Cruise ship moors in wrong spot
Concerns have been flagged about the lack of a designated cruise ship anchor point in Geographe Bay after Diamond Princess moored in the wrong location last Thursday.
The Department of Parks and Wildlife admitted the ship did not anchor at the correct site because of a crew oversight, but said it did not come close to any reef.
Recreational fishermen claim Diamond Princess moored above reef, potentially damaging the marine environment.
Fisherman Howard George said local anglers used radar equipment to pinpoint the ship's GPS co-ordinates, confirming it was above a reef known as Viv's Patch.
"We believe the boat was above the reef, but we can't pin exactly where the anchor was," he said.
"The point is they have another nine ships coming in two years and if each captain does what he wants, they'll end up ploughing up the ocean floor."
A DPaW spokeswoman said under maritime law, the ship was entitled to anchor anywhere it needed to, but as a courtesy the cruise company requested the department identify a suitable location. It was agreed the ship would use an area of bare sand north-east of the jetty, but it anchored 2.7km north-west of the jetty, about 2km from the suggested site, the spokeswoman said.
"The cruise company apologised for not anchoring in the area suggested by Parks and Wildlife and indicated it was a result of an oversight by the crew," she said.
"The company has assured the department it will take greater care in the future to follow advice in regards to anchoring in the bay."
The department insisted the ship anchored more than 1.6km from Viv's reef and staff had assessed the area to be predominantly seagrass beds and bare sand.
But Mr George described the debacle as a "stuff up" and said the damage had already been done.
"In front of the harbour in Bunbury there's a designated anchoring area, but they've ploughed up 5sqkm of ocean floor," he said.
"We don't want that happening in Busselton."
Princess Cruises has remained tight-lipped, insisting the ship was anchored in sand, as marked on official navigational charts.
A spokeswoman said there was no mandated anchorage point for Busselton, but with more ship visits scheduled, the company would be discussing the question of designated anchorage points with Ngari Marine Park.
Greens member Michael Baldock called for a management plan to designate a location for cruise ships to anchor.
Mr Baldock said Greens MLC Lynn MacLaren would raise the issue in the near future.
"We're not against ships coming in, we're just asking for them to do the right thing by the community," he said.
"It was an innocent mistake, but we don't want to see it repeated."
