Nat Jabjai, Deputy Director-General of the
Marine Department, addresses boat owners in the latest efforts to get
them to register their vessels and businesses and bring order to the
city’s boating industry.
Urasin Khantaraphan
Nat Jabjai, Deputy Director-General of the Marine Department and Rewat
Phoriang, Director of the Pattaya Marine Office continued efforts to
bring order to the city’s boating industry, calling in hundreds of
owners to register their vessels and businesses.
Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh led the June 12 meeting with top Marine
Department officials. Boat operators were instructed to file boating
licenses, business licenses, maintenance records, and inventories of
safety equipment. They also were told to fill out forms listing
information on boat crews.
The session also offered lessons on maintenance of boats and safety
equipment.
The meeting, also attended by land- and ocean-based police and the
Pattaya Business & Tourism association, was needed after only 100 of
Pattaya’s 300 boat operators turned May 19 to hear Pattaya officials
announce their latest set of proposed marine regulations and details of
a 31 million baht plan for buoys stretching from the mainland to Koh
Larn.
The meeting was to preview regulations to control the speed and course
of speedboats and designate specific areas for water sports other than
swimming. Three speed-limit buoys and six navigational buoys are
planned, as well as 21 buoys to demark zones for jet skis, banana boats,
parasailing, scuba diving and sea walking.
Nat said the meeting was important as it gave boat operators knowledge
on safety and raised awareness about the need for safety in the tourism
sector.
