Ocean Research - 12. IOR Chapter 12

When Mr Lloyd and the Captain entered the room, I immediately stood up, “Sit, we just wanted to have a little chat before we arrive at the islands in about twenty minutes,” Joshua’s grandfather said. I noticed that the Captain was holding a cardboard tube, which I was presuming contained maps.

“As you both know, I have been having a lot of discussions with the state government, in regards to the future of the Abrolhos Islands, and I wanted to give you both a head’s up on what the plans are,” Mr Lloyd stated, as the Captain pulled out a roll from inside the tube, and laid it out onto the coffee table in front of us.

“Both Joshua and I were surprised to see that it is a layout plan of not one but three barges. “This is what my architects have come up with for a design for a floating fishing town, which will be the temporary accommodation for the fishermen who are usually base on the islands” Mr Lloyd added.

“Wow, that is impressive Grandfather, alto better than I had envisaged,” Joshua said as we both looked at the layout plans carefully. So, what will be happening with the storage and transport of the lobster catches?” Joshua asked.

“That is the one and only building that will be built on one of the islands, which is yet to be determined, but will probably be on the same island that it was on before which was Rat Island, and the shed will include solar and wind power shed, a small desalination plant and a staff room, with showers and toilets.

All the rest will be located on this floating barge complex, which will probably be located also at Rat Island. The barges have already been purchased, and work has already started on building on the three barges, which will be linked together, and will have access walkways to easily get from one barge to the next,” Mr Lloyd explained.

“Wow a swimming pool, fitness gymnasium, games room, multi-purpose hall, library, meeting rooms, medical clinic, and even two basketball courts, you have thought of everything here,” Joshua stated, “I have, as I wanted the fishing community to be comfortable, as you can see there is also an administration building and executive accommodation, and I am hoping that you Joshua, will become the administrator of this facility, and you Kipling, as the chief science research officer,” Mr Lloyd replied.

“I would be honoured sir, and thank you for the opportunity,” I replied. “Yes, I will be the administrator, but what other staff will there be?” Joshua asked. “We have agreed to have a Parks and Wildlife and a Fisheries Department ranger based at this facility, of which we will cover their accommodation and some of their living expenses, and they will each have an office in the administration building.

Apart from them, you will also have an administration officer and a facilities officer, the four of them will occupy the four units near administration, while you two will be in the executive suites on the opposite end of the barge, which consists of two upper-level suites with separate bathrooms and a large downstairs lounge, and for the fishermen, there are 48 ensuite rooms on each barge,” we were informed.

“One question sir, what about catering and cleaning staff?” I asked, and Mr Lloyd smiled, as he leaned forward and removed the top plans, to reveal another set of plans for a two-barge complex.

“This will eventually become your research centre, which will be easily manoeuvrable, but until a more permanent solution is found, these two barges will provide accommodation for a further 16 staff, and extra recreation space, plus the areas that are marked as research stores, research workrooms and research labs will become temporary storage facilities for each of the 48 fishing boats that will be based here. The aquarium that you see on this plan will be open to the ocean but will be netted to keep out sharks,” Mr Lloyd informed us.

“Well Grandfather, it looks like you have everything planned to the last detail, and we look forward to when it all arrives in the near future,” Joshua stated. “You will indeed. The twin research barge will be the first to be completed, and delivered here, with an estimated arrival date of late March this year. The other three barges will arrive before the start of the fishing season at the start of December, with the MV Researcher to be used to tow the barges into place, once they have been off-loaded off the cargo ships that will deliver them, well away from the reefs,” Mr Lloyd said.

“I think we may use the Silver cloud as our main supply ship for the fishing community, once it has been re-established, and I think we would be more comfortable living on board the Silver Cloud instead of the accommodation on the barges,” Joshua said, “I will leave that up to you to decide, the only stipulation that I have once all the barges are in place is that there be no alcohol sold or served.

There is plenty of no alcoholic drinks available, as well as soft drinks and juices, so that is what you will make available to all residents on the barge village or whatever you want to call it. One last thing, the family corporation will also be working on lengthening the airstrips on East Wallabi & Rat Islands, which are currently just 635 & 520 metres long, with both of them to become 850 metres in length and will be sealed and have lights installed, and the likely location of the barge village will be 150 metres due north of Bushby Island, and just 80 metres east of Rat Island, ” Mr Lloyd informed us.

When we arrived at the Abrolhos Islands, we surfaced just 300 metres East of Rat Island, away from the shallow reefs, and Joshua and I spent the next few days giving tours of the area, including the location of the old shipwrecks and other key historical areas.

When the Aquarius left after a four-day visit, we now had a better idea of what Mr Lloyd and the Western Australian government had planned for the islands. Three days after the research submarine had left, it was time to say goodbye to the first group of volunteers, as their two weeks of work on the islands was coming to a close.

With what had been achieved in the past two weeks, we now had an idea of how long it would take us to finish clearing away all of the damaged structures from the islands, which would be around 5 weeks in total.

Joshua had learnt that the cray fishing season runs from November 1^st through to March 30^th, so the current season is about to end, so we had plenty of time to be able to get all the islands cleaned up and the barges in place, before the start of the new season. The dates for the seasons have varied a lot over the past few decades, due to changing government policies, and these are the current season dates which have been in place for the past five years.

After nearly six weeks of work, with all of the remains of the destroyed fishing shacks and most of the damaged smaller jetties been removed from the islands, the MV Researcher delivered the last of the volunteers back to Geraldton, in Mid-February, so they can head home, and with the Silver Cloud remaining at the Abrolhos Islands, Joshua and I travelled with the MV Researcher to Geraldton, to do some shopping, and to attend a meeting with the two rangers who had been staying with us, and the regional manager of Parks & Wildlife, to present a final report on the completed work.

With just four weeks before the arrival of the first two barges which will be the research station, when more permanent accommodation is established on the islands, the decision was made to allow one current, Parks and Wildlife ranger to remain stationed at the islands, which would be Nathan, and James - a Department of Fisheries officer will join him, and they will be based on board the Silver Cloud until the first of the barges arrives.

When the two barges do arrive, a team of workers will be transported over to East Wallabi Island, by boat to live on the barges while they work on extending the two airfields, which is estimated to take three months to complete, with a work barge sailing over to provide all of the building materials and equipment needed.

Meanwhile, the MV Researcher is to head south to Henderson, just south of Fremantle, where it will go into dry dock for a month to have the hull cleaned and treated, and a repaint of all of the hull, while the crew are given a paid holiday to Tasmania, which is a really nice place to visit during the summer months.

While the work on the MV Researcher is taking place, a marketing team are busy promoting the newest choice of cruising in Australia, specialising and ocean adventures along the West Coast, with the ship to be based in Geraldton, and providing cruises all year round.

This would include a 3 nights trip from Geraldton to Lancelin via the Abrolhos Islands, a 5 nights trip from Geraldton to Exmouth, also via the Abrolhos Islands and a 6 nights trip from Exmouth to Cossack and return to Exmouth, with three of the northern trips coinciding with the northern migration of the whales in June and July, and four of the northern trips coinciding with the southern migration of the whales in October and November.

Joshua and I had set out a timetable of departure dates for the cruises, with two full days break between each cruise, plus a six-day rest break in late September and a twelve-day holiday break for Christmas and New Year’s. When we showed this to the Captain, he was very supportive of the cruises timetable, and he began the search for additional crew, with a 2^nd officer, a paramedic, a 4^th Steward and a 4^th deckhand needed.

After nearly a week on the mainland, where we stayed in one of the top hotels, the MV Silver Cloud came over to collect us and take us back to the Abrolhos Islands, where we would remain during the airfield construction work, and the repair work on the Fishery Holding shed, with Joshua allocating the two rangers, a twin cabin each on the Silver Cloud, which although not as big as the suites they had on the MV Researcher they are just as comfortable.

It was at the end of April before the cargo ship arrived with the two barges, which the ship off-loaded with their two large cranes, and we towed them towards the location decided by the WA Government, just north of Bushby Island. The two barges are equipped with poles that can be hydraulically pushed into the soft seabed sand, to keep them in place, with a collar that allows for the barges to raise and fall with the daily tides.

Placed just half a metre apart, three access boardwalks link them together, with doors on each barge, as each barge has a 1.5-metre high solid wall from the floor up, and from the top of the wall, is a dome shape roof frame with shade cloth covering it, to allow for air circulation, but keep insects and birds out, and provide shade cover during the hot summer months.

We were not sure how it would work out when we learnt of this on seeing the plans, but now seeing it in real life, it was perfect. On the main barge, there are 6 large truck tyres that act as a buffer for landing craft, and in the centre is a one metre wide and 3-metre-long landing platform, Infront of the main double door entry to the barge.

The main accommodation barges that will hopefully be arriving before the start of the fishing season, consists of two large barges with a smaller barge in-between them. On the outside centre of the two larger barges are a double door entry and a landing platform, and like the two barges that have just arrived they have the side walls and the framed room of shade cloth.

Mooring posts are located all around the barges, to allow for easy mooring of the fishing boats that will be based on the islands, and after seeing the research barges secured to the ocean floor, the two rangers, Joshua and I discussed the possible location of the main barges when they arrive, and decided that having them a little further away from the research barge would be ideal, and 5 metres was the decided distance, with a walkway bridge to be made to link them together for easy access.

We spent the next two hours thoroughly inspecting the two barges, and as expected the research workrooms, storage rooms, and labs are all empty of furniture, but do contain storage racks along one wall in each room. The senior research offices have been fully fitted out with office furniture and equipment, ready for the rangers to settle into them, as it will be their main offices until the other barges arrive that contain the main administration building.

The 16 twin accommodation pods are all fitted out with a king single bed, desk, heavy duty plastic chair, wardrobe and bedside cabinet, each room also has a reverse cycle air conditioner, two double power points and two rooms share an ensuite bathroom.

What wasn’t on the original plans, but has been added to one end of the open recreation space, on the smaller barge, is a kitchen and dining room, with 3 large tables and chairs to seat a total of 36 people, and on the other end is a similar size building, that contains three rooms, for a small water desalination plant, a backup diesel generator, and solar power batteries, for the storage of power supply.

After checking out every room in the two barge complex, I removed my shoes and shirt, before diving into the aquarium, to see what it was like, and I was surprised to see that it I open to the ocean on the sides, with wire netting to keep sharks large marine life out, and a solid floor, that is two metres from the top of the aquarium.

After climbing out, I let Joshua know what it is like in there and said that it would make an ideal safe swimming pool, as the steel netting only has a spacing of about half a hand span, which is about 10 centimetres, so only smaller fish would be able to get inside the netting.

With the Silver Cloud now moored to the side of the smaller barge, Captain Amanda and her crew used one of the two entry gates to get access to the barge, so they too can check out the new setup, and all of them were very impressed with the design and setup, as the two rangers were busy transferring all of their crates of office equipment and administration supplies to their new offices.

What Joshua and I knew but no one else had noticed is that at one end of the smaller barge, on the outside of the shade cloth cover, is a small platform that contains two 5-metre high towers. The first one contains the mast for a mobile phone repeater station, while the other one contains antennae for Marine and VHF Radios.

At the other end there is another two more towers, one that has a satellite dish for pay television, and another satellite dish for broadband internet, while the other tower has a radar system on it, to monitor shipping and local weather. “Has anyone noticed yet?” Amanda asked Joshua and I as we watched the rest of the crew swim around in the aquarium.

“No, but I am guessing that it won’t be too long,” Joshua replied smiling as was I. “Yeah just a moment, I have found him, I will just ask…” we heard James, the fisheries officer say into his mobile phone, which had the three of us laugh,
Yep, he knows now,” I commented as I pointed toward the communications tower.

“Oh wow, and… is that a weather radar too?” James said to us. “Yes, we also have a mobile phone repeater station, Marine and VHF radio towers, and broadband internet and pay television as well,” Joshua replied. “Did you hear all of that sir? … Yes, very impressive indeed, ok, speak to you soon, bye,” we heard James say, as Nathan, the Parks & Wildlife ranger appeared.

“Very sneaky, when were you going to tell us that we have mobile phone coverage out here?” Nathan said as he stopped beside us, “Not just that, check out the towers at each end of this barge,” James stated.