South-east marine parks: Big holes in the biodiversity safety net
05 May 2006
While welcoming the outcome of the protracted planning process for south-east region marine parks announced today, WWF said the park system was still far from being comprehensive, adequate or representative.
"These 13 new Marine Protected Areas (MPA) for the south-east are a significant contribution to the protection of marine biodiversity in Australia, and certainly impressive by world standards, but they represent a major concession to oil, gas and fishing interests," said Dr Ray Nias, WWF-Australia Conservation Director.
The area declared covers almost 20% of the region, and at 226,155 square kilometres, is almost the size of Victoria, and represents a significant addition to the protection of temperate marine biodiversity worldwide. However, it should be noted that only around 10% of the total area will be fully protected from all extractive uses.
"There are some great new marine parks in this announcement but overall they fall short of best practice in terms of marine science and planning.
The result was heavily influenced by industry stakeholders and has left a number of obvious omissions - such as very low level of protection of the shallower coastal shelf, Bass Strait and the Cascades in particular - where a significant amount of the region's biodiversity is likely to occur," Dr Nias said.
Underwater, the south-east is a rich and complex seascape, complete with canyons, deep sea trenches, underwater mountains and plateaus. WWF is pleased to see high levels of protection for the Tasman fracture that provides the connection with colder waters to the south. The protection now extends up the Murray mouth and up onto the shelf capturing important shallow water biodiversity and flows of nutrients from the freshwater to the deep marine.
WWF also welcomes a provision that allows for upgrading protection levels in many areas but is disappointed zones closed to commercial fishing are not also closed to recreational fishing.
"This is a good start to building a safety net for marine biodiversity in the south-east region, but there are some big holes in the net," Dr Nias said.
With the clock ticking on Australia's commitments to build a national system of representative MPA networks by 2012, WWF now looks forward to seeing an accelerated roll-out of MPAs around the rest of the country.
"The major lesson from this exercise is this: we must start with a stronger foundation in science, which has been a major factor in the success of the Great Barrier Reef MPA process.
"Strong and independent scientific advice is the best safeguard for biodiversity in regional marine planning," Dr Nias said.
Find out more
Jacqueline McArthur, Media Communications Manager, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 9281 5515
Mobile: 0408 626 780
Email: jmcarthur@wwf.org.au
