33-year-old Edward Antonovich from New York was fined $2,000 by an Australian court after pleading guilty to breaching permit conditions during a dive on the protected wreck SS Yongala

He is the first person to have been prosecuted under the section of Australia's Historic Shipwrecks Act that deals with the conduct of recreational scuba divers.

In his defence, Antonovich's counsel argued that the diver had been unaware that it was a no penetration dive and had suffered a lapse in concentration during the dive briefing due to having taken medication for seasickness.
Magistrates heard that Antonovich had swum ahead of the dive group and entered the wreck twice, despite being called out and admonished on both occasions by the dive guide.

The magistrates took into account that Antonovich was an experienced diver and should therefore have had a greater awareness and understanding of the limits of the diving. He was saved from a prison sentence only because he had pleaded guilty and had not made any attempt to disturb or souvenir hunt any of the remains within the wreck.


More articles of interest
Scuba diver charged after entering historic wreck SS Yongala
Diving on the Great Barrier Reef
British wreck protection measures


News Index Page