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MARAD Director, Mrs. Claudette Rogers said yesterday that the laws for operating a boat with an engine on Guyana’s waterways are the same as the laws for operating a vehicle on the road.
“Just as the vehicle and the vehicle driver both have to be licenced, similarly so the boat operator and the boat have to be licenced, regardless of whether the vessel is being used for commercial purposes or privately.”
She said that the only exceptions to the licencing rule for boats are paddle boats or boats being propelled by an engine less than 5HP in capacity.
However in the case of a boat with an engine less than 5HP, the operator still has to be licenced.
Once you are operating a mechanically propelled boat, you have to be licenced, Rogers emphasized.
Mandatory
The licences for a boat operator and the boat are mandatory even if the boat is being used for private purposes. There are no other exemptions.
Rogers said: “This is what the law says. And in the light of recent fatal accidents on the rivers, MARAD is carrying out a zero tolerance policy on this matter.”
Reacting to complaints from boat operators about a recent MARAD crackdown in the Pomeroon, she said that representatives of MARAD had visited the area several times and had advised the operators and boat owners to put their operations in order.
They had generally, however, ignored the warnings and had more recently been asking for more time to comply.
Charity on the Pomeroon River is a key transit point from which scores of vessels, mainly speedboats, move off to various settlements in both Region 1 (Barima/Waini) and Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam)
She opined: “It is perhaps a matter of habit. You know you get accustomed to doing things one way all the time and you expect that you can do it in perpetuity. But change is a fact of life and these boat owners and operators have to accept this and put themselves in order. They have to comply or face the penalties.”
Rogers said that given the high volume of boat traffic in the Pomeroon in particular, MARAD is now looking at establishing a permanent presence at Charity.
She said that speedboat operations from Parika are next in line for inspections and necessary action by field officers of the MARAD.
Penalties
Penalties can include suspension of the operator if he is found to be unlicenced and /or suspension of the boat if it is found to be unlicenced.
Penalties can and will also be inflicted, she said, on operators of vessels without adequate numbers of life jackets or without mandatory safety equipment such as fire extinguishers.
Rogers stressed that the current MARAD campaign targets boat operators and owners in all of Guyana’s waterways.
MARAD is collaborating with the Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coastguard where necessary.
