“Conservation through sustainable use. Making people part of the solution”
“The voice of NSW recreational fishers”
MEDIA RELEASE:
LABOR LOCKS FISHERS OUT FOR GREEN PREFERENCES.
Angry representatives of recreational and commercial fishers from across the region, met at a “lively” meeting at OceanShores last night.
ECOfishers (the voice of NSW recreational fishers) facilitated the meeting to discuss the Gillard Labor government’s proposal to lock up 30% of the offshore area from Tweed Heads to ByronBay, as a no fishing zone.
“This is a blatant political stunt, by the Federal Labor government to garner Green preferences, for the August Federal election. It is certainly not a conservation or environmental issue, The facts are that any perceived threats from recreational or commercial fishing on the marine biodiversity and associated ecosystems, pale into gross insignificance against the real threats posed by mining for coal, oil and gas. These extractive industries will all be permitted within these proposed Labor Marine Reserves. Fishing is the only activity which will be banned!”
Obviously, the Gillard Labor government hasn’t learned anything from the recent events in the Gulf of Mexico, which is still enduring the world’s greatest environmental catastrophe.
Impacts from this Labor proposal, means that the local commercial fishing industry, which supplies consumers with delicious fresh, local, cheap, healthy seafood products, will be neutered. The community would then be forced to consume more imported Freshwater Catfish, (Basa) which is reared in sewage ponds, from South East Asia. There is no compensation available for the displaced commercial industry.
And ECOfishers who are actively attempting to reduce their carbon footprint, will be forced to travel further, and fish north of the Tweed and south around Ballina and Evans Head. This “transfer of effort,” too, puts other intolerable pressures on our fisheries resources.
Ken Thurlow
CEO ECOfishers NSW.
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