The Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/marine-park-to-save-the-coastline/2008/12/03/1228257139085.htmlMarine park to save the coastline
James Woodford
December 4, 2008
A PROPOSAL for a massive marine park stretching along Sydney's coast - from Gosford in the north to the Royal National Park in the south and three kilometres out to sea - is being launched today.
The National Parks Association of NSW wants the State Government to fulfil a long-standing election commitment to create a full system of marine reserves along the NSW coast, including off Sydney.
The proposed 103,000-hectare Sydney Marine Park would take in all four of the region's estuaries, including Sydney Harbour and Botany Bay. If adopted, it would be the largest urban marine park in the world.
Not all of the proposed park would be closed to recreational and commercial fishing, the parks association's marine program manager, Nicky Hammond, said. It would have a system of gazetted multiple-use zones and only a small percentage of areas would be protected from all forms of exploitation, she said.
The marine park would take in part of the area used annually for the humpback whale migration, as well as penguin habitats and large tracts of ocean and estuaries frequented by dolphins. There are also populations of seahorses and seadragons. Sydney Harbour alone has nearly 600 species of fish. "There's a huge diversity of marine life," Ms Hammond said. "It's a teeming underwater world down there next to a huge, bustling city."
Large and controversial marine parks have been created in areas of NSW including near Batemans Bay off the Eurobodalla Coast, in Jervis Bay and at Port Stephens. But the Government has failed to declare a marine park in Sydney's coastal waters.
As part of a report on NSW marine conservation being released today by the parks association, a second major coastal reserve is also proposed - for the Eden-Twofold Bay area, just north of the Victorian border.
The association is also calling for 1500-metre exclusion zones to be imposed around all of the known habitats for the critically endangered grey nurse sharks.
Paul Winn, who wrote the association's report, said the new marine park was important because the area was under so much pressure. "A Sydney Marine Park represents an opportunity to provide ecological sustainability to a much-loved and used part of the Australian coastline," the report says.
Recreational fishing groups have bitterly fought the creation of marine parks and will almost certainly oppose any further conservation measures.
Brad Warren, the executive chairman of Oceanwatch - which represents the environmental interests of the commercial fishing industry - said the process had to be based on rigorous science.
"There would need to be compensation for all businesses negatively impacted, including commercial fishing operators, bait shops and tackle shops," Mr Warren said.
A spokesman for the Environment Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, said the report would be referred to the Marine Parks Authority for advice.
The state had six large, multiple-use marine parks covering 345,000 hectares - or 34 per cent of NSW waters - 12 aquatic reserves covering 2000 hectares and marine and estuarine components of national parks and nature reserves, the spokesman said.
The Telegraph:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,24748375-5001021,00.htmlAnglers fear marine greenies
PLANS to be announced today for the world's first big city marine park - stretching from Newcastle through Sydney to Wollongong - have sparked fears hundreds of thousands of anglers will be locked out of their favourite fishing spots.
The National Parks Association, a non-government conservation organisation, will also reveal its scheme for a network of "marine protection zones" running down the entire NSW coast.
The NPA has enlisted world famous marine activist Valerie Taylor to launch its proposals, which have already been endorsed by Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore. The NPA's marine park proposals for the Hawkesbury Shelf bio-region - the coast between Newcastle and Wollongong - would divide waterways into different zones where various activities are banned.
National parks: Slugged just to see nature
NPA marine program manager Nicky Hammond said yesterday the park would include Sydney Harbour, Broken Bay, Botany Bay and Port Hacking as well as inshore ocean waters.
It also includes many of the state's most famous beaches.
"The proposed Sydney Marine Park will provide protection for the area's diverse habitats including rocky reefs and sponge gardens, which are home to hundreds of marine species," Ms Hammond said.
"While commercial and recreational fishing continues in marine parks, fully protected sanctuary zones within the park will help boost the numbers, size and productivity of our fish, help protect endangered species and provide valuable tourism and economic benefits."
The NPA will also reveal today its plan for a marine protection network from Tweed Heads in the north to Cape Howe in the south.
Anglers fear being locked out of scores or even hundreds of famous fishing spots. Anglers' Action Group president Phil Ingram said yesterday anglers did not object to marine parks which had undergone proper scientific assessment.
