Osprey spreads its wings in Solitary Islands Marine Park

There’s a new bird of prey in Coffs Harbour ready to keep a watchful eye over the Solitary Islands Marine Park.

It is the Osprey, a brand new $120,000 7.5m Noosa Cat sporting twin 200 horsepower Suzuki motors which will be used to patrol the park.

‘The main uses for the new vessel will be compliance and research,’ said acting marine park manager Nicola Johnstone.

The advanced four stroke motors will give the vessel enhanced economy and reduced emissions.

‘It has a large working deck, which will be particularly valuable for dive operations, and better storage capacity and long range fuel tanks,’ Ms Johnstone said.

‘We will also have a better capacity for incident response if there is any sort of emergency in the park area.’

Ms Johnstone said Osprey would be put to work immediately monitoring inshore lobster fishing activities.

‘We need to remind recreational lobster fishers that their traps need to be placed in less than 10m of water,’ Ms Johnstone said.

‘Commercial and recreational lobster fishers also need to have their traps properly marked.’

Osprey replaces the previous Noosa Cat Pagrus which the Marine Parks Authority used for seven years, and joins a fleet comprised of Cetacea, a 5.5m  rigid-hull inflatable boat (RIB) for rapid response and Barramundi, a 3.6m estuarine patrol vessel.

Osprey will also be used for search and rescue work if required.

People with any inquiries about the Solitary Islands Marine Park and its use should telephone 02 6652 3977.

Media contact: Howard Spencer on 02 6656 8800 or 0428 696 672.