News 08 Dec, 2014 Australia - Great Barrier Reef Marine Park - Recent Offences Update Translations: Chinese  Vietnamese   We are grateful to Australian lawyers Thynne + Macartney , Brisbane, for permission to reproduce the following article written by Michael Fisher and Matthew Hockaday. There are a plethora of regulations in place to try and minimise the effects of shipping on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park eco-system. Failure to adhere to these regulations can, and often does, result in costly fines and delays. More often than not breaches of these regulations are caused through easily preventable errors. Navigation The officer of the watch on a bulk carrier was recently fined a record A$ 85,000 for travelling inside a prohibited shipping area within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The master was also fined A$ 40,000 bringing the total fine for the breach to A$ 125,000. The vessel was also detained for failing to carry relevant nautical charts and failing to prepare a voyage plan taking into account the designated shipping area of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. This incident, and the associated delays and record fines, could easily have been avoided. The fines imposed were significantly greater than previously imposed for similar breaches and reflects heightened community concern about navigation in the Great Barrier Reef region. Garbage Disposal A number of vessels have also been caught out by garbage disposal offences recently. These offences typically arise inadvertently due to a lack of knowledge of regulations and incomplete garbage management plans and signage onboard. A breach of garbage disposal regulations can result in fines of up to a maximum of A$ 425,000 for vessel owners and A$ 85,000 for the master being imposed, with authorities routinely detaining vessels where there is evidence of an infringement until security for the maximum combined fine (A$ 510,000) is received. Contrary to the usual regulations under MARPOL for the dis