FROM: Roger Timms

Dear Sirs

Those readers with an interest in the regulation of the Australian maritime industry may know that the Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure and Transport is undertaking a re-write of the Navigation Act 1912, in conjunction with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

The following letter was written by Dr Russell Reichelt, the Chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Australia, in response to a letter written by Baird Maritime blogger, Dr Walter Starck. Click here to read Dr Starck’s original letter to Dr Reichelt, published on April 16.

FROM: Walter Starck, Ph.D,

TO: Peter Garrett, Australian Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts.

Dear Minister Garrett,

I bring this matter to your attention as the Minister responsible for oversight of the Great Barrier Reef Mariner Park Authority.

My letter to Russell Reichelt, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) Chairman, regarding serious concerns with report on adaptive management of the GBR, has as yet received no reply or even acknowledgment  of receipt from either GBRMPA or your office.

The attached Media Response from GBRMPA (page 2) dated April 30 was received by Fishing World magazine in response to their enquiry on this matter. As the response quotes Dr Reichelt extensively on this situation, it seems apparent that he is fully aware of it and has chosen to ignore it.

FROM: Bill Izard, Prawn fisherman, Cairns, Australia

SIR:

RE: ‘Shen Neng 1’ uproar surrounding oil spill damage to corals

Oil floats, corals do not.  

Just to prove oil floats, I was packing some live prawns on my trawler at sea to be sent to the hatchery when one flicked down in the engine room. We spent some time looking but couldn’t find it. Five days later we found it still alive in the bilge living in the salt water that seeps in through the drive shaft on all boats.

FROM: Glenn Winsen, Queensland, Australia

SIR:

The issue of the grounding of the cargo vessel ‘Shen Neng 1’ has been blown out of all proportion and serious misinformation has been bandied around regarding this incident (environmental scare mongering) incited into a gullible public who are none the wiser. This environmental nonsense that is being stated is only to justify ones' existence.