All commercial boat operators are now required to have a licence to visit the Sandbar and deep Stingray City, which have been designated as Wildlife Interaction Zones under new regulations recently passed in the Legislative Assembly.
The Marine Conservation Board is now accepting applications for tourist boat licences, which can be obtained at the Department of Environment.
A press release from GIS notes that all commercial operators are urged to have their applications in before 11 July in order to continue visiting the Sandbar and deep Stingray City in compliance with the new regulations.
The release says that applications will be reviewed during July, and licences will be issued within 30 days of 13 July – the day on which the Board will meet to review applications.
Licences are valid for three years and will cost $300 for vessels 50 ft. or shorter in length and $600 for vessels longer than 50 ft.
An initial non-refundable application fee will also be charged with vessels 50 ft. or longer in length paying $200 and those shorter in length paying $100. Although valid for three years, licences may be revoked by the Marine Conservation Board at any time if conditions are not met, says the release.
‘These regulations will help to control the number of passengers that may be carried to any of the designated zones,’ noted the Minister for Tourism, Environment, Investment and Commerce, Charles Clifford.
‘They will also regulate the mooring or anchoring of boats, and will require boats to be marked or to display visible evidence that they are licensed to be in the zone,’ he said.
The following are specific conditions to be met by each applicant. If these criteria are not satisfied, applications will not be approved:
Applications must be made to the Marine Conservation Board.
Applicants must be 18 years or older.
The vessel owner must apply for the licence, which is specific to the vessel, not the captain.
Applicants for companies must be associated with the company.
Each commercial vessel entering the Wildlife Interaction Zone must be licensed.
Proof of a Trade and Business Licence for watersports is needed.
Proof of Port Authority registration is also required, and all required annual fees must be up to date.
Another condition for licence approval is that each commercial vessel using the Wildlife Interaction Zone must have a holding tank (if the vessel has a head). Vessels 50 ft. or longer in length have one year to install a holding tank; vessels 50 ft. or shorter in length have 18 months to comply.
‘Any vessel that has a head but is too small to have a holding tank is required, under the regulations, to install a portable one,’ said Marine Conservation Board Secretary Phil Bush.
Department of Environment Chief Marine Enforcement Officer, Ladner Watler, reminds all commercial operators wishing to use the Wildlife Interaction Zones that entry into these areas without a licence could result in prosecution under the Marine Conservation Law.
FYI
For more information on the Wildlife Interaction Zones Regulations, visit the Department of Environment at 580 North Sound Way or call 949-8469.
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