Portrush Yacht Club invites boat owners to PSNI flares disposal event

The risk of keeping old marine distress flares is that these may not work effectively when you need them most in an emergency or could misfire causing injury.

As the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s (MCA) voluntary flare disposal service ceased in December 2022, private individuals are now required to either return them to the original supplier for disposal (if available) or use a third-party commercial disposal service.

As there is no commercial disposal service currently available in Northern Ireland for marine distress flare disposal and, until a long-term solution is found, a Marine Distress Flare Disposal event, initiated by the RYA NI and supported by the Police Service of Northern Ireland will be held on Saturday, 15th June, during Police Marine Safety Week. This runs between 10am-3pm at Portrush Yacht Club.

Inspector Stephen Burke of the Police Service's Explosives Blasting Unit said: "We would encourage all with these marine flares which are past their best to use this opportunity to safely dispose of them and replace with more reliable flares.

"You should never use flares that are expired or damaged. Nor should you dispose, discard or dump flares anywhere, whether at sea or on land. Flares are explosive devices. Anyone possessing a flare is responsible for it until it has been used or properly disposed of in the appropriate way such as at one of these disposal days."