Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) is seeking permission for the harbourmaster to use a speed restriction buoy on Lake Wānaka as a temporary mooring for runaway vessels.

The council said there was a “critical need” to use the buoy as a temporary mooring because private vessels often slip their moorings.

They would “aid the harbourmaster… in emergency situations to temporarily secure vessels adrift, or as immediately necessary to provide for the safety of the waterway,” QLDC said.

QLDC is asking for use of the buoy near the Wānaka Marina as the temporary mooring.

It is also asking to use the buoys on Lake Wakatipu - at Pigeon Island and Queenstown Bay - for the same reason.

In its resource consent application QLDC said it was important to note the buoys would be used as moorings for short-term emergency purposes only and they would be “distinct from traditional moorings”.

QLDC also wants to use the buoys to help make firework displays from the lake possible.

It asked to use them to “secure a fireworks barge/vessel on occasion to support community events”. 

PHOTO: Wānaka App