Marine Park Draft Management Plans recognise fishing and boating access

The Federal Government has released its Marine Park Draft Management Plans for the nation's marine park estate, which now covers more than 3.3 million square kilometres of ocean or an area the size of India.

With 36 per cent of waters around Australia covered by marine parks, we have surpassed the United Nations target of 10 per cent. Our level is more than many other countries with significant marine jurisdictions such as the France, Canada, Mexico and Chile.

Fishers, conservationists, tourism operators, traditional owners and coastal communities have been consulted in creating the draft plans.

The new plans are said to balance the commitment to protect the marine environment, while supporting a sustainable fishing industry, promoting tourism and providing cultural, recreational and economic benefits for coastal communities.

KEY POINTS
- Compared to 2012, the draft plans:
>> Increase the number of ecological features covered by habitat protection zones that protect the sea floor from 192 to 265, an almost 40 per cent increase.
>> Increase from 60 per cent to 63 per cent the area under high-level green and yellow zone protection covering sites of ecological significance, including Coral Sea reefs and the Bremer Canyon.
>> Halve the economic impact on commercial fishers compared with 2012, a reduction from $8.2 million to $4.1 million a year, which is less than 0.3 per cent of total income generated by Australia’s wild catch fisheries.
>> Increase the total area of the reserves open to fishing from 64 per cent to 80 per cent.
>>The draft plans would make 97 per cent of waters within 100 kilometres of the coast open for recreational fishing and also enable a continued Australian tuna fishing industry based out of northern Queensland.

A MORE BALANCED APPROACH
The Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation (ARFF), which represents the interests of boaties looking to go fishing, say the plans demonstrate a more balanced approach to the Commonwealth marine reserve system than we have seen in the past.

The plans aim to deliver a world-class marine reserve network while recognising the important contribution of key stakeholders, including Australian recreational fishers.

"These plans are definitely a large improvement on the plans produced by the previous Government that would have seen recreational fishers locked out of over 1.3 million square kilometres of Australian seas, without any scientific justification," ARFF CEO Mr Hansard said “these

"The plans maintain access to many of the iconic recreational fishing locations around Australia, including the world renowned Wreck, Marion, Shark and Osprey reefs in the Coral Sea and the Perth Trench and Geographe Bay in Western Australia.

"This will mean that Australians will still be able to sustainably fish these places for generations to come," Mr Hansard added.

54,000 SUBMISSIONS
The Director of National Parks, Sally Barnes, released five draft plans to manage 44 Australian Marine Parks over the next 10 years. This wasn't done haphazardly. She considered comments from over 54,000 submissions providing feedback on the preparation of draft plans.

Ms Barnes has considered the recommendations from the independent review of Commonwealth marine reserves released in 2016; the best available science; the expertise of traditional owners on managing sea country; and experiences from those managing Australian and international marine parks.

These draft plans cover Commonwealth waters off the coast of New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Australian Marine Parks are in waters that start at the outer edge of state and territory waters, generally no less than three nautical miles (5.5 km) from the shore extending 200 nautical miles (about 370 km) from the shore to the outer boundary of Australia’s exclusive economic zone.

FISHING ACCESS RETAINED
The boundaries of Australian Marine Parks will not change. Instead, the Director has used a targeted zoning approach to allow sustainable activities like commercial fishing while protecting key conservation features.

This is a much more balanced, scientific approach than those previously undertaken for marine parks. These plans protect what needs to be protected, without negatively impacting communities and our country’s economy. This is a result of consulting thoroughly with the communities who live near, care for and work on our oceans, the government says.

The new plans halve the economic impact on commercial fishers compared with 2012, a reduction from $8.2 million to $4.1 million a year, which is less than 0.3 per cent of total income generated by Australia’s wild catch fisheries.

The new plans also increase the total area of the reserves open to fishing from 64 per cent to 80 per cent.

The draft plans would make 97 per cent of waters within 100 kilometres of the coast open for recreational fishing and also enable a continued Australian tuna fishing industry based out of northern Queensland.

While environmentalists are fuming, this is good news for fishing and boating, which can be managed sustainably within Marine Parks as proven in other parts of the world.

OUR HUGE MARINE PARKS
With 36 per cent of Australia’s waters included in marine parks, we are well ahead of both the international benchmark ‘Aichi target’ of 10 per cent by 2020, and a recent World Conservation Congress resolution calling for 30 per cent by 2030.

According to data from the IUCN’s World Database on Protected Areas, we compare very favourably with the United States of America (41 per cent), New Zealand (30 per cent), the United Kingdom (28 per cent), Mexico (22 per cent), Canada (less than 1 per cent), and France (15 per cent).

Under the zoning proposed in the draft plans, the portion of green (or no take) zones within all of the marine parks managed by the Commonwealth would be 25 per cent.

Australia’s biodiversity hotspots and sites of ecological significance, including Coral Sea reefs and the Bremer Reserve are protected in these plans.

At the same time, 97 per cent of waters within 100 kilometres of the coast will be open for recreational fishing.

HAVE YOUR SAY
The Government encourages everyone interested in managing our marine environment to contribute in the next 60 days to the consultation process.

Once the community has had a chance to review these draft plans, the Director of National Parks will finalise and submit them to the Government for review and tabling in Parliament.

The Federal Government has committed $56.1 million over four years to fund the management of Australian Marine Parks.

Comments on the draft plans are open until Wednesday September 20 at Marine Park drafts - Have your Say.

More at
Australian Marine Parks.