Board picked to make travelling at sea safe

EAST New Britain has established its small crafts board to enforce the Small Crafts Act.
The board members were sworn in by senior magistrate Samuel Lavutul at the provincial finance office in Kokopo on Thursday.
Board chairman Nicholas Larme, who is also the deputy provincial administrator for corporate services, said the board had to ensure the safety of people travelling out at sea.
He said the law would now give the province more power to register boats to operate within the confines of the Act which had not been done before in the province and there was a need to set a high standard.
Larme said with East New Britain as the economic hub of the New Guinea Islands region, many people from New Ireland and West New Britain used boats to travel.
He travellers from those provinces were part of the board’s responsibility together with their own provincial organisations to ensure people were safe at sea.
He said the board would begin its formal meetings to set out the roadmap and also to analyse the board’s roles and he was looking forward to it.
Larme said that with the the Act, the provincial administration also planned to collect fees.
The board comprises a representative from the National Maritime Safety Authority, the provincial police commander, a representative from Ela Motors — the main distributor of dinghies — and provincial disaster office.