Gov’t clamps down on law-breaking moorings

Government Information Service (press release) – The National Parks Trust has issued a notice to mariners to submit GPS coordinates and proof of Cabinet-approval for territorial moorings.

Deputy Director for Science, Research and Environmental Policy Mrs Nancy Pascoe stated that the purpose of the exercise is to address illegal mooring installations, mapping and reconfiguration of the existing territorial mooring fields, and to work with existing moorings license holders to ensure that they are complying with the terms of the Cabinet approval they received.

The notice cites the Marine Estate Policy of 1996, which requires Cabinet approval for the installation of any mooring or permanent fixture to the seabed.

Mrs Pascoe explained, “Once the notice is issued, mooring owners have until May 22nd 2017 to come in to the National Parks Trust’s main office on Main Street and identify their moorings, with the GPS coordinates on a map supplied by the Survey Department and ensure their payments are up to date. Territorial Moorings fees must be paid annually by April 1st.”

She went on to say that, once the moorings have been correctly identified, owners will be asked to have their moorings engraved with “private” and their name, or “commercial” and the company name. This will ensure that all Cabinet approved mooring buoys can be easily identified and will not be removed.

According to Deputy Director Pascoe, “Mariners are being reminded that they cannot sell or transfer ownership of an installed Cabinet-approved mooring to another individual, family member or company. Persons must come into the National Parks Trust office and apply for an official transfer which must be authorized by Cabinet.”

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