HI-TECH REEF CHECKS
Dive industry to trial new counting system for passengers
PASSENGERS will be identified by their handprints and have to wear GPS-linked wristbands in a hi-tech move to make the Great Barrier Reef the safest place to dive in the world.
The initiative comes as the 20th anniversary of the disappearance of US couple Tom and Eileen Lonergan at St Crispin Reef off Port Douglas was marked this week.
The industry is trialling the Tourist Onboard Management System (TOMS), which uses state-of-the-art technology to identify passengers by their handprints while boarding and disembarking a vessel. They will also wear GPS wristbands in the water.
A NEW electronic counting system set to be trialled in Cairns next month aims to ensure no divers will be left behind on the Great Barrier Reef.
This week marked the 20th anniversary of Tom and Eileen Lonergan’s fateful trip to St Crispin Reef, off Port Douglas.
The US couple was accidentally abandoned by crew onboard the MV Outer Edge.
Their disappearance was not realised for two days.
A simple counting error onboard the vessel led to them being left in the water.
The Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators and southern based company TOMS International Pty Ltd are set to trial within the next two weeks an electronic passenger management system.
It is hoped the Tourist Onboard Management System (TOMS) will then be able to be rolled out across fleets of dive boats in Cairns, Port Douglas and the Whitsundays.
TOMS uses state-of-the-art identity authentication technology to identify passengers by their handprints as they board and disembark a vessel.
By having passengers wear wristbands incorporating a GPS device, it also allows tour operators to be able to track swimmers, snorkellers and divers within 1m accuracy.
The system is to be tested on-board AMPTO’s two vessels used for the Crown-of-Thorns starfish eradication program before being trialled by a Cairns based commercial tour operator.
AMPTO chief executive Col McKenzie said TOMS would provide a level of electronic passenger tracking and safety currently unattainable.
“It’ll tell you who’s in the water at any time,” he said.
“The master of the boat will be able to look on a computer screen in the wheelhouse, and see that he’s got three people in the water, or whether a headcount has been completed, and 100 per cent of people have identified themselves as being back on-board the boat,” he said.
“It could be the first step forward in seeing an improved method of doing this.”
TOMS International and AMPTO will seek an innovation grant from the State Government to assist with the trial and potential full-scale implementation of the technology.
Mr McKenzie, who was the head of Dive Queensland during the disappearance of the Lonergans, said it was the best method of ruling out human error associated with mandatory headcounts on-board diving boats.
“We’ll be going to the government and saying that we’ve been wanting for ages to do something better, so this is a real opportunity to use innovation, and computerisation will reduce human error,” he said.