Brad Fish: "One of the pieces of work we have just completed earlier this year is what we call accumulative impact assessment study.  And it looked at a range of areas.  It’s the first time a study of this magnitude has been undertaken, I believe, definitely within Australia and probably even internationally.  The work was done by ourselves together with three of the prospective companies wishing to export through.  At that point it was a voluntary study and that looked at a whole range of issues or impacts or potential impacts which development would cause at a point on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.  And it was able to show that all of the developments can occur and the impacts can be successfully managed.  But one of those projects or one of the studies within that accumulative impact assessment work was on shipping.  And it came up with a whole range of strategies which even further improved the safety of the reef.  Lucky within Australia we have an Australian Government which is very proactive on the way through.  The Great Barrier Reef, I would suggest, is probably the best managed waterway of its kind in the world with respect to pillage within the Reef, vessel traffic management systems, navigation aids etc.  It is, as I say, by far probably the best managed waterway of its type in the world.  And the work under accumulative impact assessment looked at how we can even further enhance that by better navigation aids, better vessel traffic management systems and the like.  So the goal from NQVP and I believe also the Australian State Governments is to continue to enhance and remain the leader in the successful management of shipping within the Reef so that both the shipping and other operators, tourism, fishing etc can all coexist within the Great Barrier Reef with minimal impact."

Categories: Coal in Australia, Environment, Environment & Climate, Government, Great Barrier Reef
Author: Brad Fish