Whang\u0101rei MP Shane Reti, who introduced the Maritime Transport (Lifejackets on Recreational Craft) Amendment Act to Parliament, said the change will help prevent drownings. <\/p>\n
\u201cPassing this bill has been described as the biggest drowning prevention opportunity in a generation,\u201d Reti said.<\/p>\n
Officials estimate the legislation could save an average of 10 lives per year. Approximately 17 people die annually in recreational craft incidents.<\/p>\n
![\"Whangārei](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/shane-reti-6HWBW465DVARVODCRLQV7BIELU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Whang\u0101rei MP Shane Reti introduced the bill to Parliament in October last year. (Source: rnz.co.nz)<\/p>\n
The new rules<\/p>\n
For any vessel 6m long or less, wearing a well fitted lifejacket is mandatory if the recreational craft is “underway”. <\/p>\n
This means a vessel that is not at anchor, made fast to the shore, or aground.<\/p>\n
So they must be worn even in shallow water and close to shore.<\/p>\n
The skipper is responsible for everyone on board.<\/p>\n
Maritime NZ says the emphasis will be on education rather than punishment.<\/p>\n
There is an exemption from wearing a lifejacket for surfers, sports events and stand-up paddle board (SUP) surfing.<\/p>\n
The rules for boats over 6m in length remain the same, with a requirement to have enough lifejackets on board for the number of people. <\/p>\n
Water Safety NZ chief executive Glen Scanlon spoke to Breakfast about the changes. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n
‘Preventable tragedies’<\/p>\n
Volunteers from Coastguard Tautiaki Moana are the ones who respond to calls for help in water-related events. Its chief executive Carl McOnie said the law change means more people will have the chance of survival. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year our volunteers see the heartbreak of preventable tragedies. A lifejacket keeps someone afloat and visible, and that is what gives our crews the chance to reach them alive, and bring them home to their loved ones,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Maritime New Zealand’s Matt Wood said the law change is good progress towards protecting Kiwis out on the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know this will\u00a0assist\u00a0in reducing harm on the water and\u00a0we are working\u00a0collaboratively with our safer boating partners to ensure everyone heading out knows what the\u00a0new rule will be,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lifejackets have become mandatory on recreational boats up to 6m in length in legislation freshly passed through Parliament.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69,135],"class_list":["post-589189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}