Don’t dump warship on whales: recycle

A FIVE–YEAR study of toxins in whales highlighted at the International Whaling Commission has alarmed environmentalists.

High levels of toxic heavy metals were found in whales in the study by Ocean Alliance, according to founding biologist Roger Payne.

“This study has massive implications for the Government’s planned dumping of the ex–HMAS Adelaide in a whale migratory path at Avoca Beach,” No Ship Action Group’s Michelle Meares said.

The study has also concerned Greenpeace.

“Dumping a toxic warship into a whale migration path is environmental vandalism,” said Greenpeace spokesperson James Lorenz.

“In support of the No Ship Action Group, Greenpeace is calling for common sense to prevail and for the ship to be safely recycled,” Mr Lorenz said.

Dr Payne from Ocean Alliance was quoted in Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald saying: “The biggest surprise was chromium. That’s an absolute shocker. Nobody was even looking for it.”

The report sampled tissue of nearly 1000 sperm whales and said the entire ocean was loaded with a series of contaminants which are threatening whales.

The ex–HMAS Adelaide is a steel–hulled 4000–tonne warship with about 15 tonnes of paint. Two to three tonnes is antifouling paint which contains Chromium 6.

Two sources of chromium in the ocean are antifouling paint and steel.

The Government plans to dump the obsolete warship in the humpback whale migration path.

“It beggars belief that such a potentially damaging act is under consideration by a supposedly educated government in our country,” Ms Meares said.

“Let’s look at recycling this old warship responsibly. Perhaps new industry and jobs could also come out of it.”

Back in 1995 Shell UK wanted to dump an old oil storage buoy called the Brent Spar about 250 km off Scotland. A worldwide campaign against this plan ultimately saw Shell recycle the Brent Spar in 1998.

The Environmental Defenders Office acting for the No Ship Action Group apply to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal tomorrow (Wednesday June 30) for an adjournment.

No Ship Action Group

Media Inquiries http://noship.com.au
Ben Smith 0409 693 205,
Michelle Meares 0439 645 372

9 years ago

Media releases from No Ship Action Group

Oh buoy were we warned: ship debris on beach
June 3 2011

 SHARP metal sheeting from the ex-HMAS Adelaide washed up along North Avoca Beach on the eve of World Environment Day.
 
Severe storms in the past week littered the beach with ship debris and broke loose two navigational buoys.

The potentially dangerous debris, with some metal sheets up to 2 metres long, marks the beginning of the predicted break-up of the ex-HMAS Adelaide.

The No Ship Action Group has kept a piece of the debris to make a sculpture.

Many supporters of the scuttling claimed the wreck would be positive for the environment and that this was an environmentally friendly sea dumping.

The sculpture will highlight the irony of dumping an ex-naval vessel into the ocean as an ‘artificial reef’ which now endangers swimmers and marine life.

No Ship Action Group warned the frigate was the wrong type of ship to sink, and that it would break up as has its identical sister ship the ex-HMAS Canberra, sunk off the Victorian coast near Geelong in October, 2009.
 
The Geelong ship has cracked and is already breaking up with Parks Victoria issuing a warning to divers on its website 16 months after the ship sunk.
 
It is less two months since the ex-HMAS Adelaide was sunk on April 13 2011 and it is already breaking up.
 
Divers have reported that the hull has cracked. The crack has appeared in the ship’s ‘weak spot’ as outlined by a marine engineer in a  $4000 report NSAG commission in the month before the ex-HMAS was sunk in a last-minute bid to prove to authorities the ship would break up and pollute the bay. Read the report online here. http://bit.ly/fwNZFi
 
The report was the basis of a summons in the Land and Environment Court the day before the scuttling in what was a last-minute bid to stop the dumping. Read the Summons here http://bit.ly/kJi8EB
 
However, Premier Barry O’Farrell chose to ignore the report, as did Member for Terrigal Chris Hartcher.
 
The potentially dangerous metal sections of the ex-HMAS Adelaide made their way to the beach starting on Tuesday.
 
One piece of aluminium sheet measuring two metres by 60cm was found in the surf zone on Tuesday afternoon.

About 80 smaller sections measuring on average about 20cm by 20cm were seen strewn along the beach.

The sheet is of sandwich construction with air trapped in a honeycomb of very thin aluminium between two sheets of aluminium. The trapped air gives the sheets enough buoyancy to keep them floating
 
According to expert marine engineer, Werner Hoyt, “The material washing ashore are internal partitioning aluminum wall materials not removed during preparation for reefing.”

In this form with razor sharp edges it could prove deadly in the surf zone. A surfer or child struck by a thin sharp sheet this size could sustain a very serious injury.
 
Local surfers want answers. How many of the deadly sheets are still lurking in the surf area from Avoca Beach to North Avoca? This could be a serious hazard to marine life if ingested such as whales, dolphins, turtles and other marine creatures.

“It appears that the Adelaide is becoming the poster child of why ships should no longer be reefed,” Mr Hoyt said. “Cost of reefing is now at four times the raw cost to recycle with out counting the resource recovery. The planners failed to account for differences in construction technologies and their likely behavior when subjected to a reefing environment.”  
 
Once again, two ex-HMAS Adelaide marker buoys broke loose in recent storms This is the second occasion buoys have broken free, this time amidst sea twisters and massive swells.
 
The ship wreck is just 6 metres below the surface and a serious navigational hazard right now as there are no navigational marker buoys there.
 
Rumour has it that one buoy washed up at Wamberal and a reward for $600 is being offered to trawler captains if they find one.
 
The buoy system comprises two navigational marker buoys ($16,000 each) and six mooring buoys.

Media inquiries: Michelle Meares 0439 645 372

No Ship files to stop scuttling

April 12  2011
 
NO SHIP Action Group filed an 11th-hour summons at 4pm today to stop the ex-HMAS Adelaide being scuttled off Avoca Beach tomorrow morning.

Citing last-mintue evidence pertaining to the breaking up of the ex-HMAS Canberra off the coast of Victoria near Geelong, the group filed a summons addressed to State Minister for Primary Industries and Minister for Environment at the Land and Environment Court.
 
The latest evidence was received via Freedom of Information documents on Friday afternoon. It shows the Victorian ship, which is an identical sister ship to the ex-HMAS Adelaide, has broken up largely because of corrosion inherently caused by the ship’s structure.

Additionally, the ex-HMAS Adelaide’s 23000 sq m of lead paint has not been tested for toxic PCBs despite numerous requests.
 
“Will Premier O’Farrell respect the court system and allow the Land and Environment Court time to decide the rights and wrongs of sinking this warship?,” a No Ship spokesperson said.

“What is wrong with waiting and letting the court decide. There are serious concerns here.
 
“What is one week of waiting, compared to two hundred years of pollution washing up on our beaches.”

Friday’s FOI documents follow on from a $4000 report the community group received on Monday last week from a US marine engineer outlining why the ship in Victoria is breaking up so quickly.

“It turns out these frigates are the wrong type of ship to scuttle,” the NSAG spokesperson said.
 
“We are loathe to lodge the summons at this late and criticial stage but we had no choice. This corrosion must be looked at. We truly thought Barry O’Farrell and the Liberals meant a fresh wave of accountable, clean Governance.”  

“We are asking Mr O’Farrell to let the court be the umpire.”
 
Last year the community spent nearly $70,000 on a legal case against the NSW State Government, which spent about $1 million of taxpayers’ money fighting the residents of Avoca Beach. 

Media inquiries: Michelle Meares 0439 645 372

No Shippers Corner Kelly on Warship Wharf
February 24, 2011
Crecendo of Calls to Stop the Scuttling of HMAS Adelaide
February 03, 2011
Warship threatens to erode Avoca Beach: further studies needed
October 20, 2010
Tribunal rebuffs Government Warship appeal
October 12, 2010
Abandon warship scuttling or do full environmental study
September 24, 2010
Tribunal orders toxins off warship
September 16, 2010
Warship decision weighs heavily
July 16, 2010
State Government happy to dump 28 tonnes of lead paint at Avoca Beach
July 8, 2010
The Castle Battles the Warship [PDF]
July 4, 2010
Don’t dump warship on whales: recycle [PDF]
June 29, 2010
State Government Squanders Money on Warship Debacle [PDF]
March 27, 2010
Avoca Gets Its Day in Court [PDF]
March 25, 2010
Kelly Scuttled by Smoking Gun [PDF]
March 24, 2010
Garrett Signs Away Avoca [PDF]
March 22, 2010
Garrett’s Last Chance to Act [PDF]
March 19, 2010
Government Tests Flawed: PCBs Still Onboard [PDF]
March 17, 2010
Warship Steals Five Metres of Beach [PDF]
March 16, 2010
World Class Surfer Teaches Tony About the Sea [PDF]
March 16, 2010
Minister for Spinning Plans Epic Fail [PDF]
March 15, 2010

Related media

9 years ago

Warship Steals Five Metres of Beach

MEDIA RELEASE FROM NO SHIP ACTION GROUP 16/03/2010

North Avoca’s shoreline could recede by more than five metres if the ex-HMAS Adelaide is scuttled on March 27.

At high tide the shoreline could run 5.3 metres higher up the beach, according to figures calculated by a coastal engineer and a highly regarded geomorphologist last week.

Interestingly, Mr Nielsen is quoted as the author of the report which was used as a source of data for the Review of Environmental Factors (REF). The REF was written by Worley Parsons at the State Government’s request.

Since the REF was published on February 5 Mr Nielsen has produced further figures which show that the placement of a ship in Bulbararing Bay will change the wave direction slightly, or refract it.

This wave refraction could result in a permanent 5.3 metre regression of the beach, back toward beachfront properties.

Mr Nielsen believes the base grid size used by Worley Parsons for the wave refraction modelling was too coarse because the grid lines only interact with the ship at a couple of points. He believes the wave refraction modelling should have been done with a much finer scale, or grid size, which would have projected the interaction between waves and ship and waves on many more points.

The Worley Parsons REF did not follow through in assessing wave refraction changes and the implication this will have on the shoreline alignment and subsequent erosion.  Essentially, the Worley Parsons REF is a primary base study.

The site selection report completed in June 2008 recommends an indepth study of the closed environment of the bay. This was not done

Additionally, the REF did not take into account the localised factors of Avoca Lagoon opening, which discharges about 1,500,000 cubic metres of water and 30,000 cubic metres of fine sand and silt when opened, which is on average twice a year. The REF did not take into account the mega-rips which occur when large storm swells hit, which happens about twice a year. Moreover, the REF did not factor in that the ship will essentially be in a closed beach compartment, which creates the potential for pollutants to concentrate.

No Ship Action Group’s (NSAG) Quentin Riley is concerned about beachfront erosion.

“It’s extraordinary - how can Peter Garrett even think of signing off on the scuttling of this ship? Big storms last winter gouged within metres of beach front properties at North Avoca. Add five metres to the wave reach and we could see the loss of homes.”

“Based on expert advice, Local Council introduced new rules that state if you’re building a beachfront home, you have to place it further back on the block because of receding shorelines.”

“But now the State and Federal Governments are wantonly dumping a ship which could take five metres of shoreline! It’s inconceivable. Beachfront owners will be furious.”

“The Government wants to scuttle the ship just 1400m off North Avoca and 1700m off Avoca Beach following a decade of lobbying by the dive community. The site was chosen because it is 32 metres deep and has a layer of sand about five metres deep to enable the ship to embed.”

If it goes ahead, the scuttling will be the closest ever to an Australian shoreline.

Residents of Avoca Beach and North Avoca only realised the ship would be in their bay around Christmas time 2009. Previously, it was announced on many occasions as being “off Terrigal”.

9 years ago