The NSW Government has confirmed that powered vessel exclusion zones will return to three Port Stephens beaches this summer, after an independent evaluation of last summer's trial found strong community support. The zones will be reinstated at Dutchman's Beach, Nelson Bay Beach (Fly Point) and Shoal Bay, the same three locations used in the original trial, which ran from 24 December 2025 to 26 January 2026.
Within each zone, all powered vessels, including jet skis, must stay at least 30 metres from the shoreline. Kayaks, stand up paddleboards and other non-powered craft are unaffected. Transport for NSW says the evaluation, carried out by Ipsos, recorded no powered vessels observed speeding near the shoreline at any of the three sites, a substantial rise in paddleboard and other non-powered watercraft activity within the zones, and support among powered vessel users climbing from 66 per cent before the trial to 85 per cent during it.
"We now know that trial was a roaring success, with 85 per cent of boaties supporting the exclusion zones," NSW Minister for Roads and Regional Transport Jenny Aitchison said. "That's why we're bringing these exclusion zones back this summer."
The Boating Industry Association (BIA) has taken the opposite view, saying the decision was made without consulting key stakeholders, including the Australian Fishing Trade Association, the Newcastle and Port Stephens Game Fish Club and the Boat Owners Association of NSW, and without publishing data on incidents, hospitalisations or alternatives to exclusion.
BIA spokesperson Neil Patchett said bans and exclusion zones typically on their own do not solve problem behaviour, and instead move the same conduct to other areas while punishing the majority of boat users. He pointed to the state's own record, arguing the best boating safety outcomes in NSW over the past 30 years had come from sustained, funded education programs run in partnership with industry rather than from spot bans.
In place of the zones, BIA is calling on Transport for NSW to adopt a five point plan: road safety style compliance cameras at waterway hotspots, a mechanism to suspend or cancel licences and seize vessels for the most serious offences, a funded behaviour change campaign starting with personal watercraft riders, a share of the 2024 PWC fee increase directed toward that campaign, and consideration of a hoon style and demerit point framework for NSW waterways.
The zones are due to return this summer, with Transport for NSW yet to publicly address BIA's counter-proposal.
