Police all at sea for boaties blitz

Jessica Benton
A SEA of navy blue and white hit the coastline around Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula yesterday for the start of a crack down on water safety breaches.
Acting Senior Sergeant Greg Barras said the water operation included “most of the holiday spots” around Victoria, including Queenscliff, Geelong and Port Phillip Bay.
He said Victoria Water Police was targeting “safety related matters”.
“We’ve got a number of members on active patrol targeting safety related matters. It’s not so much a blitz, it’s a pro-active approach to the patrolling of Victorian waterways to ensure people are complying with the Marine Act and regulations.”
Snr Sgt Barras said water police had been running similar operations for more than 25 years.
The patrols included random on and off-shore breath tests, licencing, safety equipment checks and responding to marine search and rescue incidents.
The summer operation coincided with the death of a young woman in a boating accident at Lake Eildon during the Christmas holiday period and a dramatic boat rescue off Queenscliff this week.
A boat carrying a group of divers capsized off Port Phillip Heads on Tuesday, with one victim trapped under the vessel for 20 minutes.
Water police and a Department of Sustainability and Environment boat rushed to the rescue, saving all the divers.
Snr Sgt Barras said slack maintenance was the biggest threat to the safety of boat users.
“We have a major problem with people not checking sea vessels to maintain them to the appropriate standards,” he said.