Commercial boat operators are up in arms after Government changed maritime safety regulations ? leaving some unable to license their boats.

The Department of Marine and Ports changed the safety regulations regarding flares for commercial boat operators earlier this year.

To become licensed, all commercial boats have to carry three aerial flares (rockets), three hand-held flares for night-time use, and three smoke flares for daytime use.

Previously the flares simply had to meet Coast Guard regulations, but now they must also meet SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) standards. SOLAS is a UK standard.

There has been no change for private boat owners.

The Department sent out letters in February to inform commercial boat operators of the change. One commercial boat operator admitted he had received the letter, but had overlooked the statement about the SOLAS requirement.

?I just saw flares,? he said ? and, as the flares he had were enough to pass his boat last year, he assumed they would be enough to pass it this year also.

On his discovery that they were not, the operator said he tried to buy the flare ?but no-one has them on the Island.

?In the meantime, my business is losing money every single day. What I understand is happening now is everybody is going around borrowing people?s flares to get their boats passed.

?What am I to do as an operator? If they don?t come in over the summer, my business is dead. I don?t understand why I can?t just use the flares from last year until others come in.?

Both Marine Locker and PWs Marine said they had been out of the flares for one or two weeks. Marine Locker sales manager Lyle Douglas explained that the flares are dated so suppliers can only order small shipments of them at a time to ensure they all sell before expiring.

As the flares are firearms and hazardous materials, both companies have encountered difficulties in shipping them from overseas. Shipping regulations have undergone intensive reviews in the months after 9/11.

?Our last order was sitting in New Jersey for a month,? Mr. Douglas said. ?But the order before that, six weeks earlier, went through fine. They are changing regulations every three months or so.

?For some reason lately everyone has been out. It?s bad, right at the beginning of the season. But we have had flares back in stock for over a week now and another shipment is already booked.?

PWs marine buyer Gordon Outerbridge agreed that 9/11 has made it difficult to ship hazardous materials. ?It's a nightmare, I can tell you ... Anything like that is trouble for importers. It can take two weeks or two to three months.?

PWs does not bring in the handheld SOLAS flare because an independent distributor is already doing so and the move does not make economic sense, he said.

A new shipment on rocket and smoke flares will be arriving at PWs around May 16.