M.O.T. happy with commercial rafting operations

Press, 27 December 1986, Page 3

M.O.T. happy with commercial rafting operations

PA Invercargill The Ministry of Transport’s Marine Division is happy with the way commercial rafting is run, in spite of fears from within the Tourist and Publicity Department that New Zealand’s reputation as a “safe destination” is at risk because of a lack of rafting safety. A meeting between the Ministers of Tourism and Transport, Mr Moore and Mr Prebble, and officials of the two departments last week discussed the matter. The director of tourism development, Mr Don Hayman, said his department had approached Mr Moore after it failed to receive adequate, answers from the Ministry’s Marine Division about safety enforcement. The meeting resolved to look further into action over the issue, particularly with regard to training, according to a spokesman for Mr Moore.

“This department is concerned about New Zealand's reputation and we want this country marketed as a safe destination,” the spokesman said.

Mr Hayman said he wrote twice to the Marine Division this year seeking its comments on the

safety issue.

He suggested that "strict adherence” to the code of practice by commercial rafters and enforcement by the Marine Division, allied with disciplinary actions, would minimise some of the risk inherent in rafting. Mr Hayman acknowledged that while participants sought the “adrenalin rush” from rafting, the department was concerned about the adverse effects, through death and injury, which might occur to New Zealand tourism. He said he was aware the Ministry faced great difficulties in bringing rafting incidents before the courts. It was sometimes difficult to prove charges, even after bringing witnesses back from overseas.

Mr Hayman quoted allegations sent to the department’s San Fransisco office by an American visitor to New Zealand, who claimed some rafting equipment here was substandard.

The allegations raised serious questions which the Ministry should be alerted to, he said.

He also asked what the “certain measures” were to be taken by the Ministry after the double fatality on the Landsborough River, South Westland, in late February and when they would be implemented. The education officer for the Water Safety Council, Mr Graham Egarr, also believed the

Ministry was the appropriate body to regulate rafting in this country. “If the voluntary code of practice was made obligatory most of the problems would be overcome,” he said. However, Captain Steve Ponsford, of the Ministry’s Marine Division, said it would be futile to. have compulsory regulations because there was “absolutely no way” they could be policed.

“There are 40 rivers on which there is commercial rafting in this country and to police compulsory regulations you would have to have someone on each raft.”

Captain Ponsford said all 44 commercial operators in New Zealand agreed to abide by the code of practice and the Marine Division was pleased with the manner in which they worked. “We are firmly of the opinion that the rafting industry here is in better shape than in the United States, Australia, Canada or anywhere else in the world,” he said. The level of training for guides had been constantly improved in the six years New Zealand had had commercial rafting, Captain Ponsford said.

He said any breaches in the code of practice were fully investigated by his division and if there was evidence that a crime had been committed the mat l ter was referred to the police.

In the double fatality

mentioned by Mr Hayman, Captain Ponsford said, the operator concerned had been grounded by the division for six months. Conditions at the time of the accident had been marginal and the trip could have been aborted, but the decision was made to go on and the two deaths had resulted after

the passengers were tipped out. The police had been fully informed of the accident’s details and had not taken the matter any further.

There, have been 10 drownings on commercial trips during the last six years.

Captain Ponsford said he was disappointed at the Tourism Department’s complaints, which were based on hearsay “and usually for commercial reason.”

All they did was scare people, he said. He was not complacent about the state of the rafting industry and kept in regular contact with all the operators.

Queenstown raft operators said they were very conscious of the need for adequate safety and correct equipment. Initially Queenstown rafters were trained by Americans but there was a difference in terrain and conditions, which only the New Zealanders knew, said Mr John Hamilton, manager of Value Tours in Queenstown.

“We have adapted rafting to this country,” he said.

Mr Hamilton, who has worked as a boatman in

the United States, said New Zealand had shorter, steeper rivers, subject to changeable conditions. The experienced and established operators knew this.

He said it was sometimes difficult for New Zealand raft operators to get good equipment, which often had to be imported.

However, there was nothing sub-standard about it, he said. New Zealand operators were constantly making efforts to improve their gear, but it was not as readily available here as it was to the American rafters.

“Our training is as good as anything you will get in the United States,” Mr Hamilton said. When he worked in North Carolina there were “good guides and bad guides,” just as anywhere else. Each state had a form of licensing system. However, in New Zealand, the rafters themselves had made all the moves. It is time the Ministry of Transport rose to the occasion, Mr Hamilton believed.

“We need some sort of co-ordination,” he said.