Oil Tanker Runs a ground the Great Barrier Reef

[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.