Redland City Bulletin reported this week how a false alarm from an emergency beacon – known as an EPIRB – cost $9000.
EPIRBS are one of those brilliant electronic gadgets that have saved many lives.
If dunked in water – such as when a boat goes down – or activated by several other methods, they emit an electronic warning signal transmitted via satellite on a distress frequency to rescue services. Emergency staff are then directed to the source of the transmission.
As we reported, one of these devices was set off at Victoria Point last week. A helicopter was dispatched, with five crew, including a doctor, on what they thought was a marine rescue mission.
With the EPIRB emitting its signal, emergency services were not to know that it was not a genuine distress alarm.
Apparently, signals have been sent from these devices from places like public rubbish dumps when owners have simply thrown away an old EPIRB rather than handing it in to the appropriate place for decommissioning.
As well, staff can be on one of these false alarms when a real emergency occurs, putting other lives at risk.
As it turned out, it is not clear what triggered the Victoria Point device – perhaps vandalism or lack of care. Regardless of the trigger or who the owner was, it was a costly false alarm and a warning to all boaties to be more careful with EPIRBs.
The incident was symptomatic of a wider problem in Moreton Bay – a lack of care with boating and fishing gear of all types.
There are not too many of our foreshores that are not littered with abandoned fishing gear, especially crab pots.
These belong to amateur fishers. They are set carelessly, knots not properly tied and in some cases left out too long or not monitored. Rough weather can simply wash away the crab pot or start breaking it up.
These devices continue killing crabs and fish so long as the bait lasts and are deadly to animals, such as sea turtles, which become entangled. Similarly, abandoned fishing line kills many seabirds. Plastic bags make up part of an enormous wave of plastic pollution that is not only killing wildlife but poisoning the food chain upon which we live.
The Victoria Point EPIRB false alarm was a warning for us all to be much more careful about how we conduct ourselves in the marine environment.
