Oil Tanker Runs a ground the Great Barrier Reef

[Pan]

Originally Posted by hillbillyreefer

The Chinese owners of the tanker need to be gone after to the fullest extent of Australian law. Cosco is a huge company, and this bulker was sailing in restricted waters.

As for the spill it probably isn`t a big deal. 950 tonnes is a shocking number but when you think about it isn`t that much. It is estimated the Earth seeps between 200,000 and 2,000,000 tonnes in the oceans, naturally per year. The concensus is around 600,000 tonnes. http://www.springerlink.com/content/bya6g7r7ceebanrl/. Natural wave action breaks up and disperses the oils rapidly.

Contrary to popular belief oil is a natural, organic product containing long chain hydrocarbons. These long chains are used by many organisms as a food source, much like we use sugar. It is consumed in nature. The massive ecological damage that nature nazi`s tout, really is nowhere near as serious or longterm as they`d have you believe.

That being said it shouldn`t have happened in the first place and rules are in place to protect the reefs. In true Chinese fashion they make their own rules, and destroy what they want. In return we get cheap made in China goods. So the big question is Who is really at fault hereÉ

Please, lets refrain from bashing the Chinese as a whole, hey are doing nothing that every other industrialized nation has not done during their own industrial revolution.

Blaming China whilst living in a country - reaping the benefits from our own past explotation of our country (continuing) that they are doing to theirs is simply either uniformed or unwilling to acknowledge blame. They happen to have started in an age of greater technology and simply on a scale unknown until now. Everything they do in cutting corners has been done before, first in europe than north america.(and still is, cheap goods, as you say (odd it is you brought up consumer goods and chinese bashing) are produced everywhere people are trying to make profits. So that aspect of the argument is...i think you get the picture.

That being said we live in a world where technology can prevent such things...boats with hulls proven to prevent just such an occurence, alas not mandatory because of costs to implement. This is the problem, when protective measures are not mandatory, "for profit" companys will only implement if they have to, aside from the occasional public relations upgrades. I'm really note familiar with maritime laws (international) so I am not sure how changes would be implemented, however they have to be.
But alas, humans in general will not usually willing "give up" any comforts for the betterment of everyone in general. However, this is for my graduate political theory seminar, and why democracy is an out-dated idea. To live a life to an ethical code, takes character, character, call it virtue if you will... is severely lacking in world as a whole....

If you pour concentrated oil over a small area, like Delphinus said, the reef will be overwhelmed, despite whatever pseudo scientific justifications are provided. As you say they are not threated by this oil spill because oil flows into the oceans all the time, yet in the next sentence the claim they should be protected...from what? A spill.butthey are not in danger. If it was dumped in the middle of the ocean, maybe no harm? Doubtful. It is only human arrogance that thinks that there are consequences for out actions only if immediately percievable. The rational behind saying the ocean is big so we can dump crap in it, willingly or accidentally is hogwash and frankly pathetically anthropocentric.

This sort of thing simply should not happen, there are no suitable justifications to the contrary.

[hillbillyreefer]

I fail to see where I bashed the Chinese in anyway. It was one of their vessels so I guess I`ll assign some blame there. The last sentence in my post is a shot at the rest of the world. I guess I could blame Australia for putting the reef there but that`s a bit on the ridiculous side.

I said this spill isn`t a huge deal. It could be a devastating on a small area of the reef, but in total area it will be small. It also says in the article clean up equipment will be there soon, further mitigating the spills damage. Then I gave a study on how much natural oil flows into the oceans to compare the spill to. You came back with emotional hand wringing.

If you don`t like democracy you can always leave. That is one of the nice things about it freedom. Even though our freedoms are eroded a bit more every day by people who like control, not democracy. Hhhmmm, kinda like China. Yes that was a shot at their political system. Their citizens will have to work on creating a China they prefer, who knows maybe it is the system they currently live under. I wouldn`t want to live there is all I`m saying.

I`ve never completley derailed a thread in one post, there`s a first for everything.

[madkeenreefer]

If anyone should be at fault or blamed here its the Queensland government for still allowing these ships to use these reef passes unguided by government opperated guide vessels

[Delphinus]

Agreed. Or maybe the lanes are not well marked or not indicated properly on the navigational information .. either way the regulatory bodies may need to share some of the responsiblity for this.

Originally Posted by madkeenreefer

If anyone should be at fault or blamed here its the Queensland government for still allowing these ships to use these reef passes unguided by government opperated guide vessels

[Parker]

Unfortunately the damage done to the reef in measurable dollars is probably less then the capital cost of starting up and operating a fleet of guide vessels. Couple that with the risk matrix, I guarantee someone somewhere crunched the numbers, could it happen "Yes". How often is it likely to happen? " Once in One Year, Once in Ten Years, Once in a Hundred years? etc"
"Scale of 1-10" how much damage could it do" What are the consequences should it happen... and on and on. It's a simple fact of doing business; I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying.

We all make these decisions in our day-to-day lives, maybe not to this scale, but we make them. We buy brand A over brand B because of cost, whether it's cost of product, cost of operation etc, case in point, we all don't own Bubble Kings.. The Bubble King does a better job and costs less to operate but guess what, I can only afford the Coralife. The Coralife WILL overflow and spew it's waste all over my carpet, Is it likely to happen "Yes" How often? "Scale of 1-10".... I just went through the same thought process the shipping company did and I still bought the Coralife.

I'm not trying to defend the shipping company; I'm simply pointing out the fact that implementing technological and administrative controls to defend against every conceivable incident just isn't possible. Sometimes accidents just happen.

[madkeenreefer]

I understand your logic check out these links in regards to shipping inceidents and annual revenue touristic and fishing from the GBRT Vs Commercial exports
The reef is way more profitalbe then shipping exports, its just a case of having the cake and eating it to.

http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/i...es_and_threats
http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/i...dates/shipping
http://www.climateshifts.org/?p=2549

[neoh]

Things like this never really struck home until I really got into this hobby. You see and appreciate this vast ecosystem that is effected by even subtle changes, and I hope the Australians do everything to prevent any further damage, including throwing the book at the company/people involved in all of this.

[Delphinus]

At least it is not an oil tanker and thus the potential volume of oil spill is considerably less. Still, it's not good. It sucks that it struck reef at full speed. I'm sure there is considerable damage to the reef, even if localized. It's just.. you know. Every little bit adds up.

It doesn't matter to me who owns the vessel. This could have happened to anyone. If you're going to operate a vessel of that magnitude it just seems to me to be common sense to have qualified people operating it.

I wouldn't dream of taking my little putt-putt boat into waters I didn't know without first consulting a depth chart or at the very least, keeping an eye on my depth gauge. Thus I'm having a very hard time coming to terms that such a large vessel is even capable of being piloted aground.