Marine parks at risk from five-year moratorium

July 2nd 2010

Jervis Bay Marine Park The NSW Shooters Party has introduced a Bill to place a five-year moratorium on the creation of new marine parks and new sanctuary areas within existing marine parks.

This proposal displays a clear disregard for the scientific evidence of more than 300 international papers that marine parks, particularly no-take or sanctuary zones, are a vital tool for marine conservation.

Debate on the Bill has been delayed until 31 August. We must act now to ensure our marine plants and animals have safe havens, and that our threatened and overfished species have a chance to recover.

Please visit our www.marineaction.org.au website and send key politicians an email showing you strongly disagree with the five-year moratorium on new marine parks and sanctuaries in NSW.

We need your commitment to save our marine parks and sanctuaries

Please take the time and show your support for marine parks and sanctuary zones by personally contacting NSW Premier Kristina Keneally and Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell.

Contact NSW's political leaders here:

Premier Kristina Keneally GPO Box 5341, Sydney NSW 2000 Ph: (02) 9228 5239 Fax: (02) 9228 3934	Mr Barry O'Farrell, MP Parliament House Macquarie Street Sydney NSW 2000 Ph: (02) 9230 2270 Fax: (02) 9221 8208
The Premier regularly checks her tweets. Join the conversation here: http://twitter.com/KKeneally	Email: barry.ofarrell@nsw.liberal.org.au

Some talking points you might like to consider:

The push for a moratorium on Marine Parks displays a clear disregard for the marine environment and betrays a lack of understanding of the threats this environment faces.

The scientific basis for establishing a comprehensive network of Marine Parks is extremely solid and supported by the overwhelming majority of marine scientists both in Australia and throughout the world.

- In 2009, a scientific overview of 140 studies on 124 marine sanctuaries across 29 countries showed sanctuaries lead to significant increases in biomass, density, species richness and organism size. Importantly for NSW, it showed that sanctuaries in temperate environments were as effective, if not more so, than tropical reserves.

- Earlier this year, more than 245 scientists from 35 countries confirmed their support for the creation of large-scale ocean marine parks as the best way to help fish stocks recover and preserve ecosystems.

only 6.7% of NSW's marine waters are designated fully protected sanctuaries, both within and outside multiple-use marine parks. This is still far below the minimum long-term target of 20% as set by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (Marine Sanctuaries Vth World Parks Congress, Durban, September 2003).

Marine parks offering diverse tourism opportunities, and NSW’s Marine parks are broadly supported by their local communities, including recreational fishers.

The vocal opposition is in the minority and seeks to create a climate of fear and mistrust by using emotive and misleading language, referring regularly to Marine Park “Lockout”. This rhetoric, which the Coalition appears to have adopted, is deliberately misleading as Marine parks are designed as multi-use, where most areas are still accessible to recreational fishers.