Independent Commonwealth Marine Reserve Review

The Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation (ARFF), the peak body representing Australia’s five million strong recreational fishing community, has expressed its disappointment with the outcomes of the Independent Commonwealth Marine Reserve Review.  

Allan Hansard Managing Director of the ARFF said: "Australia’s recreational fishers have been waiting three years for the Independent Review into the Marine Reserve Network and we are very disappointed with the result."

"The Review has not tackled the big issues about how to build a marine reserve network to minimise key threats, such as climate change, run off and pollution to our unique marine environment. 

"Rather, the Review seems to have been preoccupied with an ideological objective to lock Australia’s recreational fishers — mums and dads — out of vast areas of our oceans without any peer-reviewed science backing this decision.

UNSCIENTIFIC LOCKOUTS
ARFF said its disappointed that the Review adopted the same unscientific no-take approach to its management zoning, that was used by the Labor/Greens Government when it planned to lock recreational fishes out of over 1.3 million square kilometres of our seas.

"This approach may be suitable for some developing countries or countries with poor governance. However, it does not fit the Australian situation, where we have world leading conservation and fisheries management and can carefully regulate recreational activities such as recreational fishing that occur within management zones," Mr Hansard said.

OBAMA SANCTIONS ANGLING
The Review is also an international embarrassment when compared to the recent declaration of the largest marine protected area in the world by President Obama.

The Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii protects some of the most complex and unique marine features in the world and recreational fishing is allowed across the area, subject to permit.

"We note that the Independent Review is a report to Government and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Government on Marine reserves. We trust that when the Government considers the outcomes of the Review it will do so in the light of its policy on Marine reserves. 

"The Government will require peer-reviewed scientific evidence of threats to marine biodiversity to be made available to all stakeholders, including affected communities and industries before any decision is made on future Marine Protected areas," concluded Mr Hansard.

More on the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument and its recreational and sport fishing inclusion at
World's Largest Marine Protected Area.