New no anchoring zones in French Polynesia
by Daria Blackwell / OCC 4 Sep 2023 00:51 UTC
The Directorate of Maritime Affairs of French Polynesia (DPAM) has announced the creation of No-Anchoring Zones in Raiatea and Tahaa in the Society Islands to protect cables and outfalls.
In order to ensure the integrity of all the cables and outfalls laid on the ground and in the lagoon of the islands of Raiatea and Tahaa, the Council of Ministers adopted in its meeting of July 5, 2023, regulatory measures for the creation of an anchorage prohibition zone around them.
Indeed, the exponential increase in activities taking place on the waters of the islands of Raiatea and Tahaa (nautical, aquatic, underwater activities, boating, leisure, sports and fishing), but also the development of cruising (of yachts), make it necessary to regulate the mooring of ships in the internal waters of these two islands.
It is essential to be able to manage potential conflicts of use likely to arise upstream, but also to ensure the integrity of essential installations, such as cables and various submarine outfalls, which could be damaged by anchors of ships at anchor.
In summary, the regulatory system is as follows:
- There is now a principle of prohibition of mooring on anchor in 7 protection zones (see Appendices) of the various cables, pipes or submarine outfalls (Articles 1 and 2). Indeed, it is necessary to provide a device to prevent the anchors of ships from snagging and thus damaging the cables or outfalls.
- The prohibition zones are delimited so as to constitute a perimeter extending up to 300 meters on either side of the main cables and over 50 meters around the capture and discharge outfalls. (Section 2)
- For safety reasons, it is nevertheless provided that the ban on mooring in the protection zones does not apply to vessels in charge of the maintenance of submerged installations or to those engaged in a mission to rescue people. or safeguarding property. It also does not apply to the anchoring of ships in circumstances of force majeure. (Section 3)
A system of 5th-class fines has also been established to sanction any violation of the prohibition provided for by this draft order. (Section 5).
This article has been provided by the courtesy of the Ocean Cruising Club.