South Australia's Recreational Boating Safety Strategy
South Australia's first ever Recreational Boating Safety Strategy has been released.
The strategy is a five-year plan that focuses on improving safety for recreational boaters and others who share our state's coastal and inland waters.
The strategy’s vision is to:
- foster a culture of safety among recreational boaters
- achieve zero fatalities and zero harm to others.
It details how we will improve safety through five key priority areas:
- Safer boating through education
- Safer boating operation and knowledge
- Lifejacket wear and safety equipment review
- Safer waterway management
- Safer boating through technology.
The strategy is a practical plan with associated actions for each of our key priority areas.
We will continue to collaborate with marine safety partners and the community to progress these actions.
Why we need the strategy
More boaters, jet ski riders, paddleboarders and other watercraft users are making the most of our coastal and inland waters. Unfortunately, sometimes incidents do occur.
In the last 20 years, 65 people lost their lives by drowning while boating in powered and non-powered watercraft in South Australia.
(Drowning data provided by Royal Life Saving Society - Australia’s National Fatal Drowning Database)
A further five people died over the last ten years from trauma-related incidents on the water. This includes collisions or other sudden impacts.
There are many more cases of boaters who:
- experienced near misses
- had accidents
- required rescue after a trip went wrong.
We need a practical plan to create a safer future for everyone who enjoys our coastal and inland waters.
How the strategy was informed
We invited the community and stakeholders to provide feedback and inform the development of the strategy. We conducted this in two consultation stages.
Stage 1 consultation
Consultation from 10 November 2023 to 5 January 2024 helped to:
- unearth issues
- contribute to solutions that enhance safety across our coastline and waterways.
The following provided valuable input in developing the Priority Areas paper:
- feedback from more than 1,600 community members and interested organisations
- supporting evidence.
The paper detailed five priority areas for recreational boating safety to guide us through to 2030.
Read the What We Heard report for stage 1 consultation (PDF, 5673 KB).
Stage 2 consultation
Consultation from 2 August 2024 to 6 September 2024 sought feedback on the five priority areas and measures to improve recreational boating safety.
The priority areas (PDF, 5007 KB) consulted on included:
- increasing boating safety education opportunities for young people, boaters and retailers
- using technology to improve boating safety
- reviewing requirements for lifejacket wear and safety equipment to make them simpler and safer for all
- boat licence reform to encourage safer operation and knowledge
- supporting and enforcing safer boater behaviours.
Feedback from more than 1,100 community members and interested organisations provided valuable input in developing the final strategy.
Read the What We Heard report for stage 2 consultation (PDF, 2608 KB).
More information
For any questions, email the Marine Safety SA team at DIT.MarineSafety@sa.gov.au.