Barrier Reef oil spill April 4, 2010

The only reason any ecological system anywhere is in trouble is because of economic concerns. Surely you knew that so what is your point ?

Radar enables one to know where the ship is and not rely on their honesty in taking short cuts. Transponders would also help.

GPS machines that automatically relay to Australian computers the data. These ships can be tracked in real time, and if they go where they are not supposed to go they get hailed and ordered to change course. The GPS system is already running, so all that needs to be paid for is the ship board electronics, a way to relay the information to shore, and the central computer. It has to be way cheaper than a radar system. The only down side is that you could have ships not cooperating, which may be difficult to catch.

What you have described is called a transponder.

Great, but I still don't have an answer for why anyone is talking about putting in radar. Are we worried about Pirates decoding the signal and hijacking ships?

from our national daily newspaper today.

Ships to be tracked on reef
MARK DAVIS
April 19, 2010
SHIPS travelling along the Great Barrier Reef's southern fringes will be tracked by maritime authorities to reduce the risk of another incident like the grounding of the Chinese bulk ore carrier Shen Neng 1.

Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese announced yesterday that ships in the southern part of the reef marine park would have to regularly report their location and route to authorities. This would be backed up by radio and satellite tracking of ships to improve safety and further protect one of the country's most precious environmental assets, he said.
The new rules effectively extend requirements that apply to ships in the northern part of the reef park to a large area that runs roughly from Mackay to Bundaberg and extends more than 100 kilometres east of the Queensland coastline.

Mr Albanese said the rules, which had been recommended by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, will come into effect from July next year.

The delay was to allow maritime authorities to set up infrastructure. The rules need to be approved by the International Maritime Organisation, as they apply to areas outside Australia's territorial waters.

No, but it would help unrelated matters such as illegal fishing.

A sand bank!!!!

Probably a misprint or something, but we are due some clarification.

A mistake in the article, obviously.
It should have said it ran aground on the reef, as we all know.

It was in an article you quoted Olga by James Paton/Bloomberg.com. I have seen the piece on Google and the words "sand bank" are highlighted.

Not obviously at all. Not with an organisation like Bloomberg. I have no idea what it should have said and on whose behalf.

From your own post we now do not all know at all. We are confused and have begun to pick up a scent of a rat.

I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it!

If it is a sand bank--Oh my goodness me! A full scale public enquiry might be called for.

GPS lets you know where you are with respect to fixed points. Raqdar lets you (and others ) know where you are wrt moving objects. Big boats (even my old boat) had BOTH. and radar with several frequencies envbles us to cut through tmospherics and see closer to water lwvels.
We carried 3 transponders on our boat which was determined by Canadian Coast Guard requirements, and these were solely for radar discrimination.

Thanks for letting us all know again that you had a big boat fm and are expert in technical wizadry. The rest of your post we already know all about and the Australian authorities do too. And you know it.

You're like a trumpeting elephant.

you are still the bastard son of a scottish shepherd and his favorite sheep.

I think he was referring to ground based radar. Most ships would have radar to operate out of busy ports. Transponders work on radio, not radar.

I'm for the use of any and all possible safety measures taken. These measures would certainly also improve efficiency in the long run as well.

T
K
O

Spendius was the son of a Greek rhetorician and a Campanian prostitute probably from the dock area in Naples. Every educated person knows that.