The marine industry is lobbying the government to allow international boaties stranded in the Pacific into New Zealand waters.
With cyclone season approaching, hundreds of foreign boaties have applied for exemptions to shelter here, but with border restrictions in place, most are being turned away.
“They live on their boats - it's their home," local sailor Danny Simms said. "In many cases, they've got children with them and they've got no options."
International sailor Guy Chester is one of the more than 300 sailors to be refused an exemption to enter New Zealand.
“As the borders closed towards the end of March, yachts ended up across the Pacific in what we would call Covid limbo,” he said.
Chester will soon be travelling to Australia, but said there "are hundreds of other boats that don't have that luck - they're not Kiwis or Aussies".
He also applied for exemptions from the Ministry of Health for 350 yachts in the Pacific - all were declined.
The Health Ministry says a vessel "may be exempt ... for compelling humanitarian reasons" but they would be unlikely to allow "'wintering' to avoid cyclone season in the Pacific".
Only 11 vessels have so far been granted exemption.
The financial arm of the Far North District Council says the Government should be more flexible.
“The international cruisers have been coming to New Zealand for decades, bringing economic benefit to our regions, particularly in the maritime sector, and I think they're a viable opportunity for the government to allow exemptions in,” Far North Holdings general manager Chris Galbraith said.
Around 600 boats are cleared in New Zealand waters every year, of which 70 per cent of them are international. Around 475 are cleared in Opua, in the Bay of Islands, and spend an average of $50,000 per visit.
But now local businesses are missing out.
“We just can’t get our heads around why they're not letting the cruising boats in, to be honest. There are 400 boats - it's a hell of a lot of boats and a hell of a lot of money,” business owner Peter Boyd said.
Far North Holdings says isolation requirements are not difficult.
“The procedures we'd like to see in place are that they travel and isolate for their full 14 days," he said. "We have a testing station established here at the marina so they can undertake negative tests before they depart."
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