Marine Department allows late jet-ski registrations

PHUKET: The Marine Department is continuing to accept registration applications for new jet-skis replacing old or broken ones despite the one-month grace period expiring on Saturday.

Surin Theerakulpisut, Chief of Phuket Marine Office, which oversees the use and registration of jet-skis on and around Phuket, told the Gazette that the owners of unregistered jet-skis being used in Phuket waters will face fines of up to 10,000 baht.

Such fines can be ordered following a jet-ski inspection by the Marine Department, he said.

However, he added that inspections of jet-skis at beaches where there use is permitted would be unlikely until the existing backlog of applications had been processed.

The delays in processing the applications stemmed from jet-ski inspections and other time-consuming requirements, K. Surin said.

“Owners of unregistered jet-skis being used will be fined according to the regulations, but we will continue to accept late registration applications. We can’t fine them at the desk because we don’t know whether they have been using the jet-ski or not,” he told the Gazette.

Currently, 219 jet-skis are allowed to operate in Phuket: all at Patong, Karon, Kamala and Bang Tao Beaches.

In February Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit ruled that owners of registered jet-skis had until March 31 to replace old or inoperable vessels with new ones; a ruling that effectively backed down from the province’s strict policy to gradually phase out jet-skis at Phuket beaches.

The new registration loophole contradicted the intent of a provincial order issued in March 2004 by former Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi.

K. Pongpayome, now Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, hoped that as existing jet-skis aged and became inoperable, their numbers would gradually be reduced. A complete ban would go into on March 4, 2011.

Under the new system, however, the number of jet-skis will remain at 219 until March 4, 2011, when the ban is expected to be imposed.

However, K. Surin told the Gazette that jet-ski regulations were always subject to review and change by the current Governor.

Click here to see the PGTV report on jet-ski registrations.