{"id":590080,"date":"2026-04-06T23:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/590080\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T23:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:29:16","slug":"queensland-maritime-authorities-criticised-for-slow-wrecked-boats-salvage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/590080\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland maritime authorities criticised for ‘slow’ wrecked boats salvage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maritime authorities have promised that a boat wrecked on rocks by Cyclone Koji in North Queensland more than two months ago will be cleaned up “soon”.<\/p>\n

The vessel, 7 Wonder, was wrecked on the rocks surrounding Rose Bay, in Bowen’s north, on January 11.<\/p>\n

It was one of 25 boats Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) recorded as either wrecked or damaged following the cyclone’s crossing between Bowen and the southern Whitsunday coast.<\/p>\n

Rose Bay local Stuart Fisher said the boat should have been prioritised for removal rather than being left to deteriorate.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The deck of the boat has gradually rusted away. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)<\/p>\n

He said he and his neighbours had to spend hours each day cleaning up the debris along the rocks and washing up along the shoreline.<\/p>\n

“Upon impact, it was a lot of chemicals, drums half full of diesel and anti-fouling,” he said.<\/p>\n

“As the weeks went by it was mainly larger debris like plywood.<\/p>\n

“But as the top deck has rusted right through and peeled away, [the boat] has spewed its entire contents out all over the reef.”\"A<\/p>\n

Residents spent weeks collecting rubbish from the vessel that had washed up on the beach. (Supplied: Stuart Fisher)<\/p>\n

Under Queensland law the owners of a wrecked boat are responsible for its clean-up and removal, typically via a contractor.<\/p>\n

In this case MSQ directed the owners to remove the vessel by February 13, after which the agency began arranging removal itself.<\/p>\n

MSQ general manager Kell Dillon said the job then went out to tender, which was a weeks-long process.<\/p>\n

“The vessel in itself weighed about 70 tonnes,” Mr Dillon said.<\/p>\n

“We had to get a specialist contractor because that vessel is wedged heavily between rocks in an exposed shoreline.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

7 Wonder was wrecked at Rose Bay on January 11. (ABC Tropical North: Liam McNally)<\/p>\n

He said contractors in the region were spread thin, weather conditions had not been favourable, and getting specialist equipment into a remote, regional location had also proved challenging.<\/p>\n

“The costs are quite extreme and we do reserve the right to recoup those costs through the courts if required,” Mr Dillon said.<\/p>\n

Mr Fisher said he felt that despite repeated messages and calls to MSQ, he and his neighbours were not taken seriously about the severity of the pollution at Rose Bay.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Stuart Fisher says he and his neighbours feel marine authorities haven’t prioritised salvaging the wreck. (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)<\/p>\n

“We’ve basically taken care of business ourselves,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Long-term, the styrofoam is nearly impossible to get out at this point.”Wrecks everywhere<\/p>\n

Further south at Airlie Beach and surrounding areas, several wrecks washed up<\/a> during Koji’s crossing.<\/p>\n

Eco Barge Clean Seas founder Libby Edge said she and her team had been called on to provide a rapid response, removing 11 tonnes of waste after the event.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Libby Edge says better coordination is needed to prevent long-term damage to the reef. (Supplied: Whitsunday Turtle Rescue Centre)<\/p>\n

“We wanted to get to it before the next high tide because once that high tide hits the top of a rock wall, [the debris] washes out to sea with our south-east trade winds,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There’s still lot of it out there.”<\/p>\n

Ms Edge said more needed to be done by vessel owners to protect their boats before cyclones and by authorities to coordinate salvages and clean-ups.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Some boat owners are trying to keep tourists away from their wrecked vessels. (ABC Tropical North: Liam McNally)<\/p>\n

“They break up, and if they’re not insured then it becomes the community’s problem or MSQ’s problem,” Ms Edge said.<\/p>\n

“Each time we have an event like this, the community really goes up in arms. It’s a very slow process to actually salvage those vessels.”<\/p>\n

Next to Airlie Beach, the shallow Cannonvale Beach is home to turtles and dugongs attracted by its seagrass meadows.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The seagrass meadows at Cannonvale Beach have been “scarred” by stranded boats. (ABC Tropical North: Liam McNally)<\/p>\n

Reef Catchments Great Barrier Reef project officer Alexandra Williams ran a program to restore the meadows after they were damaged extensively by Cyclone Debbie in 2017.<\/p>\n

She said post-Koji, the meadows had been scarred by boats and debris being dragged in and out with the tides.<\/p>\n

“It’s very sad to be honest,” Ms Williams said.<\/p>\n

“But we’ll get there. These ecosystems are pretty resilient, they do tend to bounce back.”\"a<\/p>\n

Large tides have forced some boat owners to take possessions off their boats and leave them on higher ground. (ABC Tropical North: Liam McNally)<\/p>\n

How slow is too slow?<\/p>\n

Mr Dillon said MSQ was forced to intervene in about half of all salvages along Queensland’s coast, which had run into the “hundreds” in the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

He said the cost of salvaging a small boat ranged from $20,000 to $40,000, but the agency had previously had to pay “upwards of $600,000”.<\/p>\n

“If we have to get contractors involved to remove pollutants, they have to be disposed of safely as well and that can drive the cost up considerably,” Mr Dillon said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Maritime Safety Queensland says it has three boats left to recover in the region, with 7 Wonder among them. (Supplied: Stuart Fisher)<\/p>\n

He said the availability of specialist contractors had also blown out salvage times, but vessels posing a higher environmental risk were prioritised.<\/p>\n

“There’s a wide spectrum of considerations and we were very appreciative of the public being patient with the removal of those vessels,” Mr Dillon said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maritime authorities have promised that a boat wrecked on rocks by Cyclone Koji in North Queensland more than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[288202,64,63,288200,288199,213908,288201,288197,288196,44,288198,140617,252708],"class_list":{"0":"post-590080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-7-wonder","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-boaties","12":"tag-cannonvale-beach","13":"tag-cyclone-koji","14":"tag-destroyed-boats","15":"tag-ecobarge","16":"tag-marine-safety-queensland","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-reef-catchments","19":"tag-seagrass","20":"tag-stuart-fisher"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}