A captain and first officer have been convicted of taking their capesize bulker outside the designated shipping zone in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
The South Koreans were fined AUD 40,000 ($27,800) and AUD 35,000 respectively after pleading guilty at Townsville Magistrates Court in Queensland.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said South Korean owner SW Shipping’s 176,300-dwt Sea Coen (built 2005) had strayed from the permitted area in March, entering the reef lagoon through Palm Passage off Townsville. This is a shipping exclusion zone.
Some of the fine will be taken from the AUD 45,000 cash bail held for each defendant.
Park authority chief executive Josh Thomas said the result is a good example of enforcing compliance in the area.
The case demonstrated the strong collaboration between management agencies, as the authority was notified about the incident through the vessel tracking services operated by Maritime Safety Queensland, he added.
“Having access to technology such as vessel tracking services ensures we can act swiftly to prevent serious incidents from damaging the marine park,” Thomas said.
High priority
“The reef authority places a very high priority on investigating breaches of laws that are designed to reduce the risk to the reef from ships navigating within this World Heritage Area,” he added.
The CEO said major shipping incidents can have catastrophic consequences for the environmental, cultural and economic values of the reef.
“Vessel operators who flout the laws will be held to account,” he pledged.
The actions of the Sea Coen officers were found to have significantly increased the level of risk to the safe navigation of the ship through the Great Barrier Reef, although no major damage was caused.
