The "loophole" the man figured out hinged on the wording of part four of the 2020 Otago Regional Council Navigational Safety Bylaw.
At present, people anchoring boats in Otago waterways are only allowed to do so for 14 days in any six-month period unless they get prior approval from the harbourmaster.
However, the bylaw says "within the same or proximate location for longer than 14 days", helping one man circumnavigate the rules by picking up anchor and shifting "100 metres down the way" every two weeks.
Otago Regional Council harbourmaster Steve Rushbrook said the proposed changes to the bylaw would be minor, and it was just a matter of rewording.
"It’s not stopping people coming because we’ve got visitor moorings ... what it’s doing is encouraging people not to abuse the 14 days over and over again."
It would change the wording so boat users and owners would have a total of 14 days where they could anchor their boats in the harbour in every 60-day period.
Anything longer would have to be discussed with the harbourmaster.
The problem was not widespread, and it had encountered only one person over the past five years abusing the loophole, Mr Rushbrook said.
However, he was the inspiration for the change.
Consultation will be opened to the public in January for feedback on the proposed changes.
The bylaw provides rules and regulations such as speed limits for vessels in harbours or at sea up to 12 nautical miles out from the Otago Coast, and also governs Lake Dunstan.
There is another new proposal in the draft bylaw to require all commercial vessels carrying 12 or more passengers, and all vessels over 15m to carry a new mandatory automatic identification tracking system.
"This will help them safely navigate around each other in the channels without mishap — a lot of fishing boats already have these."
A revised set of rules and regulations is expected to be in place by April next year following public feedback.
