New anchorage regulation to begin in September

Director of Maritime Activities Department of DSAMA, Wong Man Tou

The Marine and Water Bureau (DSAMA) has released a new anchorage regulation for Inner Habour whereby, starting from September 1, fishing boats will have to be declared before mooring to the port. 

Due to the Inner Harbour accident resulting in damaged boats in April, the DSAMA has sought to strengthen the management of fishing boats mooring in the port and will publish a notice about the new regulation today, with the concerned restriction starting from September. 

The new restriction requires all fishing boats to declare their details through an online platform such as the license of the fishing boat, the contact information of the boat’s owner, how many days the fishing boat is moored, as well as the quantity of spare diesel fuel and petroleum gas in the boat. 

“The purpose of declaring the details of their boat is to quickly find the location of the boat and to easily contact the boat’s owner when there is a fire,” said the director of Maritime Activities Department of DSAMA, Wong Man Tou.

Meanwhile, the regulation stipulates that boat owners must ensure the boat is not carrying dangerous items.

Further, fishing boats will need to form a group of five when mooring, and will need to be docked at least 10 meters apart from other groups.

“In the past, we had a maximum of 20 fishing boats in one group. However, [there] needs to be more time to evacuate the boats when [an] emergency accident [occurs],” said Wong.

“Within the anchorage, activities such as using fire to cook or burn joss paper, fireworks, repair work, thinner and glue are prohibited,” the director explained.

Wong said that the above-mentioned activities are only allowed when the fishing boat is within a controlled area and is moored individually.

According to the official, DSAMA will arrange fishing boats according to the contents of the boats that they declare.

“Two control areas can moor no more than 10 fishing boats, respectively,” Wong pointed out. 

Fishing boats can store a maximum three cans of petroleum gas and not over 50kg in total, or they will be asked to leave the port immediately. 

“We hope to reduce the causes of fires, to avoid the same accident that happened in April,” Wong said.

He was referring to the large flames off Inner Harbour that consumed at least half a dozen fishing ships. 

As for the violation, MOP500 to MOP10,000 will be charged to the fishing boat’s owner when the rules are violated. 

DSAMA will also dispatch staff to inspect whether the fishing boats store dangerous items and whether the fuel of the boat is being managed correctly before and after the Lunar New Year, as well as before and after the fishing moratorium.

The fishing moratorium ended yesterday, with some fishing boats still docked, which have not arranged to leave. Staff Reporter