In response to calls from officials in both the water sports industry and the hotel sector and in the wake of a U.S. advisory, Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin yesterday announced measures intended to demonstrate that serious attention is being directed at the concerns forwarded with respect to the water sports industry.
Last week, Atlantis Senior Vice President Ed Fields called for "bold, decisive and immediate measures to be taken" after an American woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a jet ski operator on Athol Island. The U.S. Embassy then issued an advisory with respect to jet skis and jet ski operators, echoing Fields' call for enforcement.
A source in the jet ski industry, who wished to remain unnamed, lamented that it was a pity it took an advisory to accomplish what those in the industry had been asking for, for decades.
Yesterday, Hanna-Martin said as a result of a multi-agency collaboration several initiatives have been implemented to safeguard and regulate the industry.
"A sea-based patrol by RBDF officers on jet skis providing surveillance of beach areas during hours of operations, is now in place," she said during a press conference at her ministry. "Beach marshals have been selected from the body of jet ski operators which introduces the new and very important component of industry-based self-monitoring."
She said additional officers will be recruited for the port enforcement unit in the next few weeks.
Signage will also be erected on various New Providence and Paradise Island beaches that will outline clear directives to patrons of jet ski operators, she said.
"I am in dialogue with the minister of national security on the role the RBDF will play in increasing surveillance," Hanna-Martin said.
"These further reforms build upon work already undertaken by the ministry in a commitment to create a rational and well-ordered industry."
Port Authority Chairman Tavares LaRoda said the number of licensed jet ski operators declined recently from 283 to 168.
He noted that several years ago Cabinet placed a moratorium on new licenses.
"So no new licenses for commercial jet skis are being issued," he said.
According to the U.S. Embassy, five U.S. citizens were allegedly sexually assaulted by jet ski operators in the last year and a half.
The embassy characterized the industry as "loosely regulated". The embassy has forbidden its employees from using such services.
Several jet ski operators said "licensed, professional" operators have been mischaracterized as rapists and are worried about what the warning would mean for their business.
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