Water Quality Monitoring

The Northern Territory is currently experiencing significant increases in activity within the resources sector due to a number of exciting projects currently in development. 

A big part of some of these projects involves increasing the capacity of Darwin Harbour to sustain increased shipping activity. In upgrading the Harbour, our clients need to maintain thorough monitoring and reporting on the quality of the water in the harbour, to ensure their activities has minimal impact on the harbour’s fragile ecosystem.

Territorial Waters provided MV Silverfish and our experienced crew to allow a water sampling team to carry out surface water sampling at sites identified in Darwin Harbour, predominantly in shallow water around the Blaydin Point area.

Some of the sites are located in inter tidal zones and shallow creeks and need to be accessed at high tide via a shallow draft vessel. MV Silverfish, as a flat bottomed jet boat, is the best for the job.

The project involves loading sampling equipment onto the vessel, steaming to sampling sites, locating coordinates required and assisting scientific personnel with over the side sampling. The crew then return the team to port within a designated time frame to ensure samples reach laboratories on time. 

Thanks to the involvement of our vessel and crew, our clients are able to gather valuable data on the health of our precious harbour. Water monitoring is continuing throughout Darwin Harbour as preparation for major oil and gas projects continues.