Steady as she goes for Townsville boating safety

It was ‘steady as she goes’ for boaties in the Townsville region in 2006, with the number of reported marine incidents stable and no serious incidents reported.

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Paul Lucas said there were 42 incidents in the Townsville maritime region in 2006, only three more than the previous year.

There were no fatalities or serious injuries in the region in 2006, down from three fatalities in 2005. Mr Lucas said this was a great result and continued Townsville's record of low numbers of serious marine incidents.

"While the number of reported marine incidents in the Townsville region was more or less steady, it was encouraging to see that there were no serious injuries or deaths on the region's waterways,” Mr Lucas said.

"Maritime Safety Queensland believes that in general people using vessels on our waterways are more safety conscious and are by and large doing the right thing.

"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.

At 31 December 2006 there were 19,752 registered vessels within the Townsville region, including 19,234 registered recreational vessels. Registered vessel numbers in the region continue to grow marginally above the overall rate of growth in Queensland as a whole—4.6 per cent growth in 2006 compared with 4.44 per cent for Queensland as a whole.

The Townsville region extends from Gloucester Passage south of Bowen to waters up to Meunga Creek situated just north of Cardwell. The region has 827 kilometres of mainland coastline, 651 kilometres of island coastline and 769 kilometres of rivers and creeks.

The most common types of incidents reported in 2006 were capsizes (11), collisions (7) and unintentional groundings (9).

Just over half (53.2 per cent) of the vessels involved were commercially registered vessels, with commercial fishing vessels (6) and commercial passenger vessels (6) the most involved types of commercial vessels.

While fewer recreational vessels were involved, there were 11 recreational motorboats involved and a further seven recreational sailboats. There was only one incident involving a jet ski (recreational) reported within the Townsville region in 2006.

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