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Editors --- "Locals, oceanographer help to clinch second pollution at sea conviction" [1998] AUFPPlatypus 34; (1998) 61 Platypus: Journal of the Australian Federal Police, Article 5


Locals, oceanographer help to clinch second pollution at sea conviction

One of the more unusual operations undertaken by the AFP culminated this year in a conviction for environmental crime with the strength of the Crown's case centring around evidence collected by local residents, and the determinations of a CSIRO oceanographer.

P&O Holidays, owner of the cruise ship Fairstar registered in Monrovia, Liberia, pleaded guilty in August to one count of Disposing of Garbage (Plastics) at Sea and was fined $10,000.

It was only the second time a prosecution had been made under the Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 1983.

Eastern Region's Federal Agent Karsten Lehn conducted the unique investigation with the preparation of evidence involving close liaison with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the Environment Protection Authority, Evans Head Police Station, and the Richmond River Shire Council.

In his statement to St James Local Court in Sydney, Federal Agent Lehn said that the Fairstar left Sydney for a three-day cruise on December 5, 1995.

It followed a route to the area around Fraser Island, Queensland, before returning to Sydney on December 9.

On the morning of December 10, residents of the Evans Head area on the NSW north coast noticed rubbish which had been washed up on the main beach and nearby Airforce Beach. It included whole packets of noodles, cigarette packets, shredded milk cartons, an Australia Post express envelope, plastic cups, and shredded Fairstar luggage tags bearing passengers' names.

The residents kept samples of the rubbish, one of them also taking photographs and video footage, but the remainder was washed away within 24 hours. They also contacted various authorities including the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which asked the AFP to investigate.

Federal agents and an AMSA officer boarded the Fairstar on its arrival in Sydney and obtained forensic samples and copies of the logs and charts of the vessel for that voyage. Samples taken from the shredder on the Fairstar were compared with the exhibits collected from the beach by residents and proved to be similar.

Copies of the Fairstar's logs and garbage disposal records indicated that the ship had disposed of food and cut glass on December 6, 1995 for two hours from 10pm. The food waste had been comminuted — a process by which it is liquefied and dispersed in the water — and the glass was crushed and dispersed. These are legal methods and types of garbage disposal from ships, but there was no record of disposal of paper or plastic, which is not legal.

Federal Agent Lehn said that during the period of the rubbish disposal, the ship travelled about 25 nautical miles, past Clarence Head and Evans Head, at about 12 nautical miles from the coast.

Its coordinates during the period of disposal were supplied to Dr Peter Craig of the CSIRO Division of Oceanography, an expert in the computer modelling of currents in coastal seas.

"By obtaining satellite imagery of the sea surface temperature, known wind speeds, tidal currents, and prevailing ocean currents, Dr Craig was able to predict where particles released from the Fairstar at the given times and locations would end up," Federal Agent Lehn said.

He calculated that it was likely the garbage would have washed ashore about 72 hours from the point and time of release between Clarence Head, and a point north of Evans Head, coinciding with the time that the local residents saw it.

In demonstrating the composition of the garbage, a large quantity of which was shredded milk cartons, Federal Agent Lehn asked Quality Assurance Manager of Tetra Pak Manufacturing Pty Ltd in Sydney, Spiros Stamatiou, to provide a breakdown of the cartons' construction. The analysis showed that such cartons are made of three layers of polyethylene plastic bonded with cardboard and aluminium.

And in the final analysis, the initiative of locals was key to the operation's success. "The actions of the local residents in reporting this matter and collecting the samples of rubbish were crucial in this investigation," Federal Agent Lehn said.


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