UOW study weighs up the cost of sea anchor damage

The issue is the subject of a major research project led by Professor Andy Davis of the UoW Centre for Sustainable Ecosystem Solutions.

A multidisciplinary team will conduct the research, which the university said was the first of its kind into the impact of the $200billion shipping industry.

It will examine the effect of anchors and their chains on the ocean floor near Australia’s busiest ports, starting with Port Kembla and Newcastle then moving to include Port Dampier in Western Australia’s Pilbara region and Townsville on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.

These ports receive about 11,000 ships every year.

Professor Davis said preliminary mapping off Port Kembla showed chains more than 250 metres long were dragging through sea floor habitat.

‘‘Preliminary mapping has confirmed anchoring is occurring on reef near Port Kembla,’’ he said.

‘‘This may well have damaging environmental impacts on important habitat-forming marine species, with implications for fish populations.

‘‘We will now seek to identify areas of high conservation value, then identify how these areas may best be conserved.’’

The depth in many ports is greater than a regular scuba dive, so the team will use remote mapping technology to gather information.

Professor Davis said the aim was to use the research to work with the shipping industry and develop sustainable anchoring practices.

‘‘There is a huge knowledge gap in the impact of deep-water vessels on environmental habitats,’’ he said.

‘‘Even the shipping industry’s code of practice fails to recognise anchor scour as an important environmental threat.

An anchor’s ‘‘scope’’ is the term which refers to the amount of chain below the water, which can usually be at least five times as long as the water is deep.

This means there is an enormous amount of heavy metal tearing across the sea bed on a regular basis.