Protection of marine biodiversity is crucial, minister says

By LULU MARK
TRANSPORT Minister William Samb says the protection of Papua New Guinea’s marine biodiversity is important.
He was responding to a question by The National regarding the grounding of the Balimo Chief on the Mangana Reef in West New Britain (WNB) last month which damaged the reef.
Samb said the ship would have come aground on the reef because its sonar and other instruments malfunctioned, it had a mechanical fault, rough weather or some improper or illegal action by the crew. He said he could not preempt the report that was made on the incident.
In terms of protecting the biodiversity, Samb said the department, through National Maritime and Safety Authority, was able to get Government approval on 12 protocols covering areas such as sea pollution, marine protection ad waste from vessels as a requirement of the International Maritime Organistion.
He said the first legislative council had cleared the protocols and now it was on him to bring to Parliament in the next sitting for endorsement and ratification.
“That’s at policy or operational level,” he said.
“But I have to give credit to all our ship operators.
“They know what they are doing but it’s only occasionally they get grounded at the reef into trouble.
“Otherwise, our local operators in PNG have been mindful.”