Claim dive crew damaged Reef

THE GREAT Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has confirmed it is investigating a complaint about a Cairns dive operator whose crew allegedly dragged an anchor through a healthy coral reef and tied a boat to a stack of live coral.

Three international tourists have released photographs of the devastation they saw the moment they emerged underwater, while their vessel was moored at Ribbon Reef 8, off Cape Flattery, earlier this week.

The operator cannot be named for legal reasons.

Canadian diver Jason Kennedy, 26, alleged the crew had taken a 50m rope and tied it around a nearby coral bommie.

“The thick rope had been put around the bommie and was cutting through soft and hard corals, doing real damage to the reef,” Mr Kennedy said.

“For a full day we were moored like this, all day the movement of the vessel caused more and more damage to the bommie.”

He claimed when the crew dropped the vessel’s front anchor, it landed directly among the living coral.

Ironically, at the beginning of the voyage, the crew had told passengers they needed to be wary of not touching coral, as it was a fragile organism that took thousands of years to repair itself.

“The anchor was dragged through the reef system, coming to rest in a 5m wide structure of coral,” Mr Kennedy said.

“The total damage resulted in a 15m long trench through the reef system and much damage was done to the coral structure that the anchor was locked into.”

A GBRMPA spokeswoman yesterday confirmed it received a report about suspected anchor damage at Ribbon Reef 8 and was currently investigating the matter.

Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators executive officer Col McKenzie believed it would have been an isolated incident.

Mr McKenzie, who had spoken to the vessel’s skipper, was told the boat had mistakenly weighed anchor in coral rather than sandy bottom because of rough weather conditions.

The vessel’s normal location was inaccessible because of the weather and they were forced to head to Ribbon Reef 8, where there were no permanent moorings.

“The skipper couldn’t see where the sandy spot was and he’s put his anchor and chain down and unfortunately dragged through some coral and did do some damage,” Mr McKenzie said.

“He obviously denies that there’s any issue with doing it deliberately. It’s accidental damage and it’s primarily been caused as a result of trying to ensure passengers are as close to the reef as they can, from a workplace, health and safety point of view.”

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2010/02/05/91595_local-news.html