NSW Maritime blitz on Illawarra boaters, jetski riders at the weekend

Boating Safety Officers were out patrolling waters around Port Kembla, off the coast, Windang and at Lake Illawarra - mainly to check safety compliance for PWCs (personal watercraft), like jetskis.

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"We do have issues that people speeding and operating at PVC a regularly," Boating Safety Officer Brent Janssen told the Mercury on Sunday.

"We want to ensure people have a safe and enjoyable time ... and focus on people that are obviously doing the wrong thing."

Registrations, licences, safety equipment, speeding and keeping a safe distance (more than 200 metres) from shore were their targets, though just how many fines they handed out revealed most people were doing the right thing.

Authorities were "pleased" to see a good compliance rate, particularly among jetski riders.

Only 21 penalty notices were handed out in the southern region between 12.01am on Saturday and 2.30pm on Sunday, and 69 official cautions. Statewide 59 penalty notices were issued and 206 official cautions.

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The top penalty notice offences were for not wearing or carrying a life-jacket, while top official caution offences were for unregistered vessels and lack of life-jacket(s).

Jestkis have surged in popularity across the state, while around nine per cent of NSW licensed jetski riders are from the South Coast, while Wollongong is in the state's top five suburbs for PWC registrations.

"You probably saw yourself the price of boats and heavy season cars or the like or went up in price because they're in high demand," Janssen said.

"[But] the object on the water is to have a great time but also a safe time just not just for the people in PWCs but everybody else that's using the waterway as well."

The Wollongong Local Government Area had the highest number of PWCs as of January 4 with 2,371, followed by Wollondilly (2,056), then Shellharbour (1,396) and Shoalhaven (1,315).

Since the start of the boating season on October 1, there have been at least 118 on-water incidents and four deaths reported around the state by NSW Maritime across the state including the deaths of two children in a tragedy on Lake Keepit at Rushes Creek northwest of Tamworth last week.

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