Toilets and Buckets

[bj]

I have looked every where to find the laws relating to sullage on small boats.What is the law relating to say,small tinnys?I listened to fellow on Nuggets radio programme a couple of weeks ago and he said by law ALL boats even small tinnys must have at least a portable toilet with a holding tank[ Porta Potti for example] in smooth water.Is this true?

[webby]

Hi The new laws coming out, states their is to be no disposal of rear end waste produced into the waters.
Yes you can still hang the front end over the side, but anything else has to be disposed off on land.
So all boats with in built porta loos, or chemical toilets now have to store that waste till docking and then dispose of it.
regards

[freefish]

Bringing it back is bad enough but what do you do with it then? Are there pump out points for those with onboard tanks? Is the local sewerage treatment works salt water compatable? A porta potti or similar can be emptied & cleaned at home I suppose but all else pose a BIG problem.

[caveman]

picked up a porta-potty for the boat a few months ago for $2 at an auction ;D

[Cheech]

Was out on the boat a month or so ago and my 7 year old said I gotta go poo. Quite frankly I couldnt give a rats arse what the reregs are in that situation.

How does that work actualy when on the way home we motor past the brisbane docks and get crap on the boat from container discharge. Is that double standards?

Cheech

[Lucky_Phill]

I do believe the laws regarding this were set in place, because of the high number of " live aboard " folk in our Boat Harbours. These people ( not all ) were using their on board facilities while they had the option to use the Marina's. Some boats had ' holding ' tanks, but most did not.

When the research was done, and this included the waste from container ships etc, the scientists were astounded by the " tonnage of un-treated effluent", getting distributed directly into our waterways, and in particular Marine Parks such as Moreton Bay.

Again, the regs are set in place to support the environment in which we place spare time and efforts. Not all regs are going to work for all people and situations, but none-the-less, have to be there. In the big picture, I believe it was the right decision to do this.

But, as freefish says, maybe there should be pump out points at all boat ramps, marina's or even better facilities and in some cases, A Facility. That's what the $12 fee in our boat rego is supposed to be going into, not managing the funds >:(

Safe Sittings:- Phill

[baldyhead]

Read the following taken from AMPTO's own site, take particular notice of No 18.

This is the same body of operators who wanted NO FISHING of any description on THEIR Great Barrier Reef.


Sewage Submission by Ampto



COMMENTS ON MSQ
VESSEL - SOURCED SEWAGE
REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENT


Background

1. AMPTO is the peak marine tourism body in QLD and its members take more than 95% of tourists to the Great Barrier Reef. Our industry is worth over $1.5 billion per year to QLD and is one of the largest employers in the state.

2. The vessels that are owned and operated by our members range from 40m wave piecers to 7m bareboat charter vessels.

3. Our industry consists of the following main groups:

a. Day Charter.

b. Short Term Overnight (3 to 4 nights).

c. Long Range Rovers (5 to 10 nights).

d. Bareboat Charters (1 to 14 nights).

4. While this submission only deals primarily with the day charter group and specific problem areas for the other groups need to be canvassed directly from them, we have also commented on some general problem areas for those other groups.


Interest Areas

5. Nearly 100% of the day charter vessels carry over 15 passengers and are class 1 vessels.

6. In the main, we will be able to comply until 2007 when the “nil discharge” provisions will commence.

7. Most already are fitted with sewage holding tanks.




8. The most significant problem after 2007 will be lack of in port pump out facilities and the inability of councils to handle large amounts of salt water. Currently there is only one port with facilities north of Gladstone and that it Port Douglas which is still having major problems with its system.

9. Cairns City Council when sent a copy of the RIS by AMPTO simply replied – Whats this got to do with us? The new Cairns City Port project installed brackets for a pump out facility but did not install pipes, as the Cairns City Council has no plans to offer a treatment for vessel sewage.

10. For the RIS it simply state that pump out facilities will be provided by marinas and councils at no or little cost in at best naïve. There is no doubt that to install the facilities will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in each marina as well as increased costs for the council to treat it once pumped out. No rational person would believe the statement in the RIS that it would be a service provided free if you purchased fuel.

11. Long Range Rovers and the Short Term Overnight vessels will be able to comply up until 2007 when they will have special problems in that even if there is port facilities available, the size of the holding tanks needed to keep all sewage on board until the vessel returned to port would be enormous and in fact unlikely to be fitted in the space available. There would undoubtedly be a stability problem. The only solution here would be to fit a treatment system but size, cost and installation space will all be difficult problems and may well prove impossible to rectify.

12. Some of the Short Term Overnight vessels stay at sea for a month or more and transfer passengers on day vessels. It has been suggested that to overcome the problems in the above paragraph, the day vessels could be fitted with holding tanks and take sewage on board to be pumped out in port. Two problem areas here are of course, no port facilities and the risk of spillage.

13. Bareboat Charter vessels will have extreme difficulty in complying at all because of the 1000m from land issue. For vessels operating in the Whitsunday Islands this will be very difficult. The vessels are typically very small and the additional space for increased sullage tanks just does not exist. Some WH&S implications exist here as well with untrained personnel operating the on board systems.

Recommendations

14. It is recommended that each vessel whose owner feels it can not meet the requirements because of design limitations, get an exemption certificate from a naval architect that explains why the vessel is unable to comply with either fitting large sullage tanks or a sewage treatment system. The vessel should then be allowed to operate under the 2006 rules.

15. All new vessels should be constructed to comply as from 2004.




16. Discuss the new technology breakthrough being studied by the Great Barrier Reef Research Foundation with Mr David Windsor, their Managing Director. 07 3211 8890.

Summary

17. While lack of facilities and cost are the most significant factors, many vessels will be unable to comply because of design limitations and operational use. Some allowance here is needed.

18. Industry accepts the need to address this problem but it cannot afford expensive fixes for what is really not a major problem.




Col McKenzie 20 April 2003
Executive Director

[Gazza]

IF there's some sort of disposal point ,for smaller and larger boats from where you launch ,so be it , use 'em.

i'd be more concerned that if people took it home ,they'd more than likely use the stormwater drain for easy disposal #???
Think about it ,a day with the family on the water ,you come home ,how do you put it in the toilet and flush it #???

No exclusions of who 'can' and who 'cant' shit overboard ,that's fair or it's blatant discrimination #???.....against who?

Gee ,i feel shitty about this :-X

[SeaHunt]

Did I read this right , they have closed large areas of the GBR to fishing, put tourist operators are currently taking thousands of people out there to shit on it every day. And they can continue to do this till 2007? ??? ???
And lets not worry about what damage their usually much larger boats with their much larger anchors do.
I think the Breat Barrier Reef has a lot more to fear from tourism than from recreational fisherman , (who usually have a crap at home before they go out, I might add). [smiley=bigcry.gif]
Its all about money isn't it. ???

[baldyhead]

Yeah Mate it's called "TREACHERY and GREED"
cheers Baldy