Panaji: The captain of ports has notified new operational zones for inland vessels, demarcating Goa’s waters into three categories based on wave height and fixing different limits for fair weather and rough weather.According to the notification issued on Friday, Goa’s inland waters are split into three zones based on wave height and vessels are split into three categories, with bigger, category A vessels permitted to go furthest into rougher waters while smaller category C boats are confined to the calmest, most sheltered Zone 3, said captain of ports Octavio Rodrigues.Any vessel wanting to ply outside its permitted zone, or move out of Goa’s inland water limits entirely, now explicitly needs case-by-case permission from the captain of ports. Passenger vessels, tankers and towing operations face additional case-by-case clearance based on cargo, passenger numbers, weather and construction standard.According to captain of ports notification issued under the Inland Vessels Act, 2021, Zone 1 permits Category A vessels in waters with wave up to 2m, zone 2 permits Category A and B vessels up to 1.2m wave heights, while Zone 3 permits Category A, B and C vessels in waters with waves up to 0.6m.During fair weather from Oct 1 to May 21, Zones 1 and 2 extend east of the five-nautical-mile corridor, including Panaji and Mormugao port limits. During the foul-weather period from May 22 to Sep 30, Zone 3 is confined to sheltered inland waters of Goa.The notification assumes significance as the high court had earlier this month suspended inland water sports after govt admitted that mandatory operational zones under its monsoon water sports policy had not been notified or demarcated.Rodrigues said that the new classification will not affect river cruise vessels, ferries of the river navigation department or the barges that are currently operating in Goa’s rivers.
