type of craft that is capable of moving under its own mechanical power, used, navigated or situated wholly or partly in or on water, and capable of being used to carry one or more persons.
Unsafe use could result in the owner, user or operator being liable on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment of up to two years or an unlimited fine, or both.
Further information can be found at:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/35/introduction/made
Poole Harbour Master, Captain Brian Murphy says, “Harbour Masters in the UK have been lobbying Government for almost 15 years for legislation that clearly defines a watercraft and imposes requirements for safe use, with significant fines (and even imprisonment), as the penalty for failure to do so.
All watercraft, as defined above, will now have to comply. This includes jet skis, fliteboards, e-foils and anything else that is motorised, on the water, and capable of carrying one or more persons.
The majority of watercraft owners, users and operators in Poole Harbour enjoy the water space, without incident, acting in a safe and responsible manner. However, with the ever increasing numbers of users combined with new technologies, this has resulted in more prosecutions under local legislation. There have been 64 prosecutions over the past 10 years with a 100% success rate”.