Ships near Reef to be tracked

Australia is planning to impose strict new surveillance on commercial shipping passing through the Great Barrier Reef after a Chinese carrier that ran aground there leaked three tons of oil in the protected waters this month. The new laws will dictate that ships going through the southern part of the reef will be tracked by satellite. The move, which had been under consideration before the Chinese carrier Shen Neng 1 ran aground on a sandbank, extends a system that already covered the northern part of the reef.