ORC harbourmaster Steve Rushbrook updated a full meeting of the council on Wednesday about activity and work undertaken during the 2020-21 boating season on Lake Dunstan.
In his report, Mr Rushbrook said the formal transfer of maritime delegation for Lake Dunstan to return to the Otago Regional Council took place on September 14.
The transfer involved merging two sets of navigational bylaws (CODC and ORC) and now provided a more consistent set of rules applied across the Otago Region.
Since then, about 130 navigational safety buoys and marks had been overhauled and maintained to ensure they were functional, including the very large Cardinal mark at Old Cromwell.
New navigation marks included five shallow water marks each at both Old Cromwell and at the Bendigo area at the top of lake, the updating and replacing of 5 knot buoys at Pisa, a 5 knot buoy at Northburn and isolated danger marks on the Clyde arm to mark rocks on the waterline.
The harbourmaster boat was on the water for 11 days, most of them coinciding with busy periods around New Year, and was engaged in the national No Excuses campaign interacting with boaties and discussing safety.
Mr Rushbrook also attended a search and rescue exercise with other emergency services and the weed management group to provide input on issues on the lake.
The Kiwi Water Park operated with no navigational concerns, but two 5 knot buoys were installed at the edges of the operation and ‘‘they seemed to work well’’.
‘‘We will consider this again next year depending on the location of this operation in ’21-22.
‘‘We have been consulted as an affected party on one mooring application and the Kiwi Water Park,’’ Mr Rushbrook said.
Applications for events on Lake Dunstan were being made to the harbourmaster for approval and staff had dealt with several customer services responses made through the CODC.
