Marine safety incident and demographic statistics - Annual Report2012-2013Page 1 of 32
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Published by Transport Safety Victoria
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© Copyright State Government of Victoria 2013.
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Contents
Introduction......
About this report
Key findings
Maritime fatalities and serious injuries
Marine incidents- recreational
Marine incidents- commercial
Waterways incident analysis
Marine licence snapshot
Recreational registrations snapshot
Commercial vessels in survey
Appendix A: data definitions and collection
Reporting requirements in Victoria
Explanatory notes
Changes to data collected
Demographic data
Legislative changes
Marine incident definition
Data definitions
Additional incident data definitions
Introduction
About this report
This report provides an overview of marine incidents for Victoria during the 2012– 2013 boating season. The current season data will be for incidents that have occurred in the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013. This season’s incidents are compared with those of the three previous seasons and demographic data, in the form of commercial vessel surveys, recreational vessel registrations and marine licences, is presented.
This report is an update to, and replacement for, the monthly Marine Incident and Demographic statistics reports provided throughout the 2012 - 2013 season. It contains additional information, including geospatial analysis and trending.
Information about the data collection and codification methodologies is detailed in Appendix A of this report.
Key findings
- During the 2012-2013 boating season five marine fatalitiesresulted from four recreational incidents.
- The number of marine incidents involving recreational vessels increased 11.08% when compared with the three preceding seasons.
- Of the 1353 reported recreational incidents, only 2.66% resulted in serious injury, lost vessel or fatality, which are the three worst possible outcomes for a marine incident.
- Three of the fatal incidents occurred on coastal inshore waters and one occurred on inland waters. The vast majority of recreational incidents occur on enclosed waters including Port Phillip Bay, Western Port, Gippsland Lakes and Corio Bay (86.18%).
- The number of marine incidents involving commercial vessels decreased by 27.64% when compared with the three preceding seasons. There were no fatalities and two serious injury incidents involving commercial vessels this season.
- One commercial fishing vessel (class 3) was lost in a fire incident on coastal offshore waters (Bass Straight – Western) in July 2012. All crew and passengers on board were rescued unharmed.
- As seen in the three previous seasons, the majority of commercial incidents occurred on Port Phillip Bay and the Yarra River.
Maritime fatalities and serious injuries
The table below contains data on fatalities that have occurred as a result of marine incidents in Victoria. It shows the total number of incidents that occurred in each month of each year from 1 July 2009 through to 30 June 2013. The last column shows the total number for each boating season.
Table 1: Marine incident fatalities by month from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2013
Year of incident / Jul / Aug / Sep / Oct / Nov / Dec / Jan / Feb / Mar / Apr / May / Jun / Total2009-2010 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 4
2010-2011 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 6
2011-2012 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 6
2012-2013 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 5
Further information
- 25 November 2012: A 66 year old male and 61 year old female died when an open 4.4m vessel capsized near Port Fairy (Bass Strait - Western).
- 14 March 2013: A 53 year old male died when he was washed overboard from a yacht at Port Campbell(Bass Strait - Western).
- 1 April 2013: A 59 year old male died when a half cabin vessel capsized while attempting to transit Mallacoota Inlet Bar(Bass Strait - Eastern).
- 20 May 2013: A 32 year old male was reported missing in Lake Eildon. On 29 May the man was found deceased 2 kilometres from where his vessel was found. Water Police are investigating and preparing an inquest brief for the Coroner.
Table 2 contains data on marine incidents that have resulted in serious injury in Victoria. It shows the total number of incidents that occurred in each month of each year since 1 July 2009. The last column shows the total number for each boating season.
Table 2: Marine incident serious injuries by month from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2013
Year of incident / Jul / Aug / Sep / Oct / Nov / Dec / Jan / Feb / Mar / Apr / May / Jun / Total2009-2010 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 5 / 4 / 1 / 3 / 0 / 1 / 19
2010-2011 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 4 / 7 / 2 / 0 / 4 / 2 / 0 / 21
2011-2012 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 5 / 7 / 3 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 24
2012-2013 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 6 / 11 / 2 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 25
Further information
08 July 2012, Collision between two vessels, Pykes Creek Reservoir27 August 2012, Person overboard,kayak,Port Phillip Bay
22 October 2012,Onboard illness,open vessel,Western Port
2 December 2012,Onboard injury after collision with a marker, Port Phillip Bay
2 December 2012, Capsizing, Port Phillip Bay
15 December 2012, Person overboard,personal water craft (PWC), Lake Eildon
27 December 2012, Person overboard, PWC, Port Phillip Bay
28 December 2012, Other personal injury – skiing incident, Lake Eildon
30 December 2012, Collision between two vessels, Port Phillip Bay
2 January 2013, Explosion, houseboat, Lake Eildon
6 January 2013, Collision between two PWCs, Port Phillip Bay
13 January 2013,Other personal injury – skiing incident, Melton Reservoir
17 January 2013, Onboard incident, PWC operator, Port Phillip Bay
17 January 2013, Collision between two PWCs, Port Phillip Bay
17 January 2013, Person overboard from PWC, Port Phillip Bay
19 January 2013, Capsizing in the surf near Foster (Bass Straight)
23 January 2013, Onboard incident, Port Phillip Bay
25 January 2013, Person overboard from PWC, Lake Eppalock
27 January 2013, Other person injury – skiing incident, Lake Narracan
27 January 2013, Explosion, Lake Buffalo
16 February 2013, Onboard incident, Bass Strait
24 February 2013, Collision, Breakwater Rock
11 March 2013, Collision with a navigation marker, Western Port
22 May 2013, Collision with Portsea Pier, Port Phillip Bay
22 June 2013, Explosion, PWC,Lake Eppalock
Marine incidents- recreational
Marine incidents in the 2012-2013 boating season were compared with the average of the three preceding seasons. Overall in2012-2013boating season there wasan 11.08% increase in reported recreational marineincidents.
All five Victorian marine fatalities in 2012-2013 involved recreational vessels.Reported incidents resulting in serious injury or vessel lossincreased by 30.23% and 35.13% respectively. There was limited change, however, in the proportion of incidents that resulted in serious injury, fatality or vessel loss (2.66%).
Disablement incidents increased by 11.89%;however 96.7% of disablements resulted in no damage (the lowest incident severity rating). There were eight reported fire incidents this season; a 60% increase on the number of incidents occurring last season. All eight incidents resulted in either property or vessel damage. There were no reported serious injuries.
Sixexplosion incidents occurred this season; a twofold increase when compared with the average of the three preceding seasons. Half of these incidents resulted in serious injury,and the other half resulted in minor injuries that required medical treatment. Closer examination of the explosion incidents revealed thatall six occurred on inland waters (three on Lake Eildon, two on Lake Eppalock and one on Lake Buffalo). Four explosions occurred on open vessels, one on ahouseboat and one on aPWC. All vessels used petrol as the fuel type and 83% had inboard engines.
Recreational incidents on coastal inshore waters and coastal offshore waters have increased 17.9%and 45.37% respectively.
Figure 1 shows the number of recreational marine incidents that occurred each boating season from 2009-2010 through to 2012-2013. The data is also listed in the last row of table 3 on the next page.
Figure 1: Number of recreational marine incidents by boating season
Recreational incidents by incident type
Table 3 shows the number of marine incidents involving recreational vessels by year. The first column lists the incident type and the adjacentcolumns show the number of incidents that occurred in each year. The last row shows the total for each year.
Table 3: Marine incidents involving recreational vessels from 2009-2010 to 2012-2013
Incident type / 2009-2010 / 2010-2011 / 2011-2012 / 2012-2013Capsizing / 36 / 24 / 40 / 43
Close quarters / 3 / 1 / 2 / 1
Collision / 25 / 19 / 19 / 15
Disablement of vessel / 965 / 959 / 1087 / 1123
Explosion / 1 / 3 / 2 / 6
Fire / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8
Flooding / 7 / 17 / 15 / 11
Grounding / 77 / 60 / 86 / 74
Loss of stability / 0 / 1 / 1 / 1
Loss or presumed loss of vessel / 2 / 1 / 2 / 5
Onboard incident / 6 / 8 / 8 / 6
Other personal injury / 4 / 5 / 10 / 5
Person in trouble / 24 / 33 / 25 / 26
Person overboard / 11 / 10 / 13 / 18
Sinking / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Structural failure / 0 / 0 / 3 / 0
Swamping / 4 / 10 / 10 / 11
Total / 1169 / 1156 / 1329 / 1353
Recreational incidents by waterway type
Table 4 shows the proportion of recreational marine incidents by waterway type from 2009-2010 through to 2012-2013.The first column lists the waterway type and the adjacent columns show the proportion of incidents that occurred in eachyear.
Table4: Recreational marine incidents by waterway type from 2009 to 2013
Waterway type / 2009-2010 / 2010-2011 / 2011-2012 / 2012-2013Coastal inshore / 6.16% / 5.97% / 6.62% / 6.65%
Coastal offshore / 2.65% / 3.20% / 2.18% / 3.47%
Enclosed / 88.28% / 86.59% / 86.46% / 86.18%
Inland / 2.40% / 3.29% / 4.74% / 3.62%
Outside Victorian State waters (“unnavigable”) / 0.51% / 0.95% / 0.00% / 0.07%
Figure 2 shows the proportion of recreational marine incidents to occur in each waterway type, the two pie-graphs allow a comparison between the average of thethree preceding seasons and the current season.The first pie-graph shows recreational marine incidents by waterway typefor the 2009-2010 to 2011-2012 seasons.The second pie-graph shows recreational marine incidents by waterway type for the 2012-2013 season
Figure 2: Recreational marine incidents by waterway type
*Unnavigable waters are waters that occur outside Victorian State waters
Recreational incidents by waterway
Table 5 shows the top ten waterways for recreational marine incidents for the 2012-2013 boating season.
Table 5: Top 10 waterways for recreational marine incidents
Waterway name / Number of incidentsPort Phillip Bay / 736
Western Port / 217
Corio Bay / 81
Bass Strait - western / 43
Lake Victoria / 42
Bass Strait - northern / 39
Bass Strait - eastern / 35
Lake King / 28
Port Albert / 17
Reeve Channel andwaters south / 16
Figure 3 on the next page shows the 2012-2013 recreational marine incidents by incident severity– incidents have been plotted geospatially over a map of Victoria.
Marine safety incident and demographic statistics - Annual Report2012-2013Page 1 of 32
Figure 3: Recreational marine incidents forthe 2012-2013 season, shownby incident severity
Marine safety incident and demographic statistics - Annual Report2012-2013Page 1 of 32
Recreational disablement incidents
The graph in figure 4 shows the number of recreational disablement incidents that occurred each month, each season commencing 2009-2010. The data is also listed in table 6below.
Figure 4: Recreational disablements by year and month from 2009-2010 to 2012-2013
Table 6: Recreational disablements by year and month from 2009-2010 to 2012-2013
Month / 2009-2010 / 2010-2011 / 2011-2012 / 2012-2013JUL / 19 / 25 / 17 / 34
AUG / 19 / 21 / 35 / 20
SEP / 23 / 32 / 69 / 64
OCT / 101 / 104 / 131 / 110
NOV / 182 / 141 / 153 / 181
DEC / 128 / 137 / 169 / 169
JAN / 158 / 172 / 185 / 161
FEB / 80 / 76 / 89 / 105
MAR / 99 / 90 / 100 / 113
APR / 75 / 96 / 91 / 79
MAY / 48 / 37 / 19 / 46
JUN / 33 / 28 / 29 / 41
Total / 965 / 959 / 1087 / 1123
Recreational disablement incidentsby vessel type
Table 7lists the percentage of recreational disablements by vessel type for the 2012-2013 season. The pie-graph in figure 5 illustrates the top five vessel types for recreational disablements for the 2012-2013 season.
Table 7: Recreational disablements by vessel typefor 2012-2013
Vessel type / TotalOpen / 39.31%
Half cabin / 39.31%
Cabin cruiser / 11.57%
Yacht (keel boat) / 3.62%
Personal water craft / 3.36%
Vessel not identified* / 1.24%
Trailer sailer / 0.44%
Yacht/catamaran (off the beach) / 0.18%
Hovercraft / 0.18%
Kite / 0.18%
Ski boat / 0.18%
Rowing boat / 0.09%
Raft / 0.09%
Canoe / 0.09%
Windsurfer / 0.09%
Kayak / 0.09%
* Vessel type or registration number not recorded by responding agency.
Figure 5: Top five vessel types for recreational disablements for the 2012-2013 season
Marine incidents-commercial
In the 2012-2013 boating season there wasa 27.64%decreasein reported commercial incidents when compared with the average of the three preceding seasons.
There were no Victorian marine fatalities in 2012-2013 involvingcommercial vessels.There were two reported incidents resulting in serious injury on commercial vessels.One involved injury to a passenger; the other involved injury to a PWCoperator when a hire and drive vessel collided with it.Onedomestic commercial fishing vessel (class 3) was lost in 2012-2013 in a fireincident on coastal offshore waters.
Commercial incidents occurring on enclosed waters are still the most commonas a proportion of total incidents.Of the commercial incidents reported in the 2012-2013 season 37.5% occurred on Port Phillip Bay and 20.8% occurred on the Yarra River.
Commercial incidents by month
Table 8 below shows the number of commercial marine incidents that occurred each month and each year from 1 July 2009. The last row shows the total for each year.
Table8: Commercial marine incidents by month and year
Month / 2009-2010 / 2010-2011 / 2011-2012 / 2012-2013JUL / 3 / 0 / 4 / 3
AUG / 5 / 5 / 3 / 2
SEP / 5 / 5 / 6 / 2
OCT / 2 / 3 / 5 / 4
NOV / 12 / 8 / 6 / 10
DEC / 7 / 8 / 5 / 5
JAN / 9 / 3 / 5 / 7
FEB / 9 / 4 / 11 / 4
MAR / 6 / 6 / 8 / 3
APR / 5 / 11 / 4 / 2
MAY / 4 / 6 / 6 / 3
JUN / 2 / 4 / 4 / 3
Total / 69 / 63 / 67 / 48
Commercial incidents by year
The graph in figure 6 shows the number of commercial marine incidents that occurred each year from 2009 to 2013.
Figure 6: Commercial marine incidents by year
Commercial incidents by incident type
Table 9 shows the number of marine incidents by incident type involving commercial vessels. The first column shows the incident type and the adjacent columns show the number of incidents that occurred each year. The last row shows the total for each year.
Table 9: Marine incidents involving commercial vessels from 2009 to 2013
Incident type / 2009-2010 / 2010-2011 / 2011-2012 / 2012-2013Capsizing / 1 / 2 / 1 / 1
Close quarters / 8 / 4 / 6 / 8
Collision / 13 / 18 / 11 / 7
Disablement of vessel / 29 / 27 / 24 / 22
Fire / 2 / 0 / 2 / 1
Flooding / 4 / 1 / 0 / 4
Grounding / 6 / 3 / 11 / 4
Onboard incident / 3 / 8 / 6 / 1
Other personal injury / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0
Person in trouble / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0
Person overboard / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0
Sinking / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0
Structural failure / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0
Swamping / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0
Total / 69 / 63 / 67 / 48
Commercial incidents by waterway type
Table 10 and the graph in figure 7show the proportion of commercial marine incidents by waterway type. The data is shown for each season from 2009-2010 to 2012-2013.
Table 10: Commercial marine incidents by year and waterway type
Waterway type / 2009-2010 / 2010-2011 / 2011-2012 / 2012-2013Coastal inshore / 13.04% / 15.87% / 13.43% / 4.17%
Coastal offshore / 4.35% / 4.76% / 7.46% / 6.25%
Enclosed / 75.36% / 71.43% / 65.67% / 77.08%
Inland / 5.80% / 6.35% / 13.43% / 12.50%
Outside Victorian State waters (“unnavigable”) / 1.45% / 1.59% / 0.00% / 0.00%
Figure 7: Commercial marine incidents by year and waterway type
Commercial incidents by waterway
Table 11 shows the top 10 waterways for commercialmarine incidents for the 2012-2013 season.
Table 11: Top 10 waterways for commercial marine incidents
Waterway Name / TotalPort Phillip Bay / 18
Yarra River / 10
Western Port / 6
Lake Victoria / 5
Bass Strait - western / 2
Bass Strait - northern / 2
Lake King / 2
Coastal waters - Gippsland / 1
Port Albert / 1
Cunninghame Arm / 1
Figure 8 on the next page shows the 2012-2013commercial marine incidentsby incident severity– incidents have been plotted geospatially over a map of Victoria.
Marine safety incident and demographic statistics - Annual Report2012-2013Page 1 of 32
Figure 8: Commercial marine incidents forthe 2012-2013 season, shown by incident severity
Marine safety incident and demographic statistics - Annual Report2012-2013Page 1 of 32
Waterways incident analysis
This section contains a consolidation of both recreational and commercial incidents. Incidents where the waterway is noted as being unnavigable are either yet to be codified or occur outside of Victorian waters.
Table 12 shows the top 10 waterways for marine incidents for the current 2012-2013 season.
Table 12: Marine incidents by waterway
Waterway Name / TotalPort Phillip Bay / 754
Western Port / 223
Corio Bay / 81
Lake Victoria / 47
Bass Strait - Western / 45
Bass Strait - Northern / 41
Bass Strait - Eastern / 35
Lake King / 30
Yarra River / 23
Port Albert / 18
Table 13 shows the number of marine incidents by waterway type for each year commencing 2009-2010.
Table 13:Marine incidents by waterway type from 2009 to 2013
Waterway type / 2009-2010 / 2010-2011 / 2011-2012 / 2012-2013Coastal inshore / 81 / 79 / 97 / 92
Coastal offshore / 34 / 40 / 34 / 50
Enclosed / 1084 / 1046 / 1193 / 1203
Inland / 32 / 42 / 72 / 55
Outside Victorian State waters (“unnavigable”) / 7 / 12 / 0 / 1
Total / 1238 / 1219 / 1396 / 1401
The pie-graph in figure 9 illustrates the proportion of marine incidents by waterway type for the 2012-2013 season.
Figure 9: Marine incidents by waterway type for 2012-2013
Marine licence snapshot
The marine licence (formerly the recreational boat operator licence) data is taken on the last day of the reporting month for each of the years shown.
Theintroduction of the Marine Safety Act2010(Vic) on 1 July 2012 had a direct impact on thenumber of marine licences issued. The new legislation contains provisions allowing for an unlicensed person to operate a vessel under supervision; this was expected to reduce the demand for marine licences over time and in particular, restricted licences. The elimination of one and three year licences as an option for new applicants was also expectedto reduce the number of new marine licences issued and the number of licence renewals over time.
Over the 2012 -2013 season there was a 10% decrease in the number of restricted marine licencescompared with the average of the two preceding seasons. This season there was also a 15% decrease in the number of new licences issued compared with the average of the two preceding seasons.Expired marine licences have increased 24% compared with the average of the two preceding seasons.Figure 10 below shows the number of current recreational boat operator licences by month and year.
Inthe 2012-2013 boating season there was a decrease in the number of people holding marine licences in the 12-16, 17-25, 26-35, and 36-45age groups compared withthe 2011-2012 boating season. In the 46-55, 56-65, 66-80 and 80 or older age groups the number of people holding a marine licence has increasedcompared withthe 2011-2012 boating season.
Figure 10: Recreational licences held by month and year
Recreational marine licences and demographic information
Marine licences by gender
Table 14 shows the proportion of marine licences held by gender on 30 June for each year.
Table 14: Percentage of marine licences by gender
Gender / 2009-2010 / 2010-2011 / 2011-2012 / 2012-2013Female / 17.11% / 17.10% / 17.11% / 17.13%
Male / 82.89% / 82.90% / 82.89% / 82.87%
Marine licences by licence status
Table 15 shows the number of marine licences and the licence status on 30 June for each year from 2010 to 2013.
Table 15: Number of marine licences by licence status
Licence status / 2009-2010 / 2010-2011 / 2011-2012 / 2012-2013Cancelled licence / 7 / 8 / 7 / 8
Current licence / 305363 / 297041 / 289197 / 277294
Disqualified / 1 / 2 / 3 / 2
Expired licence / 52262 / 61511 / 69926 / 81662
Surrendered licence / 646 / 723 / 808 / 896
Suspended licence / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Unlicensed / 3 / 2 / 5 / 7
Marine licences with endorsements
Table 16 shows a breakdown of the proportion of marine licences with endorsements as at 30 June for each year.
Table 16: Marine licences with endorsements
Type of licence endorsement / 2009-2010 / 2010-2011* / 2011-2012 / 2012-2013None / 57.39% / n/a / 56.24% / 55.77%
PWC / 42.61% / n/a / 43.76% / 44.23%
*Please note data is not available regarding licence endorsements for 30 June in 2011.