Marine Park fight rages on SIMP

[murf]

Marine Park fight rages on
Belinda Scott | 6th May 2010
http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au...e-park-zoning/

Trevor Veale
THE man in the hotseat believes reducing prawn trawling in the Solitary Islands Marine Park will not make much difference to the State’s prawning industry.

NSW Environment Minister Frank Sartor, who was in Coffs Harbour yesterday to address the 2010 Waste Conference, said the much-anticipated review of the SIMP would be put on public consultation ‘within days’ and would remain on exhibition for two months.

The Minister said the Government was proposing increasing the sanctuary zones from 12 per cent to 20 per cent of the park, rather than the 33 per cent recommended by researchers, and was making fishing easier around Groper Island as well as reducing some prawn trawling.

He said he had been ‘a little surprised’ by the feedback so far on the review, which consisted of ‘pretty minor’ changes except for the sanctuary zone expansion.

“If the department has made the wrong decisions, we will reconsider it,” he said, going on to accuse Coffs Coast National Party politicians of being ‘devoid of moral fibre’ and indulging in ‘polemics’ over the issue.

Mr Sartor said the (coastal) area covered by the Solitary Islands Marine Park was minor compared to the offshore fishing areas under Commonwealth control, and the NSW government had no intention of creating more than the four marine parks already in existence.

Coffs Coast recreational anglers are worried about the location of the new sanctuary zones, while commercial fishers are simply worried their livelihoods will disappear as more of the park is locked up .

The Minister said while there was anecdotal evidence the quality and quantity of marine life in the SIMP was improving; CSIRO research paper style proof was years away because it took 12-20 years for marine parks to show scientifically verifiable changes.

“But the evidence from overseas is overwhelming,” Mr Sartor said.

cheers Murf

[Lucky_Phill]

Marine Park fight rages on
Belinda Scott | 6th May 2010



“But the evidence from overseas is overwhelming,” Mr Sartor said.

cheers Murf

I just love this sort of stuff, it is working overseas so we'll do it here. Grow some ####s and spend the dollars you reap from the people that employ YOU and do the research yourselves with SPECIFIC areas in mind. This Government gives me the irrates...................... to lazy, unaccountable, untrustworthy, opaque and totally answerable to preference votes. Why don't they simply stand up a tell us what we already know, and then MAKE the green tinged people who they answer to, produce the science and data to support their outlandish claims. OH, I know why.........THERE IS NO SCIENCE TO PROVE THEIR CLAIMS.........................


aarrrggghhhhhh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



IMO.

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[finga]

Mr Sartor said the (coastal) area covered by the Solitary Islands Marine Park was minor compared to the offshore fishing areas under Commonwealth control, and the NSW government had no intention of creating more than the four marine parks already in existence.

Bloody hell. Queensland is a small area too if you compare it too the rest of the world. Why would they compare the size of the Solitary Islands Marine Park to the size of waters under Commonwealth control??

It looks like the writing is on the wall as well.
NSW Government don't want any more Marine Parks. They just want to make the existing ones stretch from Victoria to Queensland and out to the edge of Australian waters.

[FNQCairns]

Hey who's that bloke that wrote that ...she called Anglers....Anglers!! Not fishers or fisherman nor just fishing industry. Someone with a brain!

What a crock of crap that 12 years is needed to show verifiable changes.......yep changes that cannot be verified are the ones that will take 12 years same as marine parks record everywhere to date...there is a serious character problem to do with that minister.