Marine Park Rally, Sydney Town Hall

[pjbink]

Mondo,

The Jervis bay park is not that big, hence less controversy. I disagree that the GBR park is well accepted. Actually there is a piece on the ABC at 6pm Thursday about the controversy. Also note that the Qld goverment has been sued for 90 million dollars over the arbitary damage to businesses up there. Once again the goverments own studies had concluded that rec fishers do not harm the reef.

Do some sensitive habitats or breeding concentrations need special protection? I don't disagree, but these cases are fairly rare. Fish and their larvae are wide ranging and locking up some areas and leaving others open to the displaced effort reveals a lack of understanding according to many of the top fisheries scientists. We have had some special restrictions for years with traditional methods without the need huge marine parks. Eg small sanctuaries in Quibray Bay (Botany Bay) and Shiprock in Port Hacking. Destructive commercial practices can be curbed by closed seasons or the buy out of licenses.

Edited June 25, 2006 by billfisher

[Geoff]

Thee may be a crack , be it ever so small appearing in the Premiers office on the M.P.issue & alternate options .

Caught part of a comment on Hi Tide , Saturday where Bruce Schumacher had been invited to write to the Premier & Fisheries Minister on the subject.

For those who do not listen to Hi Tide there is strong opposition to Marine Parks & on going practical suggestions & comments on their viability & alternativies

The letters have been submitted.

Did anyone else hear the comment from Bruce , was there more to it than what I picked up??

Geoff

[pjbink]

I had a look at the ABC programme Reef Dreams which covers the GBR Marine Park. So much for little controversy Mondo. The local anglers are full of angst and despair at being locked out (under fear of draconian $25,000 fines) of huge areas of reef. There is the usual lack of consultation or any real science which we are now familiar with in NSW.

The anglers have a fisheries PhD on their side. He made some good points. For a start the reef does not need this level of protection. It covers a huge area with most of it a very long way off the coast away from larges centers of population. This and the frequent bad weather limits the pressure on the reef. Also you have to combine this with fact that there are only a limited number of licensed commercial fisherman who are tightly regulated.

He then gave a telling profile of these green groups. They thrive on the perception of man made crisis and problems. It gives them a reason for their existance and a lifestyle. They have a corrupt arrangement with government whereby they receive jobs and funding and the government gets green credentials and of course votes. The ALP relies on green preference votes in a cynical ploy to win office. They will do anything to cloud the real science on the issue. In NSW goverment scientists are gagged from speaking to the public. Scientific reports have been buried or declared "Cabinet Secret" such as one on the Grey Nurse Shark.

Edited June 22, 2006 by billfisher

[Mondo Rock]

It would appear that you're correct about the GBR controversy Billfisher - I should have actually looked into it before listing it as one of the 'non-controversial' marine parks in my earlier post - apologies for that.

I do, however, stand by my original assertion that not all marine parks are unwarranted of undeserving of our support.

Having said that, my research since starting this discussion with you has pointed towards there being little credible evidence that recreational fishing causes significant damage to any of the Australian marine environments. I mean, logically, you'd think that if anywhere was going to be 'degraded' by recreational fishing pressure it would be Sydney, given the massive recreational fishing pressure that it is subject to, and yet there are no new marine parks proposed for the Sydney region to my knowledge. Nor is there any suggestion that the Sydney marine environment is under threat from rec fishing.

So I'm slowly starting to come round to your way of thinking on this. I'm also starting to get a bit interested in the propsect of helping the recreational fishing party out a bit. The way I see it they could be a very effective weapon for us rec fishos IF they can get enough support for the big political players to take any notice of them.

[pjbink]

Mondo,

For more proof there is no better place to look than the rec fishing havens. These have had if anything more pressure from rec fishers since they were declared. Catch surveys have recently been published for Lakes Tuross and Macquarie. Just 2 years after the pros have been bought out catch rates for common species have gone up 100 - 300% and average sizes have increased substantially.

Unbelievably the NCC (one of the green groups pushing for marine Parks), opposes the establishment of rec fishing havens!

[el pescador]

Hi guys,

For an example of the effect of recreational fishing have a look at Botany Bay. There is more and more recereational pressure every day & despite this pressure & continued dredging & other activity related to the container port the fishery is in good shape. The difference is that commmercial fishing has ceased. There has been significant improvement in seagrass & fish nursery areas. This would seem to support the proposition that responsible recreational fishing is generally sustainable.

Les

[pjbink]

Just to show the anti angling bias of these green groups and the MPA have a look at the Byron Bay MP. High impact prawn trawling is allowed in 50 % of the park 365 days a year! Yet low impact angling is banned from almost every fishable reef. In their twisted creed they regard angling as a greater evil than real threats to biodiversity such as commercial overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction. They don't like angling because we do it for fun not subsistence. There is an element of animal liberation in their illogical fundamentalism.

[pjbink]

Here is some of the governments own data on commercial fishing on the Great Barrier Reef which you will never hear from the MP lobby. On the GBR the annual catch rate is a paltry 17 kg per square km. On other pacific reefs the average catch rate is 7700 kg per square km, a figure regarded by fisheries biologists as sustainable!

Another important indicator of over fishing is catch rate per unit effort. In 1989 on the GBR the rate was 119 kg per boat per day. In 2000 it was 141 kg and in 2003 it was 127 kg. So if anything the catch rate has gone up!

Despite irrefutable evidence like this the greens still insist on locking us out under the so called 'precautionary principle' and offer irrelevant data from small drastically overfished areas in other parts of the world. If you applied the precautionary principle in this way to every day life you would never cross a road or drive a motor car because of the well known risks!

[Geoff]

Guy's This is all good stuff but cannot help but get the feeling we are preaching to the converted all be it with a small overflow into Goverment circles.

All this needs to reach " the man in the street".

It is perhaps fair to say it has , in those coastal town directly effected by Marine Parks.

Any one have a few spare million $$$ for advertising in the lead up to the election.

The was one inexpensive method promoted on radio , A bumper sticker.

Perhaps we could come up with our own , something like ,

Let our Kids fish , no to santuary zones . or

Reduce bag limits , not increase Santuary zones.

I'm sure you can think of many more

Geoff

Edited June 25, 2006 by Geoff

[pjbink]

Heres another quote from Dr Starck on the GBR Marine Park which is also relevant for whats happening here in NSW:

" Green zones (Marine Parks) are a cheap political shot. Its easy, attracts attention, saving the reef is popular, and with no real problem to begin with everything is in place for it to be declared another example of successful reef management. They might as well be managing the moon."

[Guest MarkD]

High impact prawn trawling is allowed in 50 % of the park 365 days a year! Yet low impact angling is banned from almost every fishable reef.

I did not know that....it just gets worse...