‘Needle in a haystack’ investigation nails ship guilty of Great Barrier Reef spill

A foreign-flagged ship faces a fine of up to A$30m ($22.62m) after a painstaking investigation to find out who was responsible for an oil spill of 10 to 15 tonnes along the Great Barrier Reef 12 months ago.

Investigators from Maritime Safety Queensland, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority spent the past 12 months trying to identify the ship in what the Brisbane Times described as “the maritime equivalent of hunting for a needle in a haystack”.

Initially the search was narrowed down to 17 ships which had been in the spill area within 72 hours of when it happened. All 17 shipping companies since denied responsibility for the spill.

“The challenge was then to track down the individual ships, many of which were on international voyages, check onboard records, interview crews and take oil samples for elimination testing against samples from the spill,” ports minister Mark Bailey said.

The oil leaked off Cape Upstart in north Queensland last July.

Bailey described the case as “absolutely outrageous environmental vandalism”.

“It does appear to be a hit-and-run by a ship on the Queensland coastline near the reef. We want to bring it to justice and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he added.

The ship has not been identified in public yet. The case has been handed to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.