A cultural shift is evident at the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji where the wheels of change are obviously turning for the better.
Under the leadership of chief executive officer Joeli Cawaki, water related activities and travel will get an overhaul.
Infringement notices have been introduced, and will come into effect from June 1, he announced yesterday.
Until then, a grace period ensues within which vessel owners are to get operational requirements up to date.
“Failure to comply by June 1 would meet with monetary fines,” Mr Cawaki said.
The well-oiled machines churn on at MSAF where Mr Cawaki also revealed the organisations intention to review its outdated fees and levies.
“The infringement notice is in the law, but it wasn’t used,” he said.
Mr Cawaki’s determination to raise the standard of water-related safety in Fiji speaks to the level of concern as drowning accidents outnumbered road accidents.
As a maritime island nation, Fiji stands to finally gain for the real value of serious work put in under Mr Cawaki’s guidance.
Awareness and policing
The authority has since rolled out awareness and policing in a number of outer islands, where communities fork out $1600 for two weeks of rural engagement.
On such exercises, two teams work in tandem per community.
“One team carries out the training, the other works on policing, “ Mr Cawaki said.
The move marks the commencement of the organisation’s user-pay policy.
As further example of the scope of work involved, the authority carried out boat masters training in Malolo, in the Mamanucas in January.
“Villages pay for these awareness and policing essions,” Mr Cawaki said.
Mandate and Resources
The authority’s mandate is two-pronged:
- registration of vessels, and
- registration of seafarers.
But the challenge is in resources and human capital, Mr Cawaki said.
“Our partners have resources; police, navy, customs, fisheries and biosecurity,” he said.
We work with the i-Taukei Affairs ministry to register vessels, where the turaga ni koro provides a monthly report about the:
- number of vessels in the village,
- number of registered vessels,
- number of vessels surveyed, and
- qualification of the boat master.
In this manner, the authority does away with registration of vessels that are dumped into a “big box”.
The authority now works closely with communities to ensure all the boxes are ticketed in the name of compliance.
It is after this stage of awareness and policing that the authority will bring in service providers that include the distributor of flares, anchors, lifejackets and matters of safety at sea.
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