04-19-2006, 05:14 AM
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| Have crayon, will travel. ModeratorPWCToday.com Is My Home Away From Home
Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: #1 Most Violent City In America!! Age: 40
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| Byron Bay bans jet skis---(Australia)
Quote:
BYRON Bay - the tourist town with the reputation for a grinch-like approach to fun - is now banning jet skis.
The council-backed ban has angered elite big-wave surfers, who say it is just another example of a "greenie" agenda to deter tourists.
The rules, which will come into force on May 1, ban the leisure use of personal watercraft (PWC), including jet skis, in Cape Byron Marine Park.
The 22,000ha park extends from Brunswick Heads in the north to Lennox Head in the south. Permits will only be issued for safety purposes, such as life-saving and training.
"Byron Bay is a strange place. People around here are supposed to be tolerant and they are anything but that," Lennox Head Tow-in Surfers Association spokesman Warren Cornish said.
"Everything is banned. Fun is banned. You feel like you make a mistake if you smile."
Byron Shire Council has already canned New Year's Eve fireworks and it has threatened some residents with a $1.1 million fine if they continued to holiday-let investment properties.
Mr Cornish claims former premier Bob Carr triggered the "no jet ski here approach" in October 2001, when he banned them from Sydney Harbour as he did not "want to see aquatic motorbikes become the distinguishing feature of the Harbour".
While Mr Cornish supports marine conservation, he does not want to be "tarred with the same brush" as hoon jet skiers.
His group uses PWC to tow surfers out to waves that are normally too hard to reach - a practice used all over the world.
Mr Cornish said Cape Byron was the only marine park in Australia that outlawed PWC.
He said two-stroke boats dropping anchor on the fragile reef did more environmental damage.
"It's unjust to attack one group over another," he said.
"I support a marine park but there needs to be consistency."
Marine park manager Andrew Page said the public supported the new laws because jet skis had posed a "nuisance" to swimmers and surfers over the years.
| NEWS.com.au
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