Jamaica’s government is offering to help Tobago strengthen its water sports safety regulations following the death of seven-year-old Angelica Jogie at Pigeon Point on April 8, 2026 after she was struck by jet ski.
Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett pointed to his country’s decade-long ban on personal watercraft rentals as one of the tough measures taken to improve safety for residents and visitors.
Speaking one-on-one with the Sunday Business Guardian last Thursday at the Caribbean Travel Marketplace hosted by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association in Antigua, Bartlett said Jamaica had also experienced fatal jet ski incidents and moved aggressively after concerns grew about safety and illegal activity linked to operators.
“We actually had a fatal incident. We had a few, and that’s one of the reasons that we have suspended the motorised water sports activities,” Bartlett said.
He noted that Jamaica’s restrictions were introduced more than a decade ago after a series of deadly incidents involving personal watercraft.
“We were concerned that there are those people who use the experience for purposes other than water sports. And we have to manage that too, and that’s one of the reasons,” he added.
On Jamaica’s Gleaner website, the newspaper said the island imposed a temporary suspension of all personal watercraft rental operations in October 2013 following two major accidents in August that year in which one child was killed and another person severely injured.
The country later extended the ban on the importation of personal watercraft for commercial and private use as authorities reviewed what the government described at the time as deficiencies in the regulatory framework governing the sector.
The restrictions intensified after the death of an American tourist at Negril beach in January 2014. The ban has effectively remained in place for the past decade.
Bartlett said Jamaica is now reviewing its own framework again while seeking to establish stronger infrastructure and systems to support safer recreational marine activities.
“But we are in the process now of reviewing the whole thing and establishing infrastructure that will support the better use of it and the safety of users and our visitors,” Bartlett said.
He also signalled Jamaica’s willingness to collaborate directly with Tobago’s tourism authorities on marine safety systems, training and operational standards.
“Yes, of course, we’re willing to sit with the THA and to look at methods to ensure a safer water sports arrangement because after all, it’s one of the attractions that has a good, strong call by our guests,” he said.
“People like it and want it. So we have to try our best to make it safer, and so one of the things about us in Jamaica is that we’re willing to share ideas and best practises and to learn also from other places where they have done things better, and so we’re quite willing to work with Tobago on any element of the tourist offerings that I think Jamaica can be of value.”
The comments come as Tobago continues to face mounting scrutiny over marine safety enforcement after Jogie was killed when a jet ski operator allegedly entered a bathing-only zone at Pigeon Point and struck the child.
The tragedy triggered widespread public outrage and renewed concerns over the management of marine tourism activities around the Buccoo Reef Marine Park and Pigeon Point Heritage Park.
When contacted by the Sunday Business Guardian, Deputy Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Dr Faith Brebnor welcomed the possibility of discussions with Jamaican tourism officials.
“Most certainly, we are willing to discuss and take advice from the Jamaican tourism sector,” Brebnor said.
THA Secretary for Tourism, Antiquities and Creative Industries, Zorisha Hackett, also expressed support for engagement with Jamaica.
“Yes, we are willing to meet for sure,” Hackett said.
Last month, THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine described Angelica’s death as part of a broader pattern of unsafe marine activity and argued that tougher legislation was necessary to curb reckless behaviour among operators.
During a special sitting of the Assembly Legislature in Scarborough, Augustine said the new Tobago Marine Park Bill was passed unanimously on the same day Angelica would have turned eight years old.
The legislation significantly increases penalties for breaches inside the marine park.
The fine for unauthorised entry into the marine park has risen from $2,500 and/or 12 months’ imprisonment to $10,000 and 12 months’ imprisonment.
Penalties for hunting, killing, or taking fauna, or damaging flora, were increased from $20,000 and/or two years’ imprisonment to $100,000 and two years’ imprisonment.
Augustine said the legislation builds on older laws but introduces stronger regulatory teeth to deal with longstanding safety and environmental concerns.
While the THA has defended the legislative changes, tourism stakeholders and marine operators argue that the central issue has long been weak enforcement rather than an absence of laws.
President of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association, Reginald MacLean, said Tobago should examine Jamaica’s regulatory experience carefully rather than attempt to reinvent systems from scratch.
“You know, at the end of the day, we have legislation under the Buccoo Reef Marine Park, and I think a lot of what is there needs enforcement, and this is where we lack enforcement, but it’s older legislation that needs updating into modern times,” MacLean said.
“I think if the Prime Minister has this stuff from Jamaica, please share it with us because at the end of the day, every little bit helps. Why remake legislation if legislation already exists in different islands?”
MacLean said a complete ban on jet ski activity may not be necessary if operators are properly regulated and penalties are strictly enforced.
“Now, do we want to ban something in its entirety? Probably not, but if we follow simple rules and regulations and have a one-strike rule in there for operators, they’re not going to miss because if they miss, they know they’re out,” he said.
“So maybe what we need to do is, as you said, if that legislation was done for Jamaica, let’s just fix it, let’s bring it here back home to Tobago, let’s intertwine it with our own regulations and make it work because we can’t afford another accident.”
Earlier this month, reef tour operators and jet ski stakeholders publicly accused the THA of failing to act on repeated warnings before the fatal accident.
On April 23, an emergency injunction was granted against the THA, banning all jet ski activity at the Pigeon Point Heritage Park and Buccoo Reef Marine Park. The injunction was later extended by Justice Sherlanne Pierre on May 1.
Some stakeholders argued that poor demarcation of marine park boundaries contributed to operators entering restricted areas such as the Nylon Pool and bathing zones.
Jet ski instructor Richard Ash said he repeatedly warned authorities about dangerous activity in navigational channels and the risks posed to swimmers.
“Every time I stand up, I say the same thing. It is going to happen, and it happened,” Ash said.
“Why did it take the THA so long? A jet ski could move over 85 miles per hour on the water. It has no brakes. The risk of collision could occur. You don’t put the hard by a soft. The jet ski is the hard, the human is the soft. I knew it was going to happen.”
He added:“Somebody has to be held to account and the House of Assembly has to be held to account, because they had all the warnings.”
Owner of Frankie Tours, Michael Frank, also criticised the THA’s handling of marine management issues, saying operators had become frustrated by what they viewed as repeated excuses and weak oversight.
