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WATERFRONT BUSINESS In brief��� Otago ferry project stalled Infighting, budget blow outs, unmet deadlines, and other problems are said to have stalled restoration of historic Otago harbour ferry Elsie Evans. The four-year project has cost $400,000 so far, with the committee headed by chairman Shem Sutherland hoping to restore the small ferry and run trips from the new Portobello jetty. The project appears to have missed its 2012 completion deadline, has run out of money, and the vessel needs to be moved from the University of Otago���s Wickliffe building to find a new home. A major setback for the project has been the purchase of an engine for $24,000 which may not be suitable. The project also suffered a major setback with the death last year of its former fundraiser and treasurer Hugh Montgomery. An assessment of the project is planned. Toppled crane Milford Sound was greatly overloaded A 50-tonne crane that collapsed into the main harbour at Milford Sound on August 8, 2012, was lifting almost twice the recommended weight for its size. The crane had been mounted on a barge and was working on the enlargement of Freshwater Basin, when it fell on its side. The driver was not hurt. Inspectors found the crane was lifting 13.3 tonnes when it toppled over. The maximum it should have been lifting was 6.9 tonnes. The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment Southland had issued an improvement notice to the crane operators, Smith Crane and Construction, to comply with safe operating limits. SCC managing director Tim Smith said the driver was an experienced man with 40 years on the job, and it was a lesson for him to not be complacent, Mr Smith said, ���It was unfortunate but the job went extremely well, really.��� The $6 million enlargement project lost a week of work while the crane was salvaged but will be completed in November. There was no damage, nobody was hurt and no oil spilt into the water. Environment Southland on-scene commander Dallas Bradley, said the crane was carrying 200 litres of diesel and 24 litres of engine oil, with another 1600 litres of hydraulic oil on the barge, ���A lot (of oil) could have spilled into the prime entry point for tourists into Milford Sound. It could have been a lot worse.��� 42 Professional Skipper March/April 2013 Sea Shepherd���s Brigit Bardot in Hobart, 2010 Oh Behave! NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIAN, US and the Netherlands governments have issued a warning to Sea Shepherd and Japanese whalers condemning ���any actions that imperil human life at sea���, calling for the masters of all vessels to ensure their crews��� safety and follow international rules to avoid collisions. ���We respect the right to peaceful protest, including on the high seas. We condemn dangerous or unlawful behaviour at sea by any party in the Southern Ocean or elsewhere,��� the governments said, warning that they were prepared to prosecute anyone engaging in unlawful behaviour. They say they are ���resolutely opposed��� to commercial whaling, including Japan���s so-called scientific whaling. The statement was issued after a US appeals court this week issued an injunction ordering Sea Shepherd and its head Paul Watson not to physically attack or endanger the whaling ships, and to remain at least 450 metres from them at all times. The order was sought by the Institute of Cetacean Research which undertakes the Japanese government���s whaling programme through a loophole in International Whaling Commission rules that allows whales to be killed for research. Rena survey finds lost fishing boat A COMPANY CONTRACTED to survey shipping routes around the New Zealand coast after the container ship Rena hit Astrolabe reef off Tauranga in October 2011, has found a Timaru fishing boat missing for 14 months, disproving speculation that it may have been hit by a log carrier leaving the Port of Timaru. The Police Dive Team located the Journeyman on the ocean floor in 27m of water, seven nm off the coast of Timaru on Tuesday January 22, 2013. The boat vanished in November 2011. The body of its owner, fisherman Peter Hunter, 59, of Pleasant Point, was found soon after, 2.5nm south of where the Journeyman was found. In December 2012, a ship surveying shipping lanes told Maritime New Zealand and Police of a possible vessel on the sea floor. The Police dive team, Maritime NZ and PrimePort staff went to the site in late January and although the water was very murky with visibility down to one metre, divers were able to positively identify the Journeyman. There was no damage to the craft, but there were indications it had probably capsized due to ���displacement by the load���. It appeared that the boat had still been fishing when it went down. Finding the boat in such a condition disproved the suggestion it had been hit by a log ship, Gaskin said. The boat would not be salvaged as the water was too deep. Maritime NZ was particularly interested in the incident as the boat was the same design as the Easy Rider, which sank in Foveaux Strait in March 2012 with the loss of eight lives.