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4:52AM Tuesday 02 December, 2008

Jet ski ban proposed

7 October 2008

Jet skis would be banned from the river upstream of Noosa Waters canal if Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) goes ahead with a recommendation to gazette part of the A-rated waterway as a marine zone.

The restriction to jet ski play areas is in line with the former Noosa Council’s recommendations.

Yacht owners and some river users had expressed concern the river was becoming crowded and the divisive issue of jet skis reared its head again last week when MSQ created exclusion zones for commercial operators, including a 40 knot speed limit in the new zones.

Commercial operators said tours to the upper reaches of the river would come to an end.

“It’s just ridiculous,” Noosa Boat and Jet Ski Hire owner Geoff Phillips said.

“On the one hand they say it’s alright to have more jet skis and yet they are banning them from up the river.

“It’ll affect our business big time.

“There are always people with young kids who don’t want to do an ocean tour and we have certain days of the year when it’s too rough so we take them up the river.”

The marine zone is enforceable through the department of transport officers, water police and local laws officers if required, with on the spot fines of $225 issued to those caught in breach of the new regulations.

Council’s director of environment and planning division (north) Raul Weychardt said the marine zone designation came out of consultation with the public in line with development of the Noosa River plan.

The original concept was to ban jet ski use from the Noosa River entirely.

“We suggested they go off-shore to do their playing,” Mr Weychardt said.

“They’ll find their play areas very much restricted

“It went out for public consolation and received a lot of support and a lot of concerns so we’ve worked out a reasonable compromise

“In the end it’s probably something we can all live with.”

Recent Comments

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Posted by fairgo from Buderim
on 9 October, 2008 at 7:54 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
We are a family who enjoys jetski touring and waterskiing. We are in the normally silent majority however we are outraged that our right to use the Noosa waterways may be taken away from us. Where are our rights? We have seen the old push to ban jets followed by the doubling of the speed limit for other watercraft in the same area. We have no objection to bans on all motorised watercraft upstream from Alanda point but we strongly object to our craft being singled out.
Posted by sunnyj from Tewantin
on 1 December, 2008 at 1:13 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I too am a part of a family that owns a jet ski, The arguments in the council report against jet ski use are completely contradictory and very frustrating to me. Offensive noise, over-crowding, danger, excessive wash, damaging impacts on marine life, bank erosion and water and air pollution as reasons for the jet ski ban – all these arguments can be attributed to other vessels on the river and jet skis are actually the vessels contributing least to these factors. i.e jet skis don’t have a propeller less impact on marine life etc… Jet ski’s are now 4 strokes only = they are quieter do NOT put oil in the water – compared with the 2 stroke motors common in outboards that have propellers and leak oil straight into the water. The wash is much less than a charter boat or a 50c motorboat for that matter. RE: over-crowding …maybe they can’t see properly but jet ski’s are one of the smallest vessels in the water - if you are going to use this as your argument then take a look around at the unoccupied houseboats that diminish river traffic space immensely. RE: air pollution… common don’t they have a car? RE: safety – this is an issue with any motorised or non-motorised vessel in the water or road but when you look at the figures the 1 QLD jet ski fatality compared with 8 speed boat and 7 motorboat fatalities reported by MSQ in 2007- this hardly seems like the grounds to deem them as anymore dangerous than other vessels. And finally regarding HOONS – there are already restrictions covering speed limits of 40knots and no freestyling unless in ski run or in the ocean, I’ve seen party pontoon drivers behaving worse than I have ever seen a jet skier behave in the Noosa River and we are out there every Saturday or Sunday. Limiting jet skis to 6knots from the boat ramp to the ocean is ridiculous and unfair when tinnies and kayaks will be roaring past them at 40knots especially because jet ski’s are jet propelled and require acceleration to turn, they will be barely manoeuvrable at this speed. Last of all we are licensed, registered, law abiding users and limiting us to the ocean will ruin the experience of tubing down the ski run for our whole family, especially our 5 year old who loves a day out on the river with her dad – due to the dangerous nature of the ocean and big waves this is too unsafe for her and driving to Maroochydore is not an option for our whole families day out, what a mission. It really is ridiculous and I wish these whingeing people with nothing better to do than complain at the first sight of people enjoying themselves to get a life.

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