Proposed legislation regulating the water sports industry in The Bahamas has been submitted to the Attorney Generalﾴs Office for the final draft and should be brought before Cabinet ﾓshortlyﾒ for the governmentﾴs approval.
Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin gave that update to the Bahama Journal on Tuesday, stressing that the AGﾴs office is giving the issue “aggressive attention.”
“The legislation would deal with the issue of the suspension and revocation of licenses, criminal offenses and the qualifications of individuals,” Minister Hanna-Martin said.
“It would also address the issue of training sessions for those who come to The Bahamas for the first time to jump on jet skis. We are recommending that there must be a short training period that would be used to at least familiarize them with jet skis before they use them.”
This latest development in the governmentﾴs attempt to regulate the water sports sector comes as British couple, Paul and Andrea Gallagher show no signs of dropping their campaign against The Bahamas after their two-year old son was killed in a speedboat accident in The Bahamas back in August 2002.
According to the London media, the Gallaghers are hoping to have The Bahamas expelled from the Commonwealth, claiming that they are receiving no help from Bahamian authorities or the Atlantis Resort, where the family stayed when the accident occurred.
The Gallaghers actually want the investigation into their sonﾴs death reopened and the water sports company involved sanctioned.
But Mrs. Hanna-Martin said the government has told both the British High Commissioner and officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Britain about all its efforts to address the issue.
The Minister said hundreds of Jet Ski operators have been trained following numerous complaints.
She said however that considering the available manpower, the biggest challenge has actually been enforcement.
“My Ministry has the Port Department which has limited manpower. But even if they had many people, there still has to be a cross agency approach to the issue ﾖ Defence Force, the police and also the hotel propertiesﾴ security agencies,” the Minister explained.
“Weﾴve tired to bring together all of those forces to see if we can regulate the sport, but the problem is that there are one or two ﾖ who for some reason cannot appreciate the very serious implications of their lawless behavior, even when it stares in our face after the death or injury of someone ﾖ who end up besmirching the character of the industry and The Bahamas.”
Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
