Reply With QuoteI am interested...Western Cape York...who is the contact here?
Obviously any help would be appreciate:
Coast Guard crews from the Far North’s flotillas are suffering a shortage of volunteers, raising concerns they may not be able to properly respond to marine rescue emergencies.
Port Douglas and Innisfail are in dire need of radio operators, with the Cairns coast guard having to pick up weekday listening duties for both units.
Cairns operators now alert local crews in the case of an emergency.
Innisfail coast guard training officer Bill Hull said his unit also had issues recruiting qualified skippers.
"We can put together a crew but trying to find a skipper is the hard part," Mr Hull said.
"We have one bloke who is available but he’s a fly-in/fly-out worker, so he’s only available when he’s around," Mr Hull said.
"Other blokes have been working up in the Torres Strait on the pilot boats.
"And we have another bloke working shifts at the mill, who we can only get on the weekends."
Port Douglas coast guard commander Jeff Anderson said his crew was crying out for help.
"We don’t get to cover the radios as much as we probably should, to the point where you do a rescue and you can’t get anyone to do the radios at the same time," Mr Anderson said.
"At the moment we can only do Sundays.
"I’d like to do Saturday afternoons and public holidays, but we just don’t have the people."
The marine rescue organisation relies on its volunteer base to help guard the Far North’s coastline from Cardwell to the tip of Cape York.
Cairns coast guard commander Bernie Penny said there was a real fear smaller units such as Innisfail, Port Douglas and Cooktown would disappear if more volunteers could not be found.
"We need to be able to provide service to the boating public," Mr Penny said.
Peter
engage, educate, encourage
I am interested...Western Cape York...who is the contact here?
I've not aware of how the Coast Guard is set up or funded but if boat and trailer regos aren't going towards the funding of this vital service across Australia - IT SHOULD. GST raised from boats and Marine services will be sizeable, people could be trained and paid a small sum to do it part-time. Govt and States are surely rich enough to provide a better funded service across Australia.
My 2c worth.
Look I have no idea about the Coast Guard fella's or the requirements, but if its anything like the crap the SES now requires of its volunteers, I'm surprised there is anyone volunteering anymore.
The red tape and WH&S requirements for SES now are so over the top they are ridiculous.
Check out this link.. it has all the local VMRs in the Gulf region... Marine Rescue Northern RegionOriginally Posted by nautimax
Peter
engage, educate, encourage
thanks QF3...
