We attach hereto please find an information from Thynne & Macartney, our correspondent in Brisbane, Australia, regarding recent investigations of possible marine offences (navigational or environmental) in Australian waters for your kind attention.

In case of trading in Australian waters, we should be grateful if you could inform the master of the above and instruct him to be aware of the following points;

1. Marine crime and particularly groundings in the Great Barrier Reef region, oil pollution and ship/fishing vessel collisions are　"under the spotlight" at present and are taken extremely seriously by the authorities.


2. If the Australian Federal Police or other authorities attend on board a vessel toinvestigate an alleged incident,the master and officers should not agree to a taped interview or to provide a report or statement or to sign any statement or record, without first obtaining legal advice.Although Federal Agents can appear intimidating, they are aware of your rights and will behave reasonably as long as you are firm.


3. If a vessel is or may be undergoing an investigation that may result in charges against the master or other essential officers, there is an increasing likelihood of arrest of key personnel resulting in potential delays to the vessel.Contingency plans for obtaining substitute ship's staff should be put into action immediately.

In case of emergency our correspondent in Brisbane is accessible as below;

Thynne & Macartney
Level 29, Comalco Place,
12 Creek Street,
Brisbane, Q 4000
AUSTRALIA
Tel: (61) 7 32318888
Fax: (61) 7 32290855
e-mail:transport@thymac.com.au

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MARINE AND ENVIRONMENTAL OFFENCES AND THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE

Recent investigations of possible marine offences (navigational or environmental) in Australian waters have highlighted hardening attitudes by investigating authorities and increasing involvement of the Australian Federal Police.

Until comparatively recently,investigations of marine casualties were very often conducted by the officers of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority or their state equivalent.Icreasingly however, the relevant government agencies are engaging the services of Federal Agents (officers of the Australian Federal Police) to conduct investigations.Such investigations may well involve large numbers of armed agents boarding the vessel at the first opportunity, creating an extremely intimidating environment.

Attitudes shown by Federal Agents during casualties can be counter-productive and intimidating. Anecdotally, we are told that during a recent investigation on board a vessel that was still aground, and in the midst of efforts to stabilise the situation and decrease the possibility of environmental harm, a Federal Agent threatened to declare the entire vessel a crime scene and exclude all persons from it.

Similarly, until recently the authorities tended to have a comparatively "gentlemanly attitude towards pressing charges against persons (usually masters) who were alleged to be criminally responsible for events for which they had no personal responsibility (e.g. oil pollution incidents or navigational mishaps caused by junior engineers or deck officers).The authorities often allowed a master to attend at a police station voluntarily,or simply served papers upon lawyers with no personal attendance by the master required.Recently we have seen increasing instances of masters arrested, kept in a watch house for a short period, searched, required to put up substantial bail and generally treated like common criminals even though they are not alleged to have done anything wrong, personally.

Masters of vessels trading in Australian waters should be aware of the following points.

1. Marine crime and particularly groundings in the Great Barrier Reef region, oil pollution and ship/fishing vessel collisions are "under the spotlight" at present and are taken extremely seriously by the authorities.
2. If the Australian Federal Police or other authorities attend on board a vessel to investigate an alleged incident, the master and officers should not agree to a taped interview or to provide a report or statement or to sign any statement or record, without first obtaining legal advice. Although Federal Agents can appear intimidating, they are aware of your rights and will behave reasonably as long as you are firm.
3. If a vessel is or may be undergoing an investigation that may result in charges against the master or other essential officers, there is an increasing likelihood of arrest of key personnel resulting in potential delays to the vessel.Contingency plans for obtaining substitute ship's staff should be put into action immediately.