A New Patrol Boat for Hervey Bay
QueenslandParks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) will launch a new locally built patrol vessel for the Great Sandy district at UranganHarbour, HerveyBay, tomorrow (8 July).
Environment Minister Desley Boyle said the “Bool” replaced an inflatable patrol vessel and would complement QPWS’s main patrol vessel for Great Sandy, the 10.5m Noosa Cat ‘Yeranduna’. Both vessels are based at UranganHarbour.
“The vessel will be used to conduct patrols within the soon-to-be gazetted GreatSandyMarinePark,” Ms Boyle said.
“It will be used to patrol areas including the waters from Baffle Creek to the north and south to Double Island Point. Staff will use it to service national park islands, monitor features such as coral, seagrass and dugong, and for public contact, education, and compliance patrols,” Ms Boyle said.
The Bool is a 5.9 metre aluminium centre-console vessel powered by an environmentally friendly four-stroke outboard motor.
Member for Hervey Bay Andrew McNamara said the vessel was named after FraserIsland’s Bool Creek where Matthew Flinders replenished his freshwater supplies in 1802,
“Not only does it have a local name, it is a totally local product.
“It was designed by HerveyBay naval architect, Rodney Dredge, and constructed by locally owned and operated family business PlateMaster based in Tinana, Maryborough,” Mr McNamara said.
