Marine Safety in Victoria Report 2007-2008 (PDF, 1.3 MB, 72 pp.)

3.2 ‘Response only’ incidents (n=49)
In 2007/8 the definition of ‘response only’ incidents was restricted to vessel disablements and persons in
trouble and false alarms and non-marine incidents excluded. There were 49 commercial ‘response only’
incidents reported on the MIR in 2007/8, 15 more than in 2006/7 (n=34, excluding false alarms and nonmarine
incidents). All were single vessel incidents.
3.2.1 Severity of ‘response only’ commercial incidents
Most of the 49 ‘response only’ incidents did not result in any damage to property or person (n=38, 78%).
The injury status of one incident was coded as ‘missing person’ but the incident description did not
support this code. One incident caused serious injury (2%, a commercial fishing vessel skipper crushed
his finger when deploying the anchor); one caused damage to property (2%) and another caused damage
to another vessel (2%). In the remaining cases (n=7; 15%) the damage to person and/or property was
undefined.
3.2.2 Waterway name
Forty-one percent of response only incidents occurred on Port Phillip Bay, 25% on the Yarra River and a
further 20% on Bass Strait. The remainder occurred on Corio Bay (8%), Western Port (4%) and Gippsland
Lakes-Lake Victoria (2%).
3.2.3 Major causes (types) of incidents
All incidents were disablements.
3.2.4 Vessel details
Thirty-two (65%) of the vessels involved in the 49 commercial ‘response only’ incidents were foreign
owned/registered. The other vessels involved were class 3 fishing vessels (n=7, 14%), class 1 passenger
vessels (n=7, 14%) and class 2 non-passenger vessels (n=3, 6%). Seventy-six percent of vessels were
greater than 12m in length, 8% were 8-12m long and 4% were 4.6-8m long.
3.2.5 Seasonal distribution, weather and water conditions
Just over one third (35%) of the commercial ‘response only’ incidents were reported in the 3-month period
March to May 2008, with the peak in May when 10 incidents occurred.
The wind speed and water conditions were undefined or unknown for 21 incidents (43%) and for 4
incidents (8%) the wind speed was recorded but not the water conditions. Twelve incidents (24%)
occurred in calm water conditions with wind speeds of 15 knots or less. Four (8%) occurred in choppy
water with wind speeds of 9-15 knots, five (10%) in rough water conditions with wind speed ranging from
9 to over 30 knots and one (2%) in very rough water with a wind speed of over 30 knots. One incident (2%)
occurred in a strong current with a wind speed of 9-15 knots.
Weather and visibility was undefined or unknown for 24 cases (49%). In one further case (2%) the visibility
was recorded (good) but the weather was coded as unknown and in another (2%) the weather was
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