Moreton Bay Marine Park - The Conservation View

[fishingjew]

The Australian Marine Conservation Society

http://www.amcs.org.au/default2.asp?active_page_id=338

Every year 200 turtles are found dead in Moreton Bay how do they come up with this statistic ? When i look at there information sources it redirects back to them. Moreton Bay Marine Park, Cleveland Office statistics – pers.com ?
Effectiveness of subtropical no-take marine reserves: benefits to fisheries management and biodiversity after reading this and looking at the dates 2002-2004 hmmm. Further surveys of fisheries species within the marine reserves reveal that the most popular angling species in Moreton Bay, the yellowfin bream (Acanthopagrus australis) and dusky flathead (Platycephalus fuscus), were significantly larger and more abundant within the reserve boundaries than non-reserve (fished) sites. Both exploited species had catch rates 3-7 times higher within the marine reserves, with individuals 10-25% larger and biomass 15-90% greater. Why pick these two?

As insurance for sustainability, 30-50% of reefs should be set aside as no-take (no-fishing) zones, for long-term protection, not just of fish, but of entire reef ecosystems.

The results of this study add to the growing body of empirical evidence that small marine reserves (< 6km2) can provide both conservation and fisheries benefits. We therefore advocate the implementation of more systems of marine reserves within the Moreton Bay Marine Park, and recommend networks of small marine reserves (between 6-10km2 in area) to achieve management objectives. ? Like to see some fresh statistics.

[fishingjew]

Tuesday, 30 January 2007. 13:09 (AEST)
Govt urged to combat over-fishing

Conservationists say the Federal Government is not doing enough to reduce over-fishing.
The Bureau of Rural Science says 24 species are overfished in Australian waters, and they are not sure about the state of another 40.
The Government says its efforts to buy back fishing licences and reduce catch sizes will improve the future of blue fin tuna, the orange roughy and the tiger flathead.
But Craig Bohm from the Marine Conservation Society says that is not enough.
"A lot of that buyback money will be directed at buying back latent or lazy licences which are licences that are not currently active anyway," he said.
"The real effort needs to go into removing effort from the water and that does not just mean taking boats off the water, but controlling the size of the boats, reducing the area in which they are allowed to fish and keeping destructive fishing, like seabed trawling, away from vulnerable marine species."