Crusading Kate

[Lucky_Phill]

Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability
The Honourable Kate Jones

Thursday, September 02, 2010
MARINE LIFE THRIVING IN MORETON BAY’S GREEN ZONES
The Bligh Government’s decision to move towards a more sustainable Moreton Bay is already paying dividends, new scientific data is showing.

Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones said in State Parliament today that new research indicated Moreton Bay Marine Park’s expanded green zones were showing early signs of increased fish numbers.

Ms Jones said since the start of new marine park zoning on 1 March 2009, scientific monitoring led by CSIRO was beginning to point to several promising trends.

“Moreton Bay is a favourite spot for thousands of South East Queenslanders to enjoy relaxation and recreation right on Brisbane’s doorstep,” she said.
“But using the Bay cannot come at a cost of reduced habitat and fishstocks, two key features that attract people to the region in the first place.

“That’s why green zones were expanded last year to cover 16 per cent of the marine park’s total area, to protect each of the marine park’s habitat types from fishing and to protect dugongs and turtles with the introduction of go slow zones.”

Ms Jones said the latest research showed green zones were acting as a nursery, allowing fish and crab populations to recover to more natural levels.
“We expect these levels will lead to greater numbers of fish and crabs moving outside of the green zones,” she said.

“Preliminary results show mud crabs from the new green zones are already larger and more abundant than they are in adjacent non-green zones.”
Male mud crabs of legal size (15cm) were found between three and five times more frequently in the old green zones than outside the protected areas.
In the new green zones, the numbers of legal size crabs are increasing, but haven’t yet got to the levels of the original green zones.

At Willes island, catch rates outside the green zones were less than half a crab per pot, rising to over 1 crab per pot in the new green zone, and more than two crabs per pot in the old green zone.

“Data is also indicating that certain fish species are becoming more abundant in the new offshore green zones around St Helena Island and Tripcony Bight,” Ms Jones said.

“The CSIRO and other research organisations are examining the new zoning plan’s effect on commercial and recreational fish species, the effectiveness of go slow zones in reducing impacts on turtles and dugongs and the socio-economic implications of the revised marine park.”

A survey of 200 recreational fishers was undertaken a year after the rezoning of the marine park.

The survey’s findings included:

·the impact of the rezoning on recreational fishers, in relation to closure of favourite fishing areas or crowding at fishing locations, was minimal.

·respondents reported no additional travel costs to access a fishing area as a result of closures or crowding.

·only one per cent of fishers interviewed reported a decrease in catch.

·there was a strong perception that fishing restrictions were actively enforced and that the fishers had access to sufficient information regarding zoning.

“Nature changes slowly, and it’s too early to expect to see any major response to the changed conditions in the marine park,” Ms Jones said.

“However, the results from the monitoring program are significant and point to Moreton Bay showing the same positive changes over time as have been observed in other marine park areas across the world.

“Most relevant of these for Queensland has been the equally positive impact of marine park zoning in the Great Barrier Reef.”

To find out more about the Moreton Bay Marine Park Zoning Plan, visit www.derm.qld.gov.au
MEDIA CONTACT: 3239 0824

[Lucky_Phill]

I find that Kate Jones’s factless speech in Parliament ( 2/09/2010 ) regarding Green Zones in Moreton bay offensive.

Why ? because she has not quoted any data, she made assumptions and produced another piece of Bligh Spin for the media to soak up.

Captain Obvious states that “ green zones were showing early signs of increased fish numbers “, well how about that, you close off an area to fishing and fish numbers increase. Great science there. Why didn’t we think of that earlier. WHICH ZONE ?

Another beauty…, “ was beginning to point to several promising trends “, what does that mean ? No data is no data no matter how you spin it up.

Here we go… ‘ green zones were acting as a nursery “… NO, those green zones plonked over sandy bottom structure STILL hold the same amount of fish life as pre-green zones. This Government failed miserably to protect the NURSERY that is the Mangroves, Creeks and River systems that feed, nuture and protect the juveniles from all marine species.

Clearly this Government have no idea what constitutes a nursery, fishery management or habitat protection.

That Green Zone off Moreton Island really protected the environment when that ship lost is cargo and produced a huge oil spill severely damaging our pristine beaches and wildlife. Nice work Kate !

Sorry Kate, drawing a line on a map and patting yourself on the back does not protect the marine environment, habitat or fishery. Real science and real fishery management will deliver an outcome far above any perceived greatness the good Ship Captain Bligh ever hopes to achieve.

[SeaHunt]

Green zones were showing early signs of increased fish numbers... WTF how do they know are they in there fishing? I would like to know how they count the fish under a square mile of water?
I doubt Marine life is thriving in that big green zone East of Mud Island.
No-one fished there before so nothing has changed.
It it a desert as far as bottom dwelling marine life goes anyway, the only time I have ever seen anyone fishing there prior to the green zone was if there were birds working there, which means the fishos would be chasing Pelagics which by their nature do not stick to green Zones anyway.

[FNQCairns]

Guaranteed that if green zones did not lock out anglers, this study would have seen identical results in all areas. Same deal as on the GBR.

We anglers are patsys...never forget that their result will for political reasons encompass all facets originally excluded, removing just one would make the report a farce.....

While we stay clumped as fishers we have less than half a hope, if split and treated on the evidence as Anglers distinct as we are in every way from "fishers" we will have every hope and these reports will be seen widely for what they are..

[charleville]

Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones said in State Parliament today that new research indicated Moreton Bay Marine Park’s expanded green zones were showing early signs of increased fish numbers.

Yeah - and that lucky SALTY"D" is gettin' 'em all!






.

[PinHead]

"recover to natural levels"..and they are? cannot be anything but a guess.

I hope she stands in Parliament and delivers the next river quality report..or will that just get shoved under the table??

[PinHead]

"A survey of 200 recreational fishers was undertaken a year after the rezoning of the marine park."

wow..now that is a huge cross section.

[STUIE63]

well I have gota warm fuzzy feeling now

[Ben D]

"MARINE LIFE THRIVING IN MORETON BAY’S GREEN ZONES"

This statement simply does not measure up when you consider the number of fish kills we are now seeing in the rivers and creeks entering the bay. It is only a matter of time before we see a kill of adult fish in a green zone, which will make a mockery of this type of spin. Already there will be large kills of fish and shellfish larvae etc., but they go unseen and therefore unrecorded.

There is, of course, no mention that we can expect absolutely zero increase in productivity of mudcrabs from green zones in Moreton Bay, being that they are already well managed, in that:

1. all female mudcrabs are already protected in QLD, and
2. all are already fertilized by males when they move out to spawn....... The minimum size for males is 15 cm, but they mature around 9 cm, so have plenty of time and opportunities to do their job.

A better measure of "effectiveness" of these green zones would be numbers of sublegal male crabs - have they increased ? What about the numbers of female crabs ? Increased numbers of undersized crabs would indicate increased recruitment. Of course, no fishing occurs in no fishing zones (which is all this research shows), but green zones will do nothing to boost the numbers of eggs and larvae produced by mudcrabs in QLD, or the number that recruit to the fishery. Indeed, larval survival will be dictated by water quality, and habitat quality will also determine mudcrab numbers under current Fisheries management arrangements, (which are more than adequate to maximise available productivity in the current degraded environmental conditions in Moreton Bay).

The "Fail" in the recent healthy waterways results is a more accurate indicator of the true condition of Moreton Bay and the health of its marine life in comparison to historical baselines. In light of the healthy waterways results, this fatally flawed media release by the government gives the public mixed messages about Moreton Bay, which in reality is creaking and groaning under ever increasing insults to its environmental quality due to population pressure. The healthy waterways results, while not perfect, reveal the true condition of the Bay. People must be pointed to the real problems, and not whitewashed by this spin.

No doubt QLD Fisheries will also be interested in who was responsible for
relocating Tripcony Bight offshore. I believe there are very big fines for those who interfere with fisheries habitat............ (of course, it remains in the Pumicestone passage near where I live, I just checked).

Another example of how clueless the spindoctors are about this issue.

[murf]

"MARINE LIFE THRIVING IN MORETON BAY’S GREEN ZONES"

This statement simply does not measure up when you consider the number of fish kills we are now seeing in the rivers and creeks entering the bay. It is only a matter of time before we see a kill of adult fish in a green zone, which will make a mockery of this type of spin. Already there will be large kills of fish and shellfish larvae etc., but they go unseen and therefore unrecorded.

There is, of course, no mention that we can expect absolutely zero increase in productivity of mudcrabs from green zones in Moreton Bay, being that they are already well managed, in that:

1. all female mudcrabs are already protected in QLD, and
2. all are already fertilized by males when they move out to spawn....... The minimum size for males is 15 cm, but they mature around 9 cm, so have plenty of time and opportunities to do their job.

A better measure of "effectiveness" of these green zones would be numbers of sublegal male crabs - have they increased ? What about the numbers of female crabs ? Increased numbers of undersized crabs would indicate increased recruitment. Of course, no fishing occurs in no fishing zones (which is all this research shows), but green zones will do nothing to boost the numbers of eggs and larvae produced by mudcrabs in QLD, or the number that recruit to the fishery. Indeed, larval survival will be dictated by water quality, and habitat quality will also determine mudcrab numbers under current Fisheries management arrangements, (which are more than adequate to maximise available productivity in the current degraded environmental conditions in Moreton Bay).

The "Fail" in the recent healthy waterways results is a more accurate indicator of the true condition of Moreton Bay and the health of its marine life in comparison to historical baselines. In light of the healthy waterways results, this fatally flawed media release by the government gives the public mixed messages about Moreton Bay, which in reality is creaking and groaning under ever increasing insults to its environmental quality due to population pressure. The healthy waterways results, while not perfect, reveal the true condition of the Bay. People must be pointed to the real problems, and not whitewashed by this spin.

No doubt QLD Fisheries will also be interested in who was responsible for
relocating Tripcony Bight offshore. I believe there are very big fines for those who interfere with fisheries habitat............ (of course, it remains in the Pumicestone passage near where I live, I just checked).

Another example of how clueless the spindoctors are about this issue.

very good response

you sound like you can hold your own in an argument so do you reply to the masses through newspapers etc and inform the ill informed public? we are converted on here but the general public has not a clue when it comes to reality

no offence meant by my post I want to encourage you to stand up to the truths, I just want people that have the nous to get in and fight for us fisho's

we get lied to so often by the Green push that even some of the true realists start believing the spin

cheers Murf

[Ben D]

Murf,

I supply advice and information to a wide range of people and interest groups, and they have been informed on this issue. I thought I would also inform this forum, so you too have a better understanding of the issues, and can tell others who might also need informing. I do not usually seek the newspapers or TV, but they might come my way on this, in which case I will inform them as well. I believe it is important that the governments media release is put in context and that the public are given a chance to understand the real processes involved..

The simplistic "more fish must be good" thinking behind the green zones is an easy one to sell to the unsuspecting public, and don't get me wrong, it is important to have some scientific reference zones. But certain groups are hell bent on misusing the information to justify increasing area bans on fishing (30% closures in the bay is their next target), when in reality fishing is the least of the environments problems in many circumstances, especially in Moreton Bay. The healthy waterways results and fish kills are a case in point.

[murf]

thanks Ben D

I try all the time to tell fisho's and others about whats happening, my brain and memory don't work like it used to(whilst writing this I forgot about the Biodiesel processor and it overflowed haha) so coming up with facts figures and names is hard, but I keep trying

cheers Murf

[Redspeckle]

Well with the Grey nurse shark zone come about from that CSIRO they tag two sharks one swim eight hundred metres and other period 1.2km in 24 hours period off flat rock well that how come up with the Grey nurse no fishing zone around rocks in SE QLD waters well you couldn't called that proper research and am still waiting from the queenland government to show me the research why we need green zone's in place its only just stop fishing but can still anchor up and drag the anchor around all day and destroy the 16 habait areas the make up the green zone around the place just as an example why don't fix up the water quality first and stop the pollution running into SE QLD waters
Example like The logan river is brown River means
Biological diversity =low ,Reuspension ,Overloaded,Wastewater,Nutrient laden
But Loagn river and surrounding watersin SE should be Blue means Biological diversity -high,Lagoonal,Unstratified, Energetic
Mitch

[murf]

Gday there Mitch, long time no see/ hear

I just got back from a lecture/question session with Emeritus Professor Bob Kearney at Coffs and WOW there is so much to learn, a very enlightening and interesting talk

there will be a boat rally on at coffs boat ramp on Sun morning 12th at 9am too

cheers Murf