This post is in part a cry for help and in part a rant at the State Government's lack of information for the public.
I've been trying for quite a while now (nearly a year) to find out exactly what are the rules and regulations relating to boat sewerage around the Swan River and across to Rottnest Island so that I can make sure my boat is compliant. The 5 relevant government agencies - Transport, Health, Fremantle Port Authority, DPAW and RIA - all have conflicting information on their websites and no one who can provide clarity.
Transport has published a Marine Sewerage Strategy, which says: (i) no discharge in Zone 1; (ii) discharge through a Dept of Health approved treatment system in Zone 2; and (iii) free discharge in Zone 3 provided you are not near a stationary vessel or swimmer.
Zone 1 includes the Swan River and Rottnest Island Reserve, as well as inside marinas, but beyond that the definition gets a bit wobbly, including "designated areas of marine parks, marine management areas or fish habitat protection areas, where the dilution/dissipation factor is not deemed to be satisfactory" and "other designated areas of high environmental value", whatever they may be.
Zone 2 is "parts of estuaries, marine parks and fish habitat protection areas, where the dilution factor is deemed to be satisfactory" provided that you are more than 20m from any other vessel.
Zone 3 is everywhere else in the State.
As far as I can tell, there is no published map of the Zones. Aside from the rivers and inside the Rotto marine reserve boundaries, it is guess-work which Zone you are in.
Assuming that you wanted to operate in Zone 2 with an approved treatment system, you would need to know what systems have been approved by Health. As far as I can tell, no marine systems have ever been approved. The only approved systems listed on the Health website are land-based systems for homes and commercial premises.
Rottnest Island Authority explain on their website that the prohibition on discharge in the Rottnest Island Reserve comes from the Fremantle Port Authority's jurisdiction, and they say that waters outside of the reserve boundary are Zone 2. That would meant that you can't just pop outside of the Reserve on your boat and pump out your holding tanks, without using a Health approved treatment system, which doesn't exist!
Fremantle Port Authority, on the other hand, have a different view. They say on their website that all sewerage discharge from vessels under 400 gross registered tonnes is prohibited in FPA waters, treated or not. FPA waters include all of Gage Roads and the whole of Cockburn Sound.
If FPA is right, then the only legal option for boats is to hold their waste on board and pump out using a shore-based pump-out facility. So you would expect there to be lots of those available for the thousands of boats around Perth and Freo, right?
Wrong!
The Transport website has a list of the pump-out stations around WA. The only one listed for the metro area is at a caravan park in South Freo, and that is only for residents of the park.
DPAW, who have taken over from the Swan River Trust, have to licence any approved facilities on the Swan River, including at any yacht clubs. Unhelpfully, they don't publish a list of approved facilities. When I called them, they said that they "think" there might be a public facility for commercial boats at Barrack St jetty and otherwise Aquarama might have a public facility. There certainly is one at Barrack St jetty - it will cost you $90 per pump-out if you have not paid the $5k annual jetty fee. Aquarama doesn't mention a public pump-out facility on its website.
Strewth! How's a bloke meant to do the right thing when the government agencies who regulate this stuff can't even get their story straight?
I would be perfectly happy to install a treatment system on my boat or to use pump-out facilities, if they existed.
Does anyone know of any public marine pump-outs in the metro area?
Cheers and thanks for tolerating my rant!
What you expect a government agency to actually help you avoid getting a hefty fine, what century do you think this is. 
Count yourself lucky that they are so slack.
Remember fish do not have toilets, so just do the sensible thing. One creature's poo is another one's dinner. In fact, that is how wastewater treatment works.
Most states want macerators, so make sure you fit one. Use a porta-potty in areas with lots of people/boats, and poor tidal flow. Otherwise let nature do its thing.
