The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
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SEA SHEPHERD STRENGTHENS WHALE PROTEST SEA SHEPHERD SAYS it will put lives on the line when it returns to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in early December with a stronger anti-whaling fleet to protect the great whales Japan will be targeting. "They will have to kill us to prevent us from intervening once again," said Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. "We will undertake whatever risks to our lives will be required to stop this invasion of arrogant greed into what is an established sanctuary for the whales." Watson says Japan's motivation has shifted from hunting whales to refusing to surrender to the society. The Japanese government has allocated A$27 million to enhance security for its whaling fleet. "It now seems they are simply obsessed with killing whales not for need, and not for profit, but because they believe they have the right to do what they wish … just for the sake of defending their misplaced "honour." Sea Shepherd's eighth Antarctic Whale Defence Campaign, called Operation Divine Wind, will send over 100 volunteers to the sanctuary to defend the whales. The society says it saved over 800 whales during last year's operation. In brief… Call for compulsory lifejackets The mandatory wearing of lifejackets should be a national requirement, the Otago-Southland coroner David Crerar said on August 19. Crerar announced his findings about three months after he held an inquest for Laurence Brett Singleton and Anton Oskar Woitasek, who died when they were thrown from their jetboat after it collided with a jetski on the Kawarau River, near Queenstown, on January 5, 2009. Crerar heard the men could still be alive if they had worn lifejackets. Crerar recommended lifejackets should be mandatory for all users of small boats. "Maritime New Zealand should also consider the type of lifejacket." He recommended Maritime NZ commission further research into the use of helmets by drivers and passengers on personal watercraft and on jetboats. The crash prompted the Queenstown Lakes District Council to make wearing lifejackets compulsory on district waterways. The coroner, a qualified skipper, reserved his findings. Master slept as ship grounded SSM company forced to close SURVEY NELSON HAD been forced to shut its doors as a safe ship management company, the directors, Jean and Terry Reynolds, said on September 7. In a statement to clients, the couple said the events began when Terry challenged the director of Maritime New Zealand, Catherine Taylor, at a conference. On November 20, 2009 she revoked Survey Nelson's certificate of approval as an SSM company. The company immediately challenged her decision. "We have successfully defended ourselves in several court cases," the statement said. "She persisted, despite being told on several occasions that what she proposed was wrong and illegal. It is exceedingly difficult for a company to defend itself against an official in a position of authority who is determined to cast a shadow against that company's reputation." The couple say they have spent over $400,000 defending themselves. The High Court had forced Maritime NZ to reinstate Survey Nelson as an SSM company in May, and the couple said they had worked closely with Maritime NZ to satisfy its demands. A "vigorous inspection" of vessels under Survey Nelson's administration had uncovered some deficiencies and its licence had again been revoked. "We have simply run out of money. We know we could defend ourselves again and we would win again, but we will never be able to recoup our losses. We will seek reparation for the damage done." French accident investigators have condemned the working arrangements on board a ship which ran aground in the English Channel in February when her master fell asleep. The 3817dwt Musketier stranded on a flat, rocky bottom at Ambleteuse in northern France during a voyage between Spain and Germany. The French accident investigation body BEAmer said the Ukrainian master missed a waypoint and failed to change course while the ship, with seven crew on board, was in the Dover traffic separation zone. The master and first officer were sharing the deck watchkeeping duties and their working pattern was "particularly tiring", with little rest time. BEAmer said the master had fallen asleep at least 80 minutes before the Musketier became stranded. The ship was refloated on the high tide and there was no serious structural damage. The investigators discovered the ECDIS waypoint alarm and the deadman's alarm had both been switched off. November/December 2011 Professional Skipper 51 PHOTO: GARY STOKES