SBA declares amnesty for return of lost buoys

THE BRITISH bases want their lost buoys back and are offering an amnesty to those who return them to their rightful owners.

A statement from the bases yesterday said that during previous summer seasons, literally hundreds of SBA Sea Bathers Buoys went missing from their beaches or had been illegally re-positioned.

“At a cost of £40 per buoy this works out as a serious expense for the Administration. Last year an amnesty on SBA Sea Bathers Buoys was given and many of these buoys were returned to SBA Customs. It is therefore the intention to do the same again this year,” the statement said.

The bases said the buoys are put out at the beginning of the season by SBA Customs and 417 Maritime Troops and it takes two weeks to complete the operation along all of the SBA beaches.

The buoys are provided to ensure the safety of swimmers and to mark the areas that all water craft must keep clear of in accordance with the SBA Sea Bathers moorings due to natural causes, in the past majority have been taken or moved illegally to be used for other purposes.
“This will no longer be tolerated,” said the statement.

“If you, or somebody you know, has any of these buoys you now have a two week Amnesty to return them to their rightful owner SBA Customs, at Akrotiri or Dhekelia.”

Bases spokesman Captain Crispin Coates said generally what happens is that over the winter period the buoys get blown away and end up on various beaches. People find them and use them for private moorings. He said around 200 were missing and that they are clearly marked as SBA property.

‘We are just putting the word out to the local community,” he said.

The buoys can also be handed into any SBA Police Station.

But after Friday May 18, anybody, or any organisation found in possession of SBA Sea Bathers Buoys could be prosecuted.

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