Australian Federal Police (AFP) have arrested two men in connection with the grounding of the Shen Neng 1 coal carrier on Douglas Shoal in the Great Barrier Reef.

It will be alleged the men were the master and the chief officer on watch when the ship ran aground on Easter Saturday, damaging kilometres of the reef and spilling more than two tonnes of oil into the ocean.

The master of the vessel, a 47-year-old Chinese man, has been charged with liability for a vessel causing damage in a marine park. The maximum penalty for the charge is a $55,000 fine.

Another Chinese man, aged 44, has been charged with being the person in charge of a vessel within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, causing damage to the marine park.

The maximum penalty for that offence is three years’ jail and/or a $220,000 fine.

The arrests follow a joint investigation conducted by the AFP, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

Investigations showed the Shen Neng 1 failed to turn at a waypoint required by the intended course of the ship. A waypoint is a location at which a ship is to alter course.

The men will appear in a Gladstone court on Thursday.

Clean-up

Meanwhile, the clean-up has begun on the Great Barrier Reef.

Oil has washed ashore on several islands but the Queensland Government says it is only a small amount.

On North West Island, 75 kilometres from Gladstone, blobs of oil have washed ashore. They are about the size of a 50 cent piece.

Gladstone Harbourmaster Mike Lutze says the oil is believed to have leaked from the Shen Neng 1.

“The oil will be sampled and then compared with the oil from the vessel to see whether it has come from the vessel,” he said.

Mr Lutze says about 20 people, flown across by helicopter, have collected about six sandbags full of sandy, oily goo from North West Island.

“There has been oil come ashore, but it’s been very, very minimal,” he said.

“There was also a very small amount of oil found on Trion Island. Less than five metres has been reported to me and that’s also been collected.”

North West Island is a significant nesting ground for seabirds and turtles, but Mr Lutze says they have not found any creatures with oil on them.

Monitoring calls

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority says the ship left a three-kilometre long scar after it ran aground and rubbed back and forth across the top of a shoal.

The accident has prompted calls for better supervision of ships passing through the Great Barrier Reef.

Federal MP Chris Trevor, whose electorate includes the port of Gladstone, wants a vessel tracking service for the central Queensland area.

“The reef VTS – vessel tracking service – is similar to an air traffic control system which works off GPS and satellites,” he said.

His call has been backed by Dale Cole, the executive chairman of the National Bulk Commodities Group and a former Queensland harbourmaster with 54 years in the maritime industry.

“My view is that it would be appropriate if the tracking service was extended further south, probably to the southern extremity of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park,” he said.

Mr Cole says the tracking system is confined to the northern section of the reef because of a perception that navigating in the south was relatively straightforward.

“Now, with ships taking alternative routes through the southern section of the reef, it would be appropriate if there was a monitoring arrangements whereby ships could be tracked from the time they enter the southern extremity to the time they leave, wherever that may be,” he said.