The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is appealing for leisure boaters to take part in a survey about their usage of AIS, the Automatic Identification System used for identifying and locating vessels.

The national governing body for all forms of boating ains to improve its knowledge of the number and spread of
leisure boaters either using or not using AIS on board their vessels, ahead of the next edition of the RYA’s Coastal Atlas of Recreational Boating.

The RYA Coastal Atlas was first compiled 10 years ago and is updated on a
regular basis. It has been used by government, local authorities and
the Maritime Coast Guard Agency to help improve and safeguard navigation
at sea for leisure boaters.
 
The inclusion of AIS Class B data
in the next updated version of the Atlas will strengthen the existing
dataset however, the RYA is aware that many leisure craft do not use AIS
equipment and if they do, they may not be used for short journeys or
those which are close to inshore.

A powerful tool

Alana Ward, RYA planning and environmental officer said: ‘Over 1500 people have completed the survey to date but we are keen to hear from more of you, particularly if you are living in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland or if you are motorboating or powerboating anywhere on the UK coast.
 
‘The RYA Coastal Atlas provides us with a powerful tool to help protect the areas that are most important to leisure boaters against a backdrop of competing commercial and environmental interest around the UK coast.
 
‘Everyone who completes the survey will be entered into our prize draw to win a Garmin VIRB Elite Action Camera worth £349.99.’
 
The RYA AIS survey and prize draw closes on 30 September 2014.

To complete the short online survey visit www.rya.org.uk/go/AIS

Picture: Image from RYA Coastal Atlas of Recreational Boating © RYA