Far north boaties must do better: Lucas

Boaties in Cairns and the far north had a difficult year in 2006, with the number of serious marine incidents on the rise.

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Paul Lucas said there were 122 reported incidents in the Cairns maritime region in 2006, a 31% increase on the previous year.

“Unfortunately there were seven fatalities and nine people were seriously injured as a result of marine incidents,” Mr Lucas said.

“This was the highest number for any region in the state and a significant increase from 2005 when there was only one fatality.”

“In the overwhelming majority of these fatal incidents, 73% in fact, human factors such as drugs, alcohol and inattention were the major contributors.

“The most common type of fatal incident was the loss of a person overboard, which resulted in four deaths.

“Maritime Safety Queensland is doing the best job it can to promote safe practices on our waterways, but at the end of the day people are responsible for their own actions and if they do the wrong thing they can pay a terrible price.

“In Queensland, almost one in every 15 people aged 15 years and older owns a boat, and incredibly around one in every five people in the same age group holds some form of marine licence.

"We also passed the 200,000 mark for registered recreational vessels in January 2006 and if current growth rates continue we’ll beat NSW as the biggest boat owning state in the next year or so," Mr Lucas said.

There were 19,245 vessels registered in the Cairns region as at 31 December 2006 representing an increase of 3.04 per cent during the calendar year. All of the increase was in the region’s recreationally registered vessel fleet, which makes up 94 per cent of the total registered vessel numbers.

However, it was commercial vessels that were involved in the majority of incidents which resulted in fatalities or serious injuries. Of the 20 ships involved in these incidents, 14 were commercial vessels.

The Cairns region stretches from Mission Beach, south of Cairns up the east coast of Cape York including the islands of the Torres Strait then around the Gulf of Carpentaria to the Northern Territory border.

The most frequently reported type of incident was collisions (32) of which 16 involved collisions with other vessels. There were also 22 unintentional grounding incidents and 21 capsize incidents reported. A further eight incidents involved a person overboard.

Mr Lucas said the report emphasised the need for people to be ‘boat smart.’

“Before you hit the waterways make sure your boat and safety equipment is in good working order,” Mr Lucas said.

“And remember the basics – look out for other boats, keep to the speed limit and don’t drink and operate a vessel.”

The 2006 Marine Incidents Report is available online at Maritime Safety Queensland's web site at www.msq.qld.gov.au

Media inquiries: Robert Hoge 3237 1942