QLD: Dive industry looks set to be regulated

AAP General News (Australia)
02-01-1999
QLD: Dive industry looks set to be regulated

BRISBANE, Feb 1 AAP - Queensland's dive industry appears set to be fully regulated
following the disappearance of Americans Thomas and Eileen Lonergan last year.

A report to be delivered to the state government this week recommends full-scale
regulation, a move Premier Peter Beattie said his government would generally support.

"Obviously, there needs to be greater regulation of the diving industry - we've lost a
number of tourists in tragic circumstances," Mr Beattie.

"If that is a practical way to resolve it then we'll pursue it. I want to make certain that
whatever happened in relation to those unfortunate deaths involving the Americans never
happens again," he told ABC radio.

The Workplace Health and Safety report prepared by a task force established after the
Lonergans' disappearance recommends mandatory codes of practice for recreational dive and
snorkelling companies.

Dive operators are expected to be forced to keep safety logs to track divers and post
special lookouts devoted solely to watching dive areas.

Medical declarations signed by all snorkellers and resort divers are also expected to
become part of industry regulations.

Thomas Joseph Lonergan, 33, and his wife Eileen Cassidy Lonergan, 28, of Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, were last seen on January 25 last year when they went diving from the dive boat
Outer Edge at St Crispin Reef, 38 nautical miles north-east of Port Douglas.

Coroner Noel Nunan found the couple had drowned and were probably eaten by sharks.

He charged Outer Edge skipper Geoffrey Ian "Jack" Nairn with unlawfully killing the
Lonergans between January 25 and February 2.

AAP jhm/it/de

KEYWORD: DIVERS

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