Marine Environment Protection

Reporting Ship Sourced Pollution

National Plan

Place of Refuge Guidelines

Educational resources and information

Major Oil Spills in Australia

Prevention of Pollution from Ships

National Maritime Emergency Response Arrangements

AMSAs Role in Maritime Environmental Issues

Register of Local Fuel Oil Suppliers

Torres Strait PSSA

Executive Summary

Background to the National Plan

The grounding of the Oceanic Grandeur in the Torres Strait in 1970 led to the implementation of the National Plan to Combat Pollution of the Sea by Oil (the National Plan) to ensure that Australia would be prepared to respond to ship-sourced pollution incidents.

The National Plan came into formal operation in October 1973 and represented primarily a combined effort by Commonwealth and State/Northern Territory (NT) Governments, with some assistance from the oil industry, to help provide a solution to the threat posed to the coastal environment by oil pollution from ships.

The original concept of the National Plan was to provide dispersant spraying equipment for deployment from small craft, such as fishing vessels; dispersant material at nine locations around the Australian coastline and a central stockpile of ship-to-ship transfer equipment. This concept was later augmented by the Commonwealth Government's acquisition of a much wider variety of equipment and resources, placed on long term loan to State and Northern Territory authorities. A major review of the National Plan was undertaken in 1992, resulting in a refocussing of the National Plan and the integration of government and industry activities.

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National Plan Advisory Committee (NPAC)

The National Plan Advisory Committee (NPAC) provides assistance and advice to the AMSA Board in managing the National Plan. NPAC held two regular meetings in Canberra during the reporting period - on 27 September 1995 and 2 April 1996 - and a special meeting in Melbourne on 9 February 1996 to consider the recommendations arising from the review of the response to the Iron Baron oil spill.

Formal membership of NPAC comprises:

Additional representation is sought from agencies where there is a need to address a particular issue.

During 1995-96, NPAC continued its work on implementing the remaining recommendations of the 1992 Review of the National Plan. These recommendations were set out fully in the 1993/94 National Plan Annual Report. Of the 30 recommendations, 28 have been implemented. Of the remaining two recommendations, the implementation of the National Fixed Wing Aerial Dispersant Capability is due to be completed by November 1996, while the development and implementation of a National Chemical Response Plan is due to be finalised in the first half of 1997.

Other significant issues progressed or finalised by NPAC during the reporting period included:

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1995/1996 National Plan Highlights

Finance

National Plan income totalled $4.45m, an increase of 22.17% compared with 1994/95, while expenditure increased by 41.41% to $4.27m. The large increase in incident revenue and expenditure is mainly attributable to the Iron Baron incident. Accumulated surplus at the end of the 1995/96 was $2.68m, an increase of 11.2% compared with 1994/95. Revaluation of the National Plan vessels resulted in an increase in depreciation expense.

Equipment

The primary focus during the reporting period was to ensure that all ports have a basic set of equipment incorporating booms and skimmers to enable a first strike capability. Equipment purchased and delivered during the reporting period is detailed under the section on Equipment and under each State/NT section.

Oil Pollution Incidents

During the reporting year, AMSA received 349 reports of oil discharge sightings, both confirmed and unconfirmed, including 28 accidental spills resulting from incidents such as grounding, collisions and tank overflow during bunkering. Twelve incidents required involvement by AMSA under National Plan arrangements. Over 74% of reports occurred within port limits and appropriate cleanup or monitoring action was undertaken by the port authority or relevant oil terminal. Of the 349 sighting reports, 86 were ship, oil rig or land sourced. The source of the remainder could not be identified.

Training

The National Plan training program continued during 1995/96. AMSA also conducted a number of training courses on a consultancy basis. The States and the Northern Territory continued to provide a variety of training courses and the Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre (AMOSC) in Geelong maintained its training program during the period. The overall National Plan training program was successful in providing quality training to government and industry personnel required to respond to marine pollution incidents.

The fourth Oil Spill Commander workshop was conducted in Geelong in June.

AMSA was involved in observing overseas training exercises in Hawaii and Vietnam and in discussions with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on oil spill training development.

A number of oil spill response exercises were conducted during 1995/96. The most significant of these were Exercise George Bass, the major National Plan exercise for 1996/97, in Victoria in June; Exercise Sugar Slick in Townsville in June and Exercise Tropics in Darwin in October.

Dispersant Spraying Capability

Final tender documentation for the provision of a National Fixed Wing Aerial Dispersant Spraying Capability using agricultural aircraft was reviewed and assessed in a process overseen and endorsed by NPAC. AMSA and the petroleum industry, via the Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre (AMOSC), will equally fund the cost of the capability. The objective of the aerial dispersant capability is to provide pre-designated aircraft capable of responding to an oil spill within a specified time in all States and the Northern Territory. Two aircraft, one in South Australia and one in Queensland, accessible each day of the year, and three additional aircraft accessible for about 275 days of the year, will be available within four hours of being requested to respond to an incident. A further 14 "aircraft of opportunity" may also be available. A contract was expected to be in place by September 1996 and full capability developed by November 1996.

Scientific and Environmental Issues

The National Plan Advisory Committee was represented at a number of forums where major issues involving the environment were given priority. These included:

In early 1995, a draft National Maritime Chemical Spill Contingency Plan was circulated by AMSA. A Steering Group has since agreed AMSA will be the managing agency for the plan with State/NT Fire Brigades and specialised HazMat groups to have the combat role.

Work continues on the development of improved Oil Spill Trajectory Modelling, Coastal Resource Atlas programs, a National Oil on the Sea Identification Database project and a National Wildlife Response Plan. As managing agency for the National Plan, AMSA signed a contract at the end of April 1996 with the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences to undertake a two-year research program into the use of bioremediation in cleaning up oil spills.

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last updated:
18 June 2001