Northern Ireland’s sailing community handed in an unprecedented 4,000 expired marine flares at disposal events held at Portrush Yacht Club, Bangor Marina and Lough Erne Yacht on Saturday 15 June.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, RYA Northern Ireland organised these events in conjunction with the PSNI as the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s (MCA) voluntary flare disposal service stopped in December 2022.
As there is no commercial disposal service currently available in Northern Ireland for marine distress flare disposal, this has been problematic for boaters as it is illegal to dispose of flares at sea, illegal to dump them on land and illegal to let them off in anything other than an emergency.
Until a long-term solution is found, this initiative was organised during Police Marine Safety Week. Following the flares’ collection by the PSNI, they will be stored in a unit with their explosives department and then an external company will come and take them with any fireworks or explosives to a site in England to be disposed of safely.