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Ban called in Great Barrier Reef
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Posted on Nov 06 2000
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Conservationists called Friday for ships carrying dangerous cargo to be banned from the Great Barrier Reef, a day after a container ship ran aground on the fragile coral.
“Accidents will happen if we allow this sort of shipping in the reef waters,” Australian Conservation Council spokesman Don Henry told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
“We are just really waiting for a major accident to happen if we keep doing this.”
The Sydney-bound Malaysian container ship Bunga Teratai Satu, whose cargo included chemicals-based products listed as dangerous, ran aground Thursday on the Great Barrier Reef close to the northeast Australian city of Cairns.
Further details of the cargo were not immediately released but the ship was known to be carrying more than 1,320 tons of fuel oil.
The ship may not be refloated until next week because of unfavorable tides, Queensland state Transport Minister Steve Bredhauer said Friday.
The 184-yard, 23,100-ton ship’s hull was damaged, but not breached, and no fuel or chemicals leaked into the azure waters of the Coral Sea.
The 1,200-mile Great Barrier Reef is the largest complex of coral reefs and islands in the world, comprising more than 2,600 individual reefs and some 300 islands off Australia’s east coast.
The reef is a magnet for snorkelers and divers and a major tourist draw card for Queensland state.
Conservationists said that while cargo ships continued to navigate through the delicate marine ecosystem it was only a matter of time before a damaging spill happened.
“The clear answer is that the reef is so important we must ban dangerous shipping and we should have an inquiry to work out how the rules and regulations should be tightened,” Henry said.
