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WATERWAYS – Waterfront Business Hauraki speed restrictions In brief… UK naval ships to be built in Korea The Royal Navy's next generation of support tankers is to be built in South Korea. Defence Equipment Minister Peter Luff said Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering had been chosen as the government's preferred bidder to build the four 37,000 tonne vessels costing £452 million. The Ministry of Defence said that although a number of British companies took part in the competition, none submitted a final bid for the build contract. UK firms will however benefit from associated contracts, including the provision of key systems and equipment worth £150 million. The winning design for the ships is by the British company BMT Defence Services. "The government remains committed to building complex warships in UK shipyards," Luff said. The MoD's chief of defence materiel, Bernard Gray, said "I believe the winning bidder's solution will offer the UK the best value for money." The four Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) tankers will maintain the Navy's ability to refuel warships at sea and will provide support for amphibious, land and air forces." At more than 200m in length, each ship is as long as 14 double-decker buses and can pump enough fuel to fill two Olympic-size swimming pools in an hour. SatComms in New Zealand The New Zealand marine electronics specialist Electronic Navigation Ltd (ENL) and SatComms Australia – a leader in global satellite communication solutions – have entered into a joint venture forming SatComms NZ. The partnership will see SatComms bring their airtime and satellite- solutions expertise, while ENL will provide their experience in hardware and local on-the-ground support in areas such as mobile communications. The service portfolio integrates New Zealand into global satellite infrastructure, providing communication solutions for marine users such as commercial fishing, ocean sailors and superyachts, as well as government agencies and land-based customers. 42 Professional Skipper May/June 2012 Brydes whale feeding at the surface UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND scientists Dr Rochelle Constantine and Dr Natacha Aguilar are calling for speed restrictions in the Hauraki Gulf to protect endangered Bryde's whales, after innovative research has revealed why the whales are so vulnerable to being killed by ships. Research using multi-sensor tags attached to the whales by suction cups, shows Bryde's whales spend more than 90 percent of their time in the top 12m of water, making them extremely vulnerable to being hit by vessels of all kinds, especially large ships that are highly likely to kill the whales when they do collide. The Hauraki Gulf has one of the few resident populations of Bryde's whales in the world, but until recently relatively little was known about them. The research team had gathered records of 41 Bryde's whale deaths in the region over the past 16 years. Of 18 whales examined for cause of death, 15 were found to have died due to ship-strike, making this the species' main cause of mortality. The whales were very active during the day, foraging both at the surface and Awaiting burial at Motutapu Island underwater and performing mostly brief dives of less than 10m depth. However they came even closer to the surface at night. "This was a surprise – it's very unusual behaviour for large baleen whales," says Dr Constantine. "The pattern of being particularly close to the surface at night time when they're resting, and likely to be less vigilant, makes these whales even more vulnerable to ship strike." The researchers recommend that restricting the speed of large ships in the Hauraki Gulf, and mandatory reporting of whale sightings to increase awareness of their presence, may be the best course of action to minimise lethal collisions with these whales. SLOPPY SCIENCE BLAMES FISHERMEN THE NEW ZEALAND Federation of Commercial Fishermen says the Conservation and Primary Industries Ministers' proposal to extend the set net ban along the Taranaki coast, while undertaking a review of Hector's and Maui's dolphins, is a knee-jerk reaction that does not consider the full picture. "This proposal puts the blame at the fishermen's door and ignores all the other known factors including disease, pollution and natural predators such as sharks and orcas," said Doug Saunders-Loder, the president of the New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen. "Like all New Zealanders we are very concerned at the possibility of a decline in Maui's dolphins and we want careful and successful management of this endangered species." The Taranaki fishing community have met with MAF and DoC last week to express their willingness to assist in information gathering, including working with government agencies to look at ways of identifying and tagging the marine mammals. There has only been one reported fishing-related mortality death of a Hector's or Maui's dolphin in the Taranaki area in the last 25 years. This was reported in January.