Following the sinking accident of a sightseeing boat on the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido, a national committee considering safety measures for small boats received that mobile phones with areas where radio waves do not reach were recognized as communication equipment for boats. We have decided to consider eliminating mobile phones from the options for communication equipment.
At the third committee meeting on the 27th, the committee members discussed the theme of strengthening the equipment of small vessels.
It was discussed that the tour boat operator applied for a mobile phone as a communication facility for the ship, and the government passed the ship inspection even though there were areas where radio waves did not reach.
The government has already taken urgent measures to change the means of communication for operators whose routes are not included in the call area map of mobile phone companies, but in addition, from the choice of communication equipment for small passenger ships, mobile phones I decided to proceed with the examination in the direction of eliminating.
Even if the call area map includes a route, it was judged that "communication is interrupted in Shimakage and Iwain, and stable calls cannot always be secured" for mobile phones.
In addition, life-saving equipment was also discussed, and even if the "life-saving buoyancy" provided by the tour boat clings to the sea and maintains buoyancy, the body temperature is immediately deprived at low seawater temperature and the effect is not sufficient. As a result, we confirmed the direction of obliging life-saving equipment according to the characteristics of the region such as cold regions.
The committee members also commented that "the burden on the business operator should be taken into consideration," so the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism plans to implement transitional measures in sequence after establishing transitional measures.