Horizons Regional Council has agreed to look further into establishing bylaws on the Whanganui River and Lake Wiritoa following a navigation safety risk assessment.
In January the regional council called in former Auckland harbourmaster and navigation bylaw expert James McPetrie to help undertake an assessment of the lower reaches of the Whanganui River, from Kemp's Pole to the sea.
The river is currently under the jurisdiction of Maritime New Zealand, except for a small area around the port.
The assessment is the first undertaken in four years to identify any need for a change in the way safety is managed on the river.
During the assessment river users were consulted at public meetings and workshops. There were also individual meetings with key parties, including River City Port, Whanganui River Maori Trust Board, Wanganui Coastguard and Wanganui District Council.
At Wanganui District Council's request, an assessment was also made of Lake Wiritoa as previous navigation safety arrangements made by the district council had lapsed and had no legal standing.
The assessment identified the top three activities most at risk of accident were vessels turning over on the river bar, collisions between two powered vessels, and collisions between powered vessels and swimmers.
The 46-page report was discussed at the last meeting of the current Horizons Regional Council.
Horizons emergency manager Shane Bayley said the council was given the option to keep the status quo, or to allow him to continue his investigations and come up with a timeline and budgeting plan for the implementation of a new safety management system.
He was pleased they had chosen the second option, and it was what he was hoping for, he said.
Mr Bayley said the option to send him to do further investigations was supported by all the councillors except Ruapehu constituency councillor Michael Plowman.
Mr Bayley said initial estimates put the cost of introducing a new system at $200,000, with an additional $275,000 needed for ongoing costs.
Should the management system go ahead, a draft outline of bylaws for the lower Whanganui River and including Lake Wiritoa, with a schedule of infringements and fines would be worked out.
Enforcement processes, roles and responsibilities would also have to be outlined, including the introduction of a harbourmaster and enforcement officers, and a schedule for the involvement of community and iwi in the formation of the system.
Mr Bayley said he expects to have his second report finished by December, or early January.
If it is also approved, he ideally hoped to have the consultation and bylaws in place by next summer.
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