Tanker censured for entering ban area

Tutukaka Coast residents are delighted that maritime authorities are finally getting tough on ships breaching a ban on going too close to the Poor Knights Islands.

In December last year the International Maritime Organisation declared the Poor Knights Islands a "Mandatory Area to be Avoided" -- a ban requiring ships longer than 45 metres to keep at least five nautical miles to the east.

About 20 ships have since breached the ban and Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) is now getting tough, boarding an oil tanker that breached the ban this week and issuing the skipper with four deficiency notices.

The French-flagged oil tanker Bro Arthur entered the ban zone on Tuesday, MNZ spokeswoman Heidi Brook said.

The notices were issued for an incorrect voyage plan, having incorrect charts on board, being a potential threat to safety and navigation and not planning its route properly.

Ms Brook said the notices were serious for a shipping company as they stayed on a ship's record and the ship could not leave New Zealand until it had remedied them.

In June MNZ sent notices to all shipping companies informing them of the need to have the ban on their charts.

Ships that were later found to breach the ban could be detained in port, which would cost shipping companies thousands of dollars each day.

If a ship breached the ban after being detained, the shipping company would be prosecuted, Ms Brooks said.

The news that ships were finally being punished has pleased Tutukaka coast resident Malcolm Pullman, one of many who have been "dobbing in" the errant ships.

However, Mr Pullman said it was worrying that eight months after the ban was introduced there were still plenty of ships that did not have up-to-date charts.

"It's now a mandatory area to be avoided and should, by now, be on all those charts," he said.

"It makes you wonder.

"If they don't have this on their charts, what important navigational hazards, or other potentially dangerous notices, have these ships not got on their charts?"

A network of Tutukaka Coast residents keeps a keen eye on the sea between shore and the Poor Knights to catch any ships breaching the ban.

Several residents regularly report the breaches to MNZ, including sending photos of the offending ships, and Ms Brook said that was vital to maintaining the ban.

The area between North Cape and Bream Head, which includes the Poor Knights, is considered to have the second-highest risk factor in New Zealand for oil spills.

The area of highest risk is between Bream Head and Coromandel.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)