A pair of Nelson boaties found themselves in strife on Wednesday after stretching level 3 restrictions into a fishing mission.
Harbour Master at Port Nelson Stuart Whitehouse said a member of the public reported two men being on board a power boat which was attended after consultation with police.
However, the boat had also broken down and had to be towed back to the local ramp.
Whitehouse told 1 NEWS restrictions are in place and protocols were at risk of being compromised in the rescue which made things “really tricky”.
He said towing the boat back was not a problem in terms of distancing as he put the pair on the boat while it was being towed and then “let them go”.
Whitehouse said the men “didn’t understand the rules” and they thought it was OK to be out on the water doing recreational fishing. He added the pair didn’t catch anything during the fishing spree.
Boating is not allowed under Alert Level 3, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) says on its website people should “avoid activities that could get you hurt and require medical care or rescuing (putting essential workers at risk). This means people should not be fishing from rocks or fishing from a boat.”
Whitehouse said the boating community had been considerate of rules under lockdown so far.
“We’ve seen really great levels of compliance from the boating community and we’d really like to acknowledge that – so this was the only call out we’ve had,” he said, but conceded if people “just stick with the rules” the country can come out of lockdown sooner.
“We’ve all got a part to play, summer is just around the corner,” he said.
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