Water police are being forced to commandeer Brisbane City Council's ferries and CityCats to collect bodies from the water under the Story Bridge because they have no boats on weekends.

Brisbane's ferry and CityCat staff say Queensland Water Police do not have crews at night and do not have vessels available on weekends because of overtime costs.

Now the ferry operators say they are traumatised from pulling bodies from the water and say the situation is "disrepectful" to the people who die.

They now want to know the progress of Brisbane City Council's plans to have suicide prevention barriers installed on the Story Bridge by May 2014.