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Chair's Foreword
On behalf of the National Plan Management Committee, I have much pleasure in presenting the Annual Report of activities of the National Plan to Combat Pollution of the Sea by Oil and other Noxious and Hazardous Substances.
This year has seen a consolidation for the National Plan.
The Inter-Governmental Agreement between Federal, State and Northern Territory Governments formalising the national approach to oil and chemical spill preparedness and response and cooperation, is now well established and operating efficiently and effectively.
The National Plan Management Committee, in which Federal, State and Northern Territory authorities, oil and chemical industries and ports are represented, continued to meet its responsibilities and obligations through the provision of advice to the Australian Transport Council on strategic and policy direction and funding arrangements for the National Plan.
The Committee’s annual meeting was held in February 2004. Throughout the year, the Committee was kept informed of activities, at Federal and State/NT level, relevant to its responsibilities.
Significant events occurring during the year included:
- completion of the ongoing redistribution of Tier 1 oil spill equipment as outlined under the Inter-Governmental Agreement;
- on-going establishment of Tier 2/3 regional equipment stockpiles in association with the States/NT; and
- consideration of the need for competency based training for National Plan personnel.
Through the year, work also continued in implementing the recommendations of the 2000 National Plan Review Report. All of the Report’s seventeen recommendations have now been either fully implemented or brought within the Committee’s work program.
During 2003-2004, there were no major ship-sourced marine pollution incidents in Australian waters. However, the National Plan was called upon to respond to 118 incidents.
National Plan equipment and personnel were involved as part of contingency arrangements in response to two shipping incidents. These included the grounding of the 42 metre hopper dredge, the Karma near Bundaberg on the Queensland coast in November 2003 and the reporting of an oil leak from a small crack in a cargo tank of the tanker Eurydice off Sydney in February 2004.
While on secondment to Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) in Southampton, England, for professional development purposes, an AMSA officer participated in OSRL’s response to the grounding of the tanker Tasman Spirit off the port of Karachi in Pakistan in July 2003. He worked as part of a five person clean up team dispatched to Karachi after the ship started to break up in August 2003.
Jim Starkey
Chairman
National Plan Management Committee
Updated: 21 February 2005