The State’s fishing industry has launched a counter attack on what it regards as “costly and misleading Government spin supporting a flawed proposal” to tie up about 46 per cent of South Australia’s coastal waters in marine parks.
Fishermen from across the State – led by Wildcatch Fisheries SA with the full support of the South Eastern Professional Fishermans Association - have dug deep to fund the What’s below the surface program of advertising, posters, publicity and public meetings to counter the Government’s campaign for marine parks.
“The information in the Government’s community consultation campaign is potentially misleading and certainly very costly, and it has so little substance that it must leave all fishers – recreational and commercial – very worried about the motivation that lies below the surface,” Wildcatch Fisheries SA General Manager, Mr Neil MacDonald said.
The State Government has funded radio commercials and full-page advertisements in newspapers across the State urging people to “Leave something to your grandkids” and assuring South Australians “you can still enjoy fishing, diving and boating in Marine Parks – today, tomorrow and for future generations.”
“There is no guarantee of this,” Mr MacDonald said. “If the outer boundaries currently proposed for the State’s marine parks are proclaimed, subsequent Ministers will be able to exclude recreational and commercial fishers from any – or all - waters contained within the marine parks outer boundary without going back to the community or Parliament.
“On average, that’s 46 per cent of the State’s coastal waters – and about 70 per cent of coastal waters in the South East of the State.
“The Government hasn’t made that clear – and that’s what we’re setting out to do!”
Mr Redman said SEPFA and Wildcatch SA were not against marine parks or the appropriate conservation of the State’s marine environment but it was vital that real threats were identified and special areas developed in direct response to those threats.
“In fact, we’re very much in the same boat as the Government when it comes to looking after the ocean and preserving the habitats of our unique species because the ongoing livelihood of our fishery, fishing families and their kids depend on it,” he said.
“We have worked with successive governments to shape South Australia’s approach to marine parks since 1995 and believe that the reasoned and reasonable position which was embodied within the Marine Parks Bill of 2007 would set the scene for a sensible and effective network of marine parks.
“However, in framing its marine parks proposal the Government has failed to identify any challenges, threats or risks to South Australia’s marine environment and the conservation of its biological diversity and ecological integrity – in contempt of international conservation principles and protocols embodied in the Marine Parks Act.
“Our What’s below the surface information program aims to ensure the wider community understands that we believe the Act has not been followed; that international agreements have been compromised; and that there are significant risks to the wider community in accepting the Government’s current proposals.”
Industry campaign casts doubt on proposed marine parks boundaries
