Gladstone marine incidents on the rise

Gladstone region boaties have had a more accident-prone year than usual with the latest statistics showing the number of marine incidents on the rise.

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Paul Lucas said there were 139 incidents reported in the Gladstone maritime region in 2006, 35 more than in the previous year.

There were also four fatalities and seven serious injuries, up on the single fatality and five serious injuries in 2005.

All four fatalities involved recreational vessels and three occurred in inland waters, including a double fatality which resulted from the collision of a recreational speedboat with the wall of a dam.

“Maritime Safety Queensland believes that in general people using vessels on our waterways are becoming more safety conscious and are by and large doing the right thing. But there's still plenty of room for improvement,” Mr Lucas said.

“However human factors such as inattention and navigational errors were the most frequently identified human contributing factors in these incidents, and this serves as a reminder that we need to be especially careful when we go out on the water.

“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 hold 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.

At 31 December 2006 there were 38,051 registered vessels within the Gladstone region including 37,148 registered recreational vessels and 903 registered commercial vessels. This represents growth in registered vessel numbers in 2006 of 6.77 per cent—well above the state average growth rate of 4.44 per cent.

"Given this explosive growth in boat ownership, and the growth in the population across the state, our overall safety record on the water is holding up pretty well," Mr Lucas said.

The Gladstone region covers the area from St Lawrence in the north, south to Double Island Point and west to the Northern Territory border. This includes the tourist areas of Hervey Bay, Tin Can Bay and Yeppoon, the commercial fishing centres of Tin Can Bay, Urangan, Bundaberg, Gladstone and Yeppoon, the ports of Bundaberg, Rockhampton (Port Alma) and Queensland’s largest multi-user port, Gladstone.

The vessels most commonly involved in incidents in 2006 included commercial fishing vessels (31), recreational motorboats (36), recreational sailboats (25) and commercial passenger vessels (20).

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