To join please complete our online Membership Form and then make payment into our bank account:
PLEASE NOTE BELOW REGARDING MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
Join the Society
*** PLEASE NOTE WE ARE UPDATING OUR MEMBERSHIP SYSTEM AND RENEWAL OF MEMBERSHIPS ARE NOT YET DUE. PLEASE WAIT UNTIL WE HAVE THE NEW SYSTEM IN PLACE (EXPECTED BY MID NOVEMBER 2024) BEFORE RENEWING YOUR MEMBERSHIP. ***
The membership year runs from the 1st of September to the 31st of August the following year. The annual membership fee is currently $50.00 (or $45 if paid by 30 September 2024).
NEW MEMBERS CAN COMPLETE THE ONLINE APPLICATION AND MAKE PAYMENT AND WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO THE NEW SYSTEM ONCE IT IS OPERATING.
You can pay your membership at any of these outlets
Tapu Motor Camp (Tapu, Thames)Thames Wholesale Fisheries (Thames Wharf)Hunting& Fishing (Kopu, Thames)- S
tirling Sports (Thames) Sportcraft Boats (Morrinsville)Fish City (Hamilton)Read Bros Hardware (Thames)Wright Fishing and Outdoors (Morrinsville)or from the Waikawau Boat Ramp when attended.
Alternatively complete the membership online or download a membership form and post it to Waikawau Boat Ramp Society, PO Box 722 Thames 3540. Please complete your form clearly and do not forget your postcode, phone number and email address if you have one. If you pay electronically, please ensure you put your name and membership number as reference / particulars on the payment so we can identify who the payment is from.
New Licence Plate Recognition system at Waikawau Boat Ramp coming soon
The change in the membership system using licence plate recognition based on tow vehicle registration has come about for a number of reasons.
- The lack of members that are willing to donate their time to become ramp wardens
- The number of casual users that do not pay to launch unless there is someone there to collect the money
- The abuse that is sometimes directed at our volunteer ramp wardens when they are on duty
- It is not practical for us to use the boat trailer registration for licence plate recognition.
We want to make it clear that the change in the membership system is not about making our members pay more for their membership. If it was, we would have just put the subscription back up to $100 per member. The primary reason is to ensure that all people who launch or retrieve at Waikawau, contribute to the running costs of the ramp.
Historically, approximately 50% of launching at Waikawau was done by members. Since the reduction in the annual membership fee to $50, our number of members has increased significantly resulting in approx. 30% of users now being casuals. Based on surveys we have undertaken, of those casual users, approximately 50% of them did not pay unless there was a ramp warden there to collect money. That means that approx. 15% of users of the ramp do not pay. Yet they benefit from the facility which is maintained with funds from members and paying casual users. We do not think this is fair, particularly to our members. These non paying casuals also use up parking, add to the queues and to the wear and tear of the facility.
Options to increase the compliance of casual users paying, largely involved increasing the time our wardens spent at the ramp. Our wardens generously give up their free time to assist with the smooth running of the ramp (including collecting money). Unfortunately, despite numerous pleas amongst our members for more wardens (via newsletters and AGMs), we have had minimal numbers volunteer to help. In 2021 we had three new wardens, and two retire. In 2022 we had one ramp warden retire. In 2023 we had one new warden and three retire. So far in 2024 we have had no new ramp wardens and three retire. We are now down to 9 ramp wardens. Over the summer we like to have a warden on most days so that means that 3 out of 4 weeks these ramp wardens need to be on duty at least one day per week.
A number of people have suggested membership cards, barrier arms, padlocks, stickers in cars, continuing with trailer stickers etc. All of these membership methods require someone to be there to enforce or monitor them, and since our members haven’t put their hands up to assist as volunteer wardens, we have to move to a fully automated system.
So, we are moving to licence plate recognition. A system that automates the collection of fees, and takes away the responsibility of money collection from the wardens. Our wardens will become ambassadors at the ramp to assist with launching, parking and information and be there to enjoy the fishing community, rather than cop abuse from some regarding money collection.
The licence plate recognition based on the tow vehicle will impact negatively on some of our members who use multiple vehicles for launching a single vessel and we apologise for that. However, we have had to do this to ensure that our ramp can continue to operate, even if we don’t have wardens in attendance. Unfortunately, we have had to restrict the number of vehicles members can register under their membership to ensure the less honest users don’t abuse the system.
Membership registration will be done via QR codes, as will casual user fees. Payment methods are expected to include visa (incl. visa debit card), mastercard, apple pay and google pay. There will be no opportunity to pay by cash at the ramp.
Once the licence plate recognition system is installed, any user that doesn’t have the tow vehicle registered with us, or does not pay the $15 casual day user fee, prior to launching / retrieving will be issued with an infringement notice. The infringement notice will cost more than the cost of a membership, and this will be managed by a third party. Waikawau Boat Ramp will not benefit from the infringement notice revenue generated as this will go to the third party.